“Sergio Gor and the perils of unfiltered diplomacy: When candour becomes a liability”, Firstpost, Aug 26, 2026.

“Diplomats are trained to protect sensitive information. Silence and discretion are part of the job. Over time they build deep personal bonds with foreign peers and keep discussions secret to protect mutual interests, for they know that leaking a single detail breaks international trust and ruins the atmosphere. They practise ‘trained control’, guarding their words every single day until quietness becomes a habit.

However, diplomacy in the 21st century is changing. Political loyalists and unconventional operators are increasingly being preferred to traditional career diplomats. A premier example of this shift is Sergio Gor, the US Ambassador to India, who proved that traditional diplomatic secrecy has no place in the age of unfiltered public storytelling, leaving India’s Ministry of External Affairs scrambling to explain normal protocol and its own version of whatever Gor had said.

Handpicked by US President Donald Trump for his fierce loyalty and background in political communications rather than any experience in handling diplomatic relations, Gor brings an “unfettered”, transactional energy to New Delhi. While this direct line to the White House can accelerate commercial and defence initiatives, diplomacy ultimately demands a level of structural finesse that political operatives often lack.

This lack of institutional discretion was laid bare when Gor’s public remarks regarding a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump placed India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a highly uncomfortable diplomatic bind……………………….”

Read the full article at Firstpost.