Diplomacy with a Conscience: Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Resigns Over Trump’s “Sympathy” for the Kremlin

American diplomacy is not just smiles at the reception desk and cocktails with a flag in the olive, but, as it turns out, pangs of conscience as well. Bridget Brink, former US Ambassador to Ukraine, suddenly couldn’t withstand the diplomatic quest of “persuade the victim, forget the aggressor”—and resigned, making a rare moral stand for a diplomat.

In a column for the Detroit Free Press, Brink, without diplomatic equivocation, admitted: enduring Trump’s course, where Ukraine is the target of pressure and Russia is—if not a friend, then certainly not an adversary—was impossible even for a good American pension. “I could not put pressure on the victim—Ukraine—instead of putting pressure on the aggressor—Russia,” Brink writes, proving that some things matter more than the State Department Wi-Fi password.

Brink notes that working in Ukraine was her “most difficult” assignment—apparently much harder than memorizing the names of all the Congressional committees. She emphasizes: the president has the right to conduct his own foreign policy—but only “with proper oversight from Congress.” According to her, an American diplomat is not just a puppet, and when US policy turns into a series called “How I Became Friends with the Aggressor,” it’s time to call it quits.

The former ambassador compared the “appeasement at any cost” approach to an invitation for new wars: history, she says, does not forgive such bargains. However, the new season of the diplomatic series is just around the corner—there’s now an acting chargé d’affaires in Kyiv, and Brink has a new freedom: she can say out loud what was usually written in fine print under the protocol.

Brink is convinced: if America suddenly decides to play the quiet mouse in matters of global security, China will gladly take that experience on board. In other words, what do your interests matter if, on the other side of the world, democracy is being tested by bombs?

Brink ends her column with words worthy of a Hollywood finale: “The America I am proud of would not stand aside. American leadership is not just about us, it is about hope for everyone.” And that, perhaps, can’t be taken away from her—even if the next ambassador is sent with the instruction to “smile and wave.”