For the last two years, Gerard Araud, France’s ambassador to the United States, has signed off on the cables he sends back to Paris with the same caveat: “Of course, a surprise can’t be excluded”
For the last two years, Gerard Araud, France’s ambassador to the United States, has signed off on the cables he sends back to Paris with the same caveat: “Of course, a surprise can’t be excluded.”
It’s a malaise, Araud is quick to add, that is leading people to embrace populism and nationalism in France and other countries, too. “We have to address the concerns of these people,” he said. “It’s a serious crisis of our democracy.”Araud, who was named France’s U.S. ambassador in September 2014, is a figure Washington won’t soon forget — an openly gay diplomat who threw memorable parties, disdains political correctness and loves the Tintin comics.
Araud, 66, has had extensive experience in the U.S. — he was in New York as France’s ambassador to the United Nations prior to moving to Washington, and he has warm relationships with numerous current and former U.S. officials. So he watched with a sense of wonder these past two years as the White House changed hands between two presidents with radically different styles.
The Frenchman isn’t the first to notice these phenomena. But, like with any other foreign diplomat, it has caused him headaches.
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