Comment by lysace
14 hours ago
The list of ambassadors of the US to Sweden is kind of sad. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_Uni...)
It begins with Benjamin Franklin (well, sort of) and ends with a bunch of campaign contributors (both sides).
Seems like it started some time in the 1990s/2000s and then gradually grew more and more transactional.
It does reek of corruption, but it seems being ambassador to a close ally is basically getting several years of taxpayer-paid vacation in Europe. They're positions that have to be filled, and a career diplomat ending up in Sweden might even get bored because of the lack of anything to do.
For example ambassadors to Georgia (a country that has tensions with Russia) seem to have "better" credentials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_Uni...