But one word caught my eye, namely, 'demotion,' which set off another stream of consciousness in me. If memory serves, the whole bunch of the old China Hands, the career diplomats who were sent to China before WWII to assess the political landscape and in an attempt to bring CCP and KMT to the table to fight the common enemy of the time, were being demoted
I think in general these were the folks who were unwilling to "play ball" or had wound up p*ssing someone off down in Foggy Bottom.
Nowadays, Africa serves the purpose.
There are always exceptions to the rule, however.
An interesting sidenote though... most of the military commanders during WWII, like Marshall, Bradley, Eisenhower, and Patton had been colonels during the inter-war years. Only when war was imminent or had actually occurred did you see the actual warrior types finding themselves promoted over their superiors and made generals. Patton, I seem to recall, actually was being paid as a colonel during the time he was wearing the double stars of a Major General. Eisenhower also found himself in this bizarre position (though I've never considered him much of a warrior).
Sometimes those who don't toe the political line or brown nose their way around diplomatic channels turn out to be the ones who achieve true authority when a crisis occurs.
Regards,
Ron |
