It all started rather innocuously.

The US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, was visiting the home of an opposition figure, reportedly a victim of enforced disappearance back in 2013, whose sister now acts as the principal convenor of Maayer Dak (Mother's Call), an advocacy group for the families of such victims. Unbeknown to the US Embassy, the news about the visit was leaked and a group of people belonging to another group called Maayer Kanna (Mother's Tears), that has sprung up more recently advocating for a different set of victims, appeared just in time at the location to confront the envoy.

Ambassador Haas, feeling threatened, cut his visit short and immediately rushed to the office of the Foreign Minister to protest. Later the US Mission in Dhaka issued a press release placing the matter on the record. The next day a senior official at the State Department in Washington summoned the Bangladesh Ambassador for a polite dress down for this breach of diplomatic protocol.

Had the matter rested at this, the situation would have been considered just a pebble hurled at a placid pond. But then a few overenthusiastic politicos in the ruling circle took the opportunity to muddy the waters by attacking the US for meddling in Bangladesh's internal affairs. Some of them, out of bad habits practiced over many years, went overboard, and spoke in a language not always fit in most G-rated movies.

The affair soon became an international scandal as Russia decided to enter the fray. In a harshly worded statement that sounded more like an op-ed that would have made many of our seasoned columnists rather green-eyed, the Russian mission in Dhaka accused the US of meddling in another country's internal matters. This is nothing but another exposition of America's expansionist behavior, something that Russia would never do, the press release solemnly declared. Ironically, the statement was made at a time when Russia is engaged in a protracted invasion against its weaker neighbour Ukraine and continues to station thousands of soldiers and a whole fleet of attack jets in Syria, killing at will political opponents of Bashar Al-Assad. This is in addition to many hundreds of mercenaries from the Kremlin-related Wagner Group who continue to wreak havoc in parts of West Africa.

This spat between Dhaka and Washington comes in the aftermath of the glowing celebration of fifty years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Both countries have expressed their deep satisfaction with their continuing friendship and fraternal relationship. The US President in a felicitous letter to Bangladesh's Prime Minister even forecasted that such a fruitful friendship would continue over the next fifty years and beyond.

So, what happened?

This is not a difficult riddle that can't be easily uncorked. Bangladesh is preparing for a general election next year and as a result, the political landscape is heating up. The US has long been cautioning Bangladesh about its failure to create an adequate democratic space for the opposition and not ensuring transparency and election fairness. Similarly, the US State Department has on many previous occasions hammered Dhaka on violation of human rights as well.

The tension between the two countries took a serious turn last year in December when the US slapped economic and travel sanctions on several senior members of Bangladesh's elite Rapid Action Battalion for abuse of human rights. This unexpected development was a huge embarrassment for the government. To add insult to injury, Washington decided to drop Dhaka from its list of invitees to Biden's Democracy Summit that took place around that time. Many deemed it to be a slap that further infuriated Dhaka.

The sanctions were so embarrassing for Dhaka that Foreign Minister Abdul Momen personally approached his counterpart Anthony Blinken urging him to lift them. When nothing happened, Dhaka decided to appoint a lobbying firm to do their bidding which would cost the national exchequer some $20,000 a month. We were told this was necessary as our diplomats in Washington were too tied up doing their regular business. The truth though may have been that they had tried and found the doors bolted from the inside. (I am just speculating).

There is a likely link between the events of this December to those of the last. The US, especially the Biden Administration, has made it amply clear its preference for a Bangladesh that stands the test of multiparty democracy. The previous Administration, too, had expressed its displeasure at the abundance of irregularity in the last general elections and repeatedly called for creating a safe space for the democratic opposition.

Washington, whether it follows its prescription or not, has always made the promotion of democracy, human rights, and fighting terrorism the centerpiece of its foreign policy outreach. Many, including Michael Kugelman of the Washington-based Wilson Center, are hesitant to attach a whole lot of importance to the US Government's oft-repeated lofty principles of democracy and human rights. He however seems more sympathetic to the Biden Administration's avowed insistence on democratic expansion. Last year, in a lengthy article in Foreign Policy, he kind of applauded the incoming administration for its principled pronouncements. At the same time, he noted the Administration was quite selective in its approach. For example, for its Democracy Summit, it ditched Dhaka for human rights violations but had no compunction about the Modi Government, perhaps a worse offender.

Kugelman and many other pundits continue to believe that despite the occasional public spats, relations between Dhaka and Washington are quite good. On most issues of common interest, the two countries are pretty much on the same page. The US remains the second most important trading partner for Bangladesh. Both countries would like to see this partnership expand further. On confronting terrorism, the two are strategically aligned, a central focus of their regular partnership dialogue. For the US, another unspoken objective is to push Bangladesh away from China.

Foreign Minister Abdul Momen himself has often spoken of excellent relations prevailing between the two countries. He feels the current tension is a molehill, not a mountain. Last week, following a seminar in Dhaka, he repeated the assertion and cited the fact that this year alone officials of the two countries had met no less than 16 times. As for the sanctions against RAB officials, the Foreign Minister argued they had a positive side. "Our relations are excellent, that's why they advised us (about RAB's conduct). In fact, this is a good thing, not a thing to be worried about."

In other words, everything is hunky dory.

However, the concerns over personal security expressed by US Ambassador Haas are not to be glossed over. This is not the first time a US diplomat has been physically threatened. In 2018, Ambassador Marcia Bernicat encountered a similar experience. Let's not forget that diplomatic relations between countries are governed by the 1961 Vienna Convention. Both the USA and Bangladesh are signatories to that treaty. It would be wise to remember that there are Bangladeshi diplomats in the USA, who too could face similar threats. Besides, there are close to a million Bangladeshis living in the US. Any overt worsening of relations between the two countries could adversely affect them. Hate crime against Asians is on the rise in the US, especially in larger cities. Groups are looking for pretexts to assault Asians. Let's not encourage them by giving them an excuse.

Diplomatic etiquette is a sign of political maturity. Many of our overzealous politicos would do better to remember former US Senator Lincoln Chafe's wise counsel that some things are better left unsaid. Besides, it is also good politics. Foul-mouthed politicians may score a point or two by hurling abusive language, but the damage they do could go a long way.