Despite being the world’s most powerful country, the US has dozens of vacant ambassadorships in the capitals of some of its most important allies. Does the current administration’s disregard for America’s foreign service signal a shift in global attitudes to diplomacy, when picking up the phone for a direct government-to-government chat has never been easier? Andrew Mueller is joined by John Everard, Chas Freeman and Tiina Intelmann to discuss the importance of diplomatic missions.