Blowback from President Donald Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin has not lured U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman to resign, but instead strengthened his resolve amid "the fragile nature of this moment."
"I have taken an unscientific survey among my colleagues . . . about whether I should resign," Huntsman wrote in an op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune. "The laughter told me everything I needed to know.
"It also underscores the fragile nature of this moment."
Huntsman was responding to a call from the Tribune's Robert Gehrke to resign. It was an unusual position coming from a newspaper owned by Huntman's own brother.
"As America's envoy to Russia, I am appointed by the president but confirmed by the Senate," Huntsman wrote in response to Gehrke. "I am charged with representing our country's interests, which in the case of Russia are complex and often little understood.
"Popular punditry is ill-suited to describing the acts of courage, dedication, and patriotism I regularly witness as chief of mission overseeing one of America's most sensitive overseas outposts. Our work has been made more difficult over the past year by the loss of hundreds of colleagues through unprecedented expulsions of diplomats and a staff drawdown imposed by the Russian government."
Huntsman added a dismissal of politics getting in the way of diplomacy, praising the work of those who remain to interact with Putin's regime.
"Representatives of our foreign service, civil service, military, and intelligence services have neither the time nor inclination to obsess over politics, though the issues of the day are felt by all," Huntsman wrote. "Their focus is on the work that needs to be done to stabilize the most dangerous relationship in the world, one that encompasses nuclear weapons, fighting terrorism, stopping bloodshed in Ukraine, and seeking a settlement of the seemingly intractable Syrian crisis.
"Their dedication to service to their country is above politics, and it inspires me to the core."
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