Why Things Do Not Work.

OK, I get it, the United States loves lawyers. I have nothing against lawyers per se, it is a necessary profession and will remain so for a very long time, while human civilization goes through its legal and cultural motions. But this is what attracted my attention this morning. 

The envoy leading President Donald Trump's hardline push on Iran quit on Thursday, months before an election that could reorient US policy. Brian Hook, a stalwart Republican considered one of the most powerful figures at the State Department, decided to return to the private sector, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Hook "has achieved historic results countering the Iranian regime," Pompeo said in a statement.

Obviously if this comedy hasn't been funny enough, what follows Hook's departure is even funnier. 

Hook will be replaced by Elliott Abrams, an intellectual architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq who has been leading Trump's unsuccessful campaign to oust Venezuela's leftist president, Nicolas Maduro. Abrams, known in the 1980s for his staunch defense of right-wing strongmen in Latin America, will handle both Iran and Venezuela, Pompeo said.

As you may observe, US, for some unknown reason, greatly appreciates convicted felons and losers to serve as conduits for whatever passes as a foreign policy in D.C. And frankly, by now, let's point out to the white elephant (or 800-pound gorilla) in the room--US Department of State is a fascinating collection of ignoramuses, incompetents, miscreants and random people who, in normal country, wouldn't be allowed to sort trash at the city dumpster, yet, they consistently end up in the positions of some power. That brings us back to Mr. Hook, the so called "envoy". Take a look at Hooks' background:

Hook received a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in 1990, a master's degree in philosophy from Boston College, and a law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law.

He also worked for Mitt Romney's campaign, naturally as a "foreign policy adviser", and, in general, is a classic colorless, badly educated political bacteria populating the colony of his likes in the petri dish of Washington's bureaucracy. This is the only "elite" the United States can produce today--the guy with degree in law, the experience of being busy with useless activity, and with a single trick in his arsenal of applicable skills--that's the level of "qualifications" one gets nowadays in D.C. I am sure Hook's expertise in Iran, Farsi language, knowledge of Iranian culture and Iran's military should be top notch, right? After all he was a special envoy for Iran. Nah, I am screwing with you--the level of expertise on Iran is D.C. is defined by terrorist organizations such as MEK, conveniently removed from the list of terrorist organizations when the US decided that it needed it, and by homegrown Iranian versions of Ahmed Chalabi, same type of "experts" as a bunch of clowns populating Russia Studies field in the US. 

And so it is, US foreign policy establishment continues to recycle itself through ignorance and delusion of its cadres. What did Pompeo mean by "historic results countering the Iranian regime" remains a mystery. The only historic result achieved in US foreign policy in the last 30 years is a historic in its sheer vastness ignorance of what passes in the US for diplomacy. But then again, looking at US higher education and cadres it produces one shouldn't be surprised with the results.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's foreign ministry on Friday expressed indifference to the change in the Trump administration’s top envoy for Iran, alleging that the new U.S. official in the post would be no different from his predecessor.

By now, the rest of the world knows perfectly what to expect from the US and her "diplomats", and that is why the wolrd gets on with with its life, keeping a cautious eye on a country which long ago lost any self-respect, never mind respecting anything else.