Persona Non Grata
I feel very uncomfortable with Thomas Barrack, President Donald Trump's ambassador to Lebanon, and I suspect I am not alone in this. The discomfort is heightened by the fact that the U.S. president did not just send him to Beirut but also appointed him to Damascus as a special envoy, and previously sent him as Washington's ambassador to Turkey. This has happened and continues to happen even though Barrack is not a diplomat, not from the State Department, and has not previously held a public position. The whole story is simply that he is Trump's friend and used to play golf with him.
Because of this, he lacks the basic ABCs of dealing with people. This was glaringly evident when he held a press conference at the Lebanese presidential palace in Baabda, clashed with the journalists present and began hurling the foulest insults at them.
He began his press conference by telling them to be quiet and not to act like animals. All hell broke loose on him then, and he later apologized or said something resembling an apology. The assumption was that he would learn from the experience and not repeat it, but then he went to the Manama Dialogue* in Bahrain and proceeded to hurl insults and abuse, this time at Lebanon itself, not just the journalists at the palace.
I do not know how he could possibly return as an envoy to the Lebanese capital. How can he return if, as he said in Bahrain, Lebanon is a failed state with no institutions, no electricity, no water — that it has absolutely nothing at all. If Lebanon is as he describes it, why did he agree to be the envoy? And how could he have been visiting it for months since the beginning of this year?
And he does not stop at that, but even questions the reason preventing direct dialogue between Lebanon and Israel, as if he does not know that Israel occupies positions in southern Lebanon, targets Lebanese sites and kills Lebanese people in the process.
What I do know is that the Trump administration needs to send this man for training to learn some of the basics of diplomacy. What I do know is that he needs to understand the difference between the work of a real estate developer, which is his profession, and the work of a diplomat who must weigh every sentence and word.
What I also know is that in diplomatic gatherings, there is the term, "persona non grata." This is a term declared by a state — any state — when it deems that a person, such as this envoy, should not remain in the country if they are an ambassador, and should not frequent it if they are an envoy. If Lebanon were to consider the matter, it would find no one to whom this term applies to more than it does to Envoy Barrack.
*Editor's note: The Manama Dialogue is an annual global security and geopolitical conference held annually since 2004 in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Because of this, he lacks the basic ABCs of dealing with people. This was glaringly evident when he held a press conference at the Lebanese presidential palace in Baabda, clashed with the journalists present and began hurling the foulest insults at them.
He began his press conference by telling them to be quiet and not to act like animals. All hell broke loose on him then, and he later apologized or said something resembling an apology. The assumption was that he would learn from the experience and not repeat it, but then he went to the Manama Dialogue* in Bahrain and proceeded to hurl insults and abuse, this time at Lebanon itself, not just the journalists at the palace.
I do not know how he could possibly return as an envoy to the Lebanese capital. How can he return if, as he said in Bahrain, Lebanon is a failed state with no institutions, no electricity, no water — that it has absolutely nothing at all. If Lebanon is as he describes it, why did he agree to be the envoy? And how could he have been visiting it for months since the beginning of this year?
And he does not stop at that, but even questions the reason preventing direct dialogue between Lebanon and Israel, as if he does not know that Israel occupies positions in southern Lebanon, targets Lebanese sites and kills Lebanese people in the process.
What I do know is that the Trump administration needs to send this man for training to learn some of the basics of diplomacy. What I do know is that he needs to understand the difference between the work of a real estate developer, which is his profession, and the work of a diplomat who must weigh every sentence and word.
What I also know is that in diplomatic gatherings, there is the term, "persona non grata." This is a term declared by a state — any state — when it deems that a person, such as this envoy, should not remain in the country if they are an ambassador, and should not frequent it if they are an envoy. If Lebanon were to consider the matter, it would find no one to whom this term applies to more than it does to Envoy Barrack.
*Editor's note: The Manama Dialogue is an annual global security and geopolitical conference held annually since 2004 in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
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