• The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Blog

    July 7, 2012

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in: Afghanistan, Embassy/State

    This blog just loves Ryan Crocker, America’s ambassador to everything. The Crock is always firing off wacky statements from wherever he is ambassadoring from, be it Iraq or Afghanistan. It is what he does.

    The other thing Crock likes to do is have things named after him, like droppings at each post he leads. The State Department even offers an in-house award called the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy.

    Crock’s latest North Korean-like leadership example is what appears to be a makeshift hut in Kabul that is now known as the The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio, for making the teevee things that will win our war. Both Diplopundit and El Snarkistani have much more to say about all this.

    For me, however, this time I want to be on the team. Thus, I am officially renaming this blog “The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Blog.”

    Actually, nothing will change. This is partially because changing the graphics for this blog is a hassle, and partially because in a few weeks no one will care what was named after Crocker as it was just some short-term suck up move on the part of his staff anyway.



    Related Articles:




    Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

    • Recent Comments

    • Meloveconsullongtime said...

      1

      Edgar Allen Poe said “nomen est omen”, the rough translation being “names are spiritually symbolic”.

      For example, history might have taken a different course if Adolph Hitler had kept his father’s surname, Schikelgruber. “Heil Schikelgruber” is just no good for neo-pagan night rallies with torches.

      Similarly, “Stalin” is more effective for fanatical slogans than his original name “Dzhugashvili”.

      And so, Crocker.

      07/7/12 1:54 PM | Comment Link

    • Meloveconsullongtime said...

      2

      There once was a Yank named Ryan Crocker
      Who bombed verbally like Luftwaffers.
      Asia he diseased,
      But Hillary was pleased!
      I wonder, did he ever (DON’T SAY IT!) her?

      07/7/12 2:01 PM | Comment Link

    • Meloveconsullongtime said...

      3

      (While I’m on a limerick roll):

      There once was a harridan named Clinton,
      Who ordered Syria to stop sinnin’.
      But Russia rebuked
      Armed with thermo-nukes,
      So now who will put the bomb’s pin in?

      07/7/12 2:10 PM | Comment Link

    • John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review: July 7 | Piracy Watch said...

      4

      […] The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Blog – Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: “This blog just loves Ryan Crocker, America’s ambassador to everything. The Crock is always firing off wacky statements from wherever he is ambassadoring from, be it Iraq or Afghanistan. It is what he does. The other thing Crock likes to do is have things named after him, like droppings at each post he leads. The State Department even offers an in-house award called the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy. […]

      07/7/12 11:32 PM | Comment Link

    • lafcadio said...

      5

      Naming an award after someone who is still alive and still working for the Department? Can you say “cult of personality?

      This is actually quite similar to the Consular Bureau’s Mary Ryan Award. They named the award after her while she was still serving as CA’s Assistant Seretary. When she gor fired (for neglecting to mention a little thing called Visa Express during her 9/11 testimony) they got rid of the award. A few years later, when the heat was off, they brought it back.

      Naming awards after people whose legacy’s are, at best, questionable, is indicative of a failed organization.

      07/8/12 2:19 PM | Comment Link

    • liberti said...

      6

      Thank you for the Sunday morning chuckle. Thankfully, I was not sipping coffee at the time or the keyboard would be kaput. Why does that line from Shakespeare keep running through my mind – what fools we mortals be…..
      Your blog comments are a delight and so on target in pinpointing the hypocrisy of the bureaucracy.

      07/8/12 3:07 PM | Comment Link

    • Leomund said...

      7

      I’d like to see a list of 5 tangible accomplishments of the DoS or any particular FSO. I really don’t get what the point is. I just finished your book – it was a quick one day read. Very troubling albeit humorous in a gallows sort of way. The DoS reminds me of an organization solely focused on justifying its own existence in the insecure manner of one who knows their existence is not justified.

      I thought about a career move to an FSO once but no way I could handle it after a career in the private sector. The DOS seems to embody all the worst elements of a self-perpetuating bureaucracy.

      Real diplomacy is probably better realized through programs like the Peace Corps where one lives and interacts with the natives. Your book is utterly depressing and I hope more people read it and call their congressional leaders to look for some accountability.

      07/9/12 4:33 AM | Comment Link

    Leave A Comment

    Mail (will not be published) (required)