My point: Your source was an ambassador in an unproblematic nice to live in country, just as a thank you from his President. The work was done by the 1st Attaché. No politician, no influence. Crap as a source.

That’s not how this works, what he says obviously carries weight given his status, and most importantly what he said is the truth. If you’re trying to claim that the former US ambassador doesn’t know what he’s talking about, then surely academics such as John Mearsheimer and Noam Chomsky do. They happen to agree with him.

That is how it works. He has no political weight, he was a trophy ambassador. And your Mearsheimer and Chomsky are, let's say, "controversly" discussed.