Meantime, In the Twilight Months of the He's Still Presidency, Diplomacy v. Confrontation Debate

Meantime, In the Twilight Months of the He's Still Presidency, Diplomacy v. Confrontation Debate Continues

Former Clinton Mid East peace negotiator (and reported Hillary Clinton advisor) Dennis Ross writes in a Wall Street Journal oped today:

"A basic tool of statecraft, negotiations are used in every facet of foreign policy: to prevent conflict, to conclude hot or cold wars, to reconcile with former enemies, to build coalitions against possible aggressors, to mobilize donor efforts for reconstruction after conflicts or natural disasters, to forge or alter trade agreements, to persuade others to transform their behavior, and so on.

"Negotiations certainly can be treated as a reward for those whose behavior one wants to change -- and that is basically the way the Bush administration has approached them with adversaries. But if you approach negotiations this way, it means denying yourself a basic means to alter the behavior of others.

"It also means denying yourself a basic tool to learn about those whose behavior you want to change. Direct talks offer a window into the psychic and political world of others -- their aims, wants, needs and fears, as well as their readiness and capability to change. ...

"Why, in a world in which our power is not unlimited and in which our standing and credibility have declined, would we want to deny ourselves one of the tools available for promoting and protecting our interests around the globe?"

Such common sense, it requires stepping back and appreciating for the millionth time the degree to which ideological fervor has so captured Washington policy discussion the past seven years that saying negotiations are a useful foreign policy tool makes a compelling, even daring American newspaper oped in the summer of 2008.

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http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/05/8342_meantime_
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"...the He's Still Presidency". I love that.