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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Late Night Open Thread: Ambassador Kislyak — So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye…

Late Night Open Thread: Ambassador Kislyak — So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye…

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Not exactly unexpected — his cover’s been irrevocably blown — but one more tick on the timeline:

Ending one the most turbulent tenures of a Washington-based ambassador in recent memory, the Kremlin has decided to recall its ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, three individuals familiar with the decision tell BuzzFeed News.

The decision to bring Kislyak back to Russia rather than appoint him to a senior position at the United Nations in New York, as several outlets previously reported, comes amid investigations by the FBI and Congress into the 66-year-old diplomat’s contacts with President Donald Trump’s top aides during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“He could use some time away,” said a US-based diplomat.

Though Kislyak’s departure has long been expected, Moscow would not confirm his departure date. The US-Russia Business Council, however, is hosting a going away party for the ambassador on July 11 at the St. Regis Hotel…

Kislyak was reportedly under consideration to lead a new UN counterterrorism office based in New York. However, that position has since been offered to veteran Russian diplomat Vladimir Voronkov, a UN official announced last week…

In Kislyak’s place, the Kremlin is expected to send Russian deputy foreign minister, Anatoly Antonov, according to Russian media reports. Antonov, a tough negotiator who is on the EU’s sanctions list, will need final approval by Russia’s parliament.

Waiting with interest to see how this story develops.

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    Oh well, another post in the dungeon (not too long this time). Time for me to hit the sack I guess…

    :-/

    ‘night all.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    Help Wanted: Ambassador to Capitalist Dogs. Pays well, but Retirement plan is a real killer.

  6. 6.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    This caricature looks like the cover artist just half-assed a depiction of Corbyn as Commie Orlok. He does have some odd front teeth, but a) they don’t seem to be popularly deemed notable – in fact judging from other cartoons barely anyone’s aware of it – and b) the facial caricature is sufficient for ID purposes, so…half-assed Commie Orlok. (I also thought Peter Brookes’ Theresa May depiction suffered for this, as the triangular nose just made her look k like a cartoon witch that vaguely looked like May).

    Also, is anyone aware of vampires in fiction with corvid/aegyppine (vulturelike) appearances and motifs?

  7. 7.

    RandomMonster

    I’m sure Putin figures the guy now only invites speculation and draws attention to the ASSet-in-Chief, and thus has outlived his usefulness.

  8. 8.

    JWR

    Speaking of retirements, has anybody been following up on the rumors of Justice Kennedy bowing out, perhaps after the current term ends?

  10. 10.

    seaboogie

    Kislyak is going to need at least three suitcases to pack up his super-forgettable jowls, per Jeff Sessions.

  15. 15.

    jl

    Off topic, but Senate GOP line seems to be wavering a little. I don’t really have much faith that the supposed GOP moderates, or the reactionaries, expressing doubt are really in serious opposition to the bill (they don’t really care all that much). They are posturing, or lining up for dibs on concessions for their state and maybe a chance at the two passes at voting yes. The only possible exception is Heller, who may sense that this vote will cook him in NV, and GOP and McConnell threats of retaliation mean less if that is true. And Trumpsters threatening to go after him right now at the slightest demur can’t help.

    But what it does mean is that McConnell may end up with too many goofballs to juggle to get all of the votes in line. Fact that two factions of Senate GOPers want the bill to move in opposite directions is good for us.

    So need to keep the pressure up over next week. Call if you have a GOPer Senator, or call your Dem Senator and tell them you want more fuss and attention on it if you see a news story that is bogus or biased, call up the station and complain. Be polite, and spend a few minutes to gather some facts to give them, say that they should have been reported but weren’t and ask why not. If enough people call and reduce the BS quotient of the coverage, that might make a big difference..

  17. 17.

    seaboogie

    @Mike J: Like that. Seems kind of wrong that Molly Ivins and Hunter S. Thompson aren’t alive to comment on our current sitch, but maybe they can give a supernatural nudge to the proceedings.

  18. 18.

    RealityBites

    I mentioned the rumors about Kennedy a few days ago. Was told not to worry about it until it happened. I would hope that, unless he has extremely serious health problems, he would love his country enough not to retire at this time of national crisis.

  19. 19.

