My article about Building Embassies from Scratch is in the latest DIPLOMAT magazine:

New embassies do represent an unusual challenge. Cynical Treasury officials like wartime embassies (cheap) or even no embassies (free). Don’t modern communications allow all this old-fashioned representational work to be done from and between capitals?

No. The issue, as always (perhaps more than ever in our Tower of Babel world), is maintaining discreet personal senior relationships. That needs smart, nimble people on the spot who do just that. People taken seriously by powerful local people, because they respect those powerful local people and engage sensibly on common issues…