Daily Archives: December 22, 2011

Diplopundit’s Best Photos – The Foreign Service in 2011

December 22, 2011 By in Foreign Service, Photo of the Day, Social Media, U.S. Missions

Below are some of our favorite photos of 2011, in no particular order. The photos are available through Flickr, FB, and the occasional ambo blogs. 

How high can you jump, Mr. Ambassador?

US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matt Bryza jumping over a bonfire
during the celebration of Novruz Bayram
Photo from US Embassy Baku/Flickr
Pancake Special with Lochman Smile

U.S. Consulate
General in Calgary memorialized the
tragic events of September 11, 2001.
Consul General Lochman serves pancakes to first responders and CF personnel
Via US Consulate General Calgary/Flickr
A moment in time in Laos
Ambassador to Laos Karen Stewart during her visit to
Phalak, a village of mostly Hmong people who returned to Laos from Thailand
Photo from Than Thoot Karen!
Can you say run in Cambodian?
A U.S. Marine plays a game with children during a community service project at
the Help the Cambodian Children Goodwill Center.
Photo from US Embassy Cambodia/FB
It’s a boat! It’s a plane! It’s Kristie Kenney!
U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney during
the most recent Thailand floods
Photo via US Embassy Bangkok/FB

NOTE: This photo of Ambassador Kenney as she parachutes over the central
region of Lopburi with a military
instructor after jumping from a Thai military helicopter
would have been our pick except that it is an AFP photo(photo now posted by US Embassy Bangkok/FB, so we’ll add it here)
Is that really what you want?

U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro and his daughter Merav on a shopping tour for the four
species and decorations for their Sukka in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv.
Photo from US Embassy Tel Aviv/Flickr
Is this man going to give me the gift or what?
Consul General (CG) Karachi Bill Martin
visits flood victims at a relief camp
and a goods
distribution site in the
hardest-hit area of Tando Allahyar on
October 26, 2011.
Photo from US ConGen Karachi/Flickr

Force of nature

Taken during the US response to the Christchurch
Earthquake
Photo from US Embassy NZ/Flickr
Getting ready for the big day

Ambassador and Mrs. Mark Brzezinski just prior to his
presentation of credentials to His Majesty King Carl XVI
Gustaf
of Sweden on November 24, 2011
Photo from US Embassy Sweden/Flickr
Four monks and the cherry trees
Four Buddhist monks, who live in North Carolina, photograph each other

among the cherry trees in Washington, D.C. The men are originally from Thailand
Photo from US Embassy Tokyo/Flickr

Do they make them that young now?

Boy in uniform during Ambassador Gene Cretz
visit to Misurata, Libya
Photo via state.gov/Flickr
Just between us, are we ever leaving Afghanistan?
Grover (Kajkoal) welcomes U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker to the French
Cultural Center
for the launch event of the Baghch-e-SimSim on
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Photo from US Embassy Kabul/Flickr


To Diplopundit’s friends and readers, may your holidays be merry and filled with joy in the company of loved ones and good friends. Our thoughts and good wishes also go to our men and women in uniform who are still in Afghanistan, and our Foreign Service personnel in high stress/high threat/unaccompanied posts around the world.

Quote: Like the French Foreign Legion?

December 22, 2011 By in Foreign Service, FSOs, Quotes

“When I tell people that I was in the Foreign Service, I get a lot of blank stares and awkward questions. Even well educated people often have no idea what the Foreign Service is.

“Is that like the French Foreign Legion?” a medical doctor and Ivy League graduate once asked me.”

Dave Seminara, Former Foreign Service Officer
in A Traveler in the Foreign Service: Not much of a diplomat