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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

US envoy to Estonia to retire over frustration with Trump

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Washington: The US Ambassador to Estonia, James Melville (pictured), will retire from the State Department next month, a move he said was prompted by Donald Trump’s jibes and treatment of European allies. The announcement comes ahead of a summit in Brussels of Nato allies on July 11-12, which has been clouded by Trump’s angry claims that Europe is exploiting the US by underspending on defence. The US Embassy in Tallinn said the career diplomat would retire after finishing his three-year assignment in Estonia in late July. But in a private Facebook post first reported by Foreign Policy, Melville said frustration over Trump’s barbs had made him decide “it was time to go.” Trump recently told fellow western leaders that the Nato alliance was “as bad as Nafta” — a North American trade deal that he has threatened to tear up.


“A Foreign Service Officer’s DNA is programmed to support policy and we’re schooled right from the start, that if there ever comes a point where one can no longer do so, particularly if one is in a position of leadership, the honourable course is to resign,” Melville’s post said. “Having served under six presidents and 11 secretaries of state, I never really thought it would reach that point for me,” said Melville, who has worked 33 years in the service. “For the President to say the EU was ‘set up to take advantage of the US, to attack our piggy bank,’ or that ‘Nato is as bad as Nafta’ is not only factually wrong, but proves to me that it’s time to go.” — AFP


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