DIPLOMACY IS ILL-SERVED BY NAME CALLING

Author: JONATHAN CLARKE a member of the British diplomatic service for 20 years,

Edited

Senator Marc Rubio during recent confirmation hearings challenged the Secretary of State designate Mr. Rex Tillerson for his views on President Vladimir Putin demanding to know whether he thought the Russian President was a war criminal. Mr. Rex Tillerson answered that he "wouldn’t use that term. Those are very, very serious charges to make and I want to have much more information." He was right.

A President and/or a Secretary of State should always think carefully before he criticizes another world leader or foreign nation. He should avoid antagonizing others in a personal matter. He should shun insults which lower the President or the Secretary of State’s prestige of the office. Most importantly he should always keep in mind that his criticisms could actually provoke these nations into actions in opposition to the interests of the U.S.

Diplomacy by personalized abuse just does not work. Calling people names may relieve tension or frustration, but will lead policy-makers into grave error if they start believing their own rhetoric. International diplomacy is conducted between sovereign states, complex entities that cannot be given simplistic labels.

A cardinal rule of athletics is never to underestimate your opponents; that puts a dangerous weapon into their hands. So it is with foreign relations. Opponents may be (and often are) highly unsavory. This does not mean, however, that the problems they create can be treated with less than top-class diplomatic finesse.

Demeaning characterization undermines this principle. It creates the impression that a problem is a one-dimensional battle between good and evil, with the good destined to win effortlessly.

U.S. diplomacy must discard ill-conceived abuse as a diplomatic weapon. It doesn't get the job done. Many foreign leaders may be distasteful; their countries may be less well governed and less prosperous than the United States, but this does not mean that they are dopes. If foreigners can play their cards skillfully, Americans had better do so as well. In the critical tests confronting the United States vis-à-vis Russia, a clear head will provide a surer guide than a dictionary of insults.