    RealityBites

    Someone on Twitter said Kislyak had been recalled. Said they were glad someone recalled him.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @RealityBites: I think it was Josh Marshall who said he knows one of Kennedy’s former clerks. They had some kind of clerks reunion at the end of the term and Kennedy gave no hint about retiring. So.. maybe, maybe not.

  21. 21.

    hellslittlestangel

    Russia/USSR has always treated successful spies like heroes, so I imagine Kislyak will do okay. He might get a nice condo in a Trump building.

  22. 22.

    lumpkin

    He needs to be sent to a Siberian fat farm to drop a few before he sinks into the center of the earth.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    @jl:

    Fact that two factions of Senate GOPers want the bill to move in opposite directions is good for us.

    Kabuki. They did this before with the shitty Bush tax cuts.

  25. 25.

    Keith P.

    He probably had guys following him 5 feet back holding boom mics. Time to go home.

  28. 28.

    Morzer

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-06-20/texas-is-too-windy-and-sunny-for-old-energy-companies-to-make-money

    In the cut-throat Texas energy market, the construction of these coastal wind turbines—some 900 in all—has had a profound impact. It’s been terrific for consumers, helping further drive down electricity bills, but horrible for natural gas-fired generators. They had ramped up capacity in recent years anticipating that midday price surge would mostly be theirs, not something to share with renewable energy companies. Without that steady cash influx, the business model doesn’t really work, the profits aren’t there and companies including Calpine Corp., NRG Energy Inc. and Exelon Corp. are now either postponing new gas-fired plants or ditching them all together.

    Wind power “is a disruptive technology and it’s increasing,” said Paul Patterson, a utility analyst at Glenrock Associates LLC in New York. “That’s a problem for other resources that are competing in that market.”

    And it’s not just the coastal turbines that are cutting into gas-fired plants’ business. When inland farms are included, wind power now supplies about a fifth of Texas’s electricity market. Solar power is also growing in the state. All of this helped push the average on-peak price set by Ercot—the grid operator that controls most of the Texas market—down 55 percent the past five years to $25.34 per megawatt hour, according to data compiled by Genscape Inc.

  29. 29.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Anne, you left out “Adios, motherfucker.”

    Also, too, “Au revoir, asshole.”

  30. 30.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Morzer: My heart bleeds petroleum for the energy sector motherfuckers who are being screwed by wind power.

  32. 32.

    TriassicSands

    @jl:

    Fact that two factions of Senate GOPers want the bill to move in opposite directions is good for us.

    Sadly, the same thing was true in the House. And we got the AHCA.

    Republicans are nothing if not slimy.

  33. 33.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Villago Delenda Est: Mine do as well. Although think of where we’d be if Republican voters weren’t motivated by a seething, unquenchable hatred of liberals.

    Well I don’t know where we’d be, either, but I’d like to think it involves lots of wind and solar farms and a power grid that wasn’t constantly tottering on the edge of catastrophic failure; among other fantasies.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    Spy related:

    Sealed Mata Hari trial records and other related documents finally scheduled to be released in October of this year, 100 years after her execution..

  36. 36.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JWR: And I cannot imagine RBG not following suit and retiring soon as well. Trump may end up filling three SCOTUS seats. Huge sigh.

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    @Patricia Kayden: Good morning. Don’t go looking for black clouds.

    With this president, RBG will be carried out feet first, and maybe she’ll take der Trump out on her way out. I sure would.

  38. 38.

    JWR

    @Patricia Kayden: @Elizabelle

    And yet, the BernieBro/Steiniac faction on Pacifica Radio keep prattling on about how the Dems, (never mind that they aren’t running the Russia investigation), should just let it go, and focus instead on the Economic Populism that got Bernie elected!

    Oh wait…

  39. 39.

    Morzer

    @RealityBites:

    Well, it was certainly time that someone recalled Kislyak. I mean, after being forgotten by Flynn and Sessions (three times before the cuck crowed!) and Kushner and Trump, the poor fellow must be suffering from a severe loss of self-confidence. It’s hardly surprising that he’s turned to binge-eating as a source of happiness.

  40. 40.

