Edward Djerejian, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria, talks about protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and the role the country's military should have in any transition of power. Djerejian speaks with Lisa Murphy on Bloomberg Television's "Fast Forward."

America’s ambassador to the Holy See says the two sides are working to rebuild trust following the leak of embarrassing diplomatic cables late last year.

The US has revoked the visa of Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, in retaliation for President Hugo Chavez's rejection of a nominated US envoy, Larry Palmer, who is critical of the Venezuelan government, the US State Department said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama has bypassed the usual process of confirmation by the Senate and directly appointed four new U.S. ambassadors whose nominations had been stalled or blocked by lawmakers for months.

You must be able to negotiate, to win the confidence of the powerful and influence them, to understand what makes a foreign society tick, to analyse information and report it accurately and quickly, including what your own government does not want to hear; you need "a quick mind, a hard head, a strong stomach, a warm smile and a cold eye".

As the slots get filled for new U.S. ambassadors, I have to modify my earlier praise: too many sensitive overseas posts are being given to Obama fundraisers. For every Carlos Pascual (veteran envoy now assigned to Mexico), there now appear to be several David Jacobsons (Illinois lawyer and Obama-Biden fundraiser set to go to Canada). South Africa, for example, falls into the latter category: an important country in which the next U.S.