Dangerous candidates

Andrés Federman, buenosairesherald.com

Image from, with the headline: [Recently appointed Argentine Ambassador to the U.S.] Lousteau Presented his Credential Letters to Obama

Excerpt:

It is called an “Ambassador Credentialling Ceremony” and is a cost-effective public diplomacy tool. A number of recently arrived foreign ambassadors visit the White House, meet the US president in the mythical Oval Office and present their credentials. The bonus is that the president takes the time for a quick individual chat with each of them and a photographer takes a picture of the new ambassador in a cordial moment with Barack Obama. No massive family photographs. Just the president of the US in a friendly, “one-on-one” moment with the new ambassador, which is likely to make the front pages of each ambassador’s country, conveying the image of friendliness.

If the rumours are true, in the case of Argentina such friendliness might go beyond the photo opportunity, should Obama’s visit to Argentina really happen. The government and its followers are quite happy with the signals of the quick thawing of the bilateral relations which had been put in the fridge, if not in the freezer, during Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s presidency. ...