Word: agreement
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...goes to years of tireless work by E.U. officials. Sarkozy's warmer relations with the U.S. shouldn't and can't hide the deep differences that France and Europe have with America - and not just on Iraq. And it's hard to fully applaud his success in Europe's agreement on the simplified treaty when, elsewhere, Sarkozy sends the message to Germany and others that their work to trim deficits and reform economies aren...
...North Koreans in turn announced how happy they were that the U.S. had agreed to take Pyongyang off its list of state sponsors of terrorism, something Kim has long sought. The only problem is that the U.S. later flatly denied that Pyongyang was off the list, saying the February agreement only held that out as a prospect if and when the North verifiably no longer had nukes...
That's not to say such calculated ambiguity never works for diplomats. After all, the language of an agreement has to be acceptable not just to leaders but to their citizens. Reasonable leaders might thus come to an understanding between themselves, while each exploits the ambiguities of the deal to sell it to their country's more bellicose factions. What's more, diplomats can gamble that times will change and circumstances will bring the two sides together, at which point they can resolve the vagueness amicably...
...international groupings, where hot air outweighs actual action, APEC usually accomplishes little of substance, other than the traditional goofy closing photo of national leaders wearing the native dress of the host country. From rich Japan to impoverished Indonesia, APEC is too large and too varied to easily come to agreement on anything. "I don't think it's realistic to expect there will be any major reductions at APEC because different countries are always coming with different perspectives," says Jamie Metzl, executive vice-president of the Asia Society...
...which emphasize clean technology and energy efficiency over hard emissions caps - get Beijing and Washington talking at the same table, this APEC summit would accomplish more than most. "Howard argues that his approach is the only way to bring major emitters - code for China and the U.S. - into an agreement, and that any agreement without them would be pointless," says Malcolm Cook, program director for Asia and the Pacific at Sydney's Lowy Institute for International Policy...