With Obama heading to Prague, still no U.S. ambassador

Next week, President Obama will head to the Czech Republic to sign the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with President Dmitry Medvedev. The location and date were chosen to mark the one-year anniversary of Obama’s famous Prague speech calling for a world without nuclear weapons. But as the city prepares, Radio Prague points out the ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Next week, President Obama will head to the Czech Republic to sign the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with President Dmitry Medvedev. The location and date were chosen to mark the one-year anniversary of Obama's famous Prague speech calling for a world without nuclear weapons. But as the city prepares, Radio Prague points out the embarassing fact that there's still no U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic:

Next week, President Obama will head to the Czech Republic to sign the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with President Dmitry Medvedev. The location and date were chosen to mark the one-year anniversary of Obama’s famous Prague speech calling for a world without nuclear weapons. But as the city prepares, Radio Prague points out the embarassing fact that there’s still no U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic:

This is the second visit by President Obama to take place in the absence of an American ambassador in the Czech Republic. The post has been vacant since the departure of the former US ambassador Richard Graber. Currently, ambassadorial duties are performed by the US embassy’s chargé d’affaires, Mary Thompson-Jones. The naming of a new ambassador is a lengthy process, the candidate has to be approved by the White House and US senate. After the last candidate for the post failed security vetting, there is now talk of a temporary solution in the form of an acting ambassador who would not need pass the strict screening process.

Granted, the Czech Republic isn’t exactly a superpower, but it’s a reliable U.S. ally and given this year’s missile defense controversies — not to mention the symbolic importance of the treaty signing — this doesn’t look good. It’s also hardly the only major diplomatic post left unfilled

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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