Jon Huntsman has resigned as U.S. ambassador to Russia, effective October. It raises the age old question, “was he pushed or did he jump?”
US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has submitted his resignation letter to President Donald Trump and plans to move back home to Utah, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
Huntsman’s resignation is effective October 3 and there is some speculation that he is planning to run for governor of Utah, a role he previous served in from 2005 to 2009. However, a source close to Huntsman told CNN that decision is still up in the air, saying: “We shall see, it’s been a long two years.”
I wonder who Vladimir Putin will pick for President Trump?
I nominate Moscow Mitch! Send him to Siberia!
This is a shame. Huntsman is a good man and well qualified. Every time someone good throws in the towel, we get someone worse. Oftentimes much worse.
Short-term loss; long-term gain.
One of the central insights of Gene Sharp’s work (e.g., “From Dictatorship to Democracy”) is that oppressive regimes rest on the consent of the governed…and in particular, on the tacit or explicit support from key institutions in the society (e.g., the military, the legal/justice system, government bureaucracies, corporations, media, religious institutions, labor unions, etc.).
The more isolated the dictator (or dictatorial elements) becomes from those societal pillars, the more vulnerable the dictator is.