    Gvg

    There were rumors that Kennedy wanted to retire before Obama was elected. Also several times during. It didn’t happen, therefore rumors aren’t good at knowing anything. He is old enough that it is always a concern. Seems to me a lot of people like to start these rumors about most of the SC. It’s useful for political purposes also. Nothing we can do about it now. It is always a motivation in general for me in voting. Gets back to my reasons for being annoyed with Ginsberg. Applies to Kennedy as well.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    CBS went back and re-interviewed the Carrier workers after they found out Trump’s Carrier deal was a scam. Good for CBS:

    But the truth is that 400 of the 1,100 jobs Mr. Trump mentioned were white-collar positions that were never going away.
    Only 700 union jobs were saved. Six hundred others will be lost, and Carrier is not paying a price. The company actually received a $7 million incentive package from Indiana to keep the plant open with a reduced work force.
    “That is what he said was not going to happen,” James said. “That’s what he told all of us.”
    “And a lot of these people voted for Mr. Trump” with the understanding that he would save their jobs, James added.
    Duane Oreskovic voted for the president, and is among those losing their jobs.
    “I liked this job. This was a job that I actually wanted to retire from,” Oreskovic said. “It’s not going to happen any more.”
    At the White House Friday, press secretary Sean Spicer said the job cuts here were long-planned and nothing new.
    The first round of layoffs will take effect next month, and the second in December — three days before Christmas.

    The President lies constantly, so that’s just a given, but Carrier management are also at fault. They promoted the President’s lie. You can’t believe a word any of them say either. They knew damn well what was going on and they happily went along with tricking their own employees and promoting a lie to the whole country. Take that into account when you purchase something from them- they’re as reliable and trustworthy as Donald Trump.

  42. 42.

    Morzer

    https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/why-dean-hellers-career-is-over

    Five hundred days before voters decide his fate, Nevada’s senior senator needed a life preserver. So with his poll numbers in the subterranean region, below President Trump’s in Nevada, Heller grabbed onto one named Brian Sandoval, an immensely popular governor.

    It’s hard to describe the surreality of Friday’s scene in which Sandoval, who was the first GOP governor to expand Medicaid and who has credited it with putting 200,000 more Nevadans on the health care rolls, protecting Heller, who has more than once called for a phase-out of the program. Suddenly, the protean Heller was against the cessation of expanded Medicaid after he was for it, against the new Obamacare repeal after saying he wanted to get to yes, and against losing his Senate seat after being willing to give it up to run for the job his new protector holds. (Heller really wants to be governor, not U.S. senator.)

    It’s hard to feel sympathy for Heller, who created many of his own problems because he is afflicted with Non-Straight-Answer Disorder. To wit: He told The Hill that he supports a seven-year Medicaid phase-out, then his staff initially refused to confirm it to the Reno Gazette Journal (before they did) and then he told KSNV that he would have chosen the outer end of whatever time frame he was given. Why he could not say – and he still did not Friday — that he opposes a phase-out of any kind is unfathomable. (Ending the federal funding would destroy the state budget.)

    Politics is no different than life: If you try to please everyone, you please no one.

    And that is where Heller is now: He has a base problem because he was similarly equivocal during 2016 about the president and now is on record opposing the bill Donald Trump supports. And even though he is now on the side that indies and Democrats like on health care, they don’t trust him to stick to his word.

    Jon Ralston is the go-to guy for analysis of Nevada politics. He recently founded the Nevada Independent newspaper, which is where you can find the full article. If he says Heller is toast, it’s a pretty good bet.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Morzer:

    Dean Heller’s DC career may be over, but he could be an “immensely popular governor” thru supporting Democratic policies.

    The popular GOP governors diverge from the the popular GOP Senators. Sam Brownback governed far Right, like Republicans in DC, and he is immensely unpopular. Kasich expanded Medicaid and while that killed him nationally, it helped him win elections in-state. The GOP base are voting for this crap for other people but in their own states (where they actually live) they want health care.

    Democrats can learn something from this but they shouldn’t take is as a lesson to on how to take Congress- it’s a lesson on how to take state governments. Democratic policies are popular at the state level.

  45. 45.

    Matt

    I give Kislyak a month before he “has a heart attack” or “falls down some stairs”.

  46. 46.

    zhena gogolia

    @TenguPhule:

    I must say, when I saw the headline I thought it had already happened. A little slip on the stairs in the banya, donchaknow.

  51. 51.

    Olivia

    I imagine it won’t be long before he will be flinging himself out a window after stabbing himself to death.

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