Ambassador In-extraordinary and Plen-impotent-iary
The Issue
It has recently been discovered that your predecessor had filled numerous ambassadorial positions with under-qualified candidates in an attempt to reward @@HIS@@ followers and supporters. As a result, the ambassador to Wezeltonia was your predecessor's personal masseuse and the ambassador to Brancaland is a shady crime lord with incriminating evidence against your predecessor. It's clear to many that @@NAME@@ could use a change in the ranks of its diplomats.
Validity: Nation has international relations.
1a. (Option Validity: Nations with private business) "This is a splendid opportunity to put in our own, far superior, ambassador picks!" says your Political Adviser, @@RANDOMNAME@@, gleefully. "It's obvious that we can't let those incompetents keep their positions any longer, so we sack them all and replace them with our own people. I've prepared a list for you to look at- we've got great, talented people like that first government official to endorse you, the @@MAJORINDUSTRY@@ tycoon who donated millions to your campaign, and my younger brother. It'll be wonderful!"
Effect: @@LEADER@@'s childhood friends are living it large abroad at the taxpayers' expense
1b. (Option Validity: No private industry) "This is a splendid opportunity to put in our own, far superior, ambassador picks!" says your Political Adviser, @@RANDOMNAME@@, gleefully. "It's obvious that we can't let those incompetents keep their positions any longer, so we sack them all and replace them with our own people. I've prepared a list for you to look at- we've got great, talented people like that first Party Secretary to endorse your candidacy, the arms dealer who provided us with such useful equipment, and my younger brother. It'll be wonderful!"
Effect: @@LEADER@@'s childhood friends are living it large abroad at the taxpayers' expense
2. "We need to abolish the entire system of ambassadors as political appointees," says @@RANDOMNAME@@, who has worked in the Foreign Ministry for the past three decades. "Over my 16 tours of duty in the Foreign Service, I've been posted to hellholes like Brasilistan, Marche Noir, and Maxtopia. And then I see some champagne-sipping flunky waltz on in to become the ambassador, despite having never worked a day in their life. Every ambassador should have as much diplomatic experience as I do before being considered for the job."
Effect: Most ambassadors from @@NAME@@ retire only a few years after being appointed
3. @@RANDOMNAME@@, the sole survivor of the infamous Embassy Bombing in Marche Noir, limps into your office with a cane. "It's war out there, @@LEADER@@," @@HE@@ rasps in a broken voice. "The things I've seen, the horrible things I've had to do, the countless nights I've spent awake working on that free-trade agreement have left me a broken @@MAN@@. Bring us home, @@LEADER@@; shutter our embassies abroad and bring us all home."
Effect: News articles are full of heartwarming stories featuring long-time diplomats reuniting with their families and pets
4. "I spy an opportunity..." says your seldom-seen Minister of Whispers, who has somehow appeared besides you. "What our nation needs is for our ambassadors to be trained and equipped for- specialized operations - in foreign nations. Imagine our most elite black-ops agents, striking under cover of darkness to promote my- I mean, our nation's- goals. Think about it. I know you'll make the right choice."
Effect: @@NATION@@'s ambassadors all have steel-gray eyes and an empty soul