Trump Made 'Mistake of Historic Proportions' on Ukraine Says His Former Ambassador
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American diplomat, Bridget Brink, resigned in April from her position as US Ambassador to Ukraine, after she concluded she could no longer conduct the Trump administration's policy towards that country in good conscience. Since then, she has decided to run for public office, as a Democrat Party candidate for the US House of Representatives, representing her home state of Michigan.
I've known Bridget for over 12 years, since we were both posted to the Republic of Georgia in the Caucasus in the mid-2010s. We became good friends due to our shared professional and personal interests (she is married to a Brit, I am married to an American, and we have sons of similar age.) Now we have resignations from our respective foreign services in common too - me over Boris Johnson's dishonesty about Brexit, and her over Trump's policy on Ukraine.
I recently interviewed her about what propelled her into public service, what brought her to the point of resignation, the dangers she sees to American interests at home and abroad under Trump, and what she hopes to achieve if elected to Congress.
Bridget said she grew up in a small town in Michigan, imbued with the traditional Mid-Western values of hard work, integrity, and "doing the right thing". She inherited a commitment to the public good from her mother, who was a teacher, her father, a public prosecutor, and her grandparents, who served in World War 2. In 1989, aged 19, she studied abroad for a year at the London School of Economics, just around the time the Berlin Wall came down. "I was too young to know what it all meant, but I knew it was big." Her time in London, where she later met her husband, "opened my world" and she eventually decided to join the US Foreign Service.
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George Llewelyn
Her career became anchored in Europe, with postings to the Balkans, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Slovakia and finally Ukraine ("the culmination of my experience") as well as several senior European policy assignments in Washington, serving under Democrat and Republican Presidents. "I was so proud. I loved being a diplomat in Europe. I believed in the values of our country - democracy, human rights, the rule of law, free markets - which we shared with our European partners." She felt committed to the dream of achieving a "Europe whole, free and at peace", and regarded the transatlantic relationship as the foundation of American strength, with the US and Europe as each other's most important security and economic partners, working together to tackle global issues.
Bridget believes the challenge of Russia and Putin predates the current Trump Administration. Successive administrations erred in overestimating the potential for Russia to integrate with the West, underestimating the challenges facing the Russian people after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and misjudging how much they could achieve together. Every President thought they could do better than their predecessors in establishing better relations with Russia, but "Russian goals are completely at odds with ours. Especially under the current President [Putin], their goals are to create chaos, weaken Europe's democratic institutions, divide the EU, and undermine the US."
Europe's problems with populism today stem from these historical roots. Putin was using hybrid tactics very successfully to exploit fissures in democratic societies, for example, by propelling migrants from Syria into Europe to fuel public discord.
When Trump was re-elected President, Bridget hoped she would be able to "make it work" with the new team. Immediately after the November election, ...
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American diplomat, Bridget Brink, resigned in April from her position as US Ambassador to Ukraine, after she concluded she could no longer conduct the Trump administration's policy towards that country in good conscience. Since then, she has decided to run for public office, as a Democrat Party candidate for the US House of Representatives, representing her home state of Michigan.
I've known Bridget for over 12 years, since we were both posted to the Republic of Georgia in the Caucasus in the mid-2010s. We became good friends due to our shared professional and personal interests (she is married to a Brit, I am married to an American, and we have sons of similar age.) Now we have resignations from our respective foreign services in common too - me over Boris Johnson's dishonesty about Brexit, and her over Trump's policy on Ukraine.
I recently interviewed her about what propelled her into public service, what brought her to the point of resignation, the dangers she sees to American interests at home and abroad under Trump, and what she hopes to achieve if elected to Congress.
Bridget said she grew up in a small town in Michigan, imbued with the traditional Mid-Western values of hard work, integrity, and "doing the right thing". She inherited a commitment to the public good from her mother, who was a teacher, her father, a public prosecutor, and her grandparents, who served in World War 2. In 1989, aged 19, she studied abroad for a year at the London School of Economics, just around the time the Berlin Wall came down. "I was too young to know what it all meant, but I knew it was big." Her time in London, where she later met her husband, "opened my world" and she eventually decided to join the US Foreign Service.
Zelensky Struggles to Stem Backlash After Joining Bid to Neuter Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Agencies
Ukrainian protesters and MPs fear that hard fought progress against systemic corruption in the country is being undone by allies of the President
George Llewelyn
Her career became anchored in Europe, with postings to the Balkans, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Slovakia and finally Ukraine ("the culmination of my experience") as well as several senior European policy assignments in Washington, serving under Democrat and Republican Presidents. "I was so proud. I loved being a diplomat in Europe. I believed in the values of our country - democracy, human rights, the rule of law, free markets - which we shared with our European partners." She felt committed to the dream of achieving a "Europe whole, free and at peace", and regarded the transatlantic relationship as the foundation of American strength, with the US and Europe as each other's most important security and economic partners, working together to tackle global issues.
Bridget believes the challenge of Russia and Putin predates the current Trump Administration. Successive administrations erred in overestimating the potential for Russia to integrate with the West, underestimating the challenges facing the Russian people after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and misjudging how much they could achieve together. Every President thought they could do better than their predecessors in establishing better relations with Russia, but "Russian goals are completely at odds with ours. Especially under the current President [Putin], their goals are to create chaos, weaken Europe's democratic institutions, divide the EU, and undermine the US."
Europe's problems with populism today stem from these historical roots. Putin was using hybrid tactics very successfully to exploit fissures in democratic societies, for example, by propelling migrants from Syria into Europe to fuel public discord.
When Trump was re-elected President, Bridget hoped she would be able to "make it work" with the new team. Immediately after the November election, ...
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