Word: bonne
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...deny that summitry and shuttle diplomacy have pretty much ended the traditional role of the ambassador as a decision maker and formulator of policy. "Not such a long time ago, instructions came by couriers on horseback or by ship," says a West German diplomat. "Now," says a Bonn Chancellery colleague, "if Schmidt wants to talk to Giscard, he picks up the phone...
...briefed on the U.S.'s proposed response to the Soviet invasion, the West Germans were stung by the President's handling of the Olympic boycott. Administration officials had first told West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt that a boycott was not being considered. Carter changed his mind, and Bonn was given only two hours' notice before the boycott was announced. Said a West German diplomat of last week's Security Council debacle: "The U.N. flip-flop is just one more piece of evidence to support Schmidt's contention that West Europeans must look out for themselves...
...whirlwind tour had become urgently necessary in the wake of the French refusal to take part in a five-nation parley with the U.S., originally scheduled for last week in Bonn. Deeply concerned about French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing's coolness to U.S. diplomatic initiatives, Washington decided that even a series of bilateral talks would do more to restore a sense of cohesion within the Western alliance than no consultations at all. "There is no substitute for face to face," said one senior U.S. official on the trip. "It's a hell of a lot easier...
...Bonn the Secretary had to mollify some outspoken critics of U.S. moves in the post-Afghanistan era. Certain West German officials had privately derided Carter's Olympic boycott as "downright dumb." Chancellor Helmut Schmidt resented not being consulted in advance about this decision. A bare two hours' notice on the day of its announcement, he observed unsmilingly, was "a little late." The West Germans also feared serious setbacks to their international trade if they followed Carter's proscriptions on commercial dealings with Moscow...
...Estaing and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt issued a joint statement strongly condemning the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Three days later, Paris abruptly declared that it would not be represented at a German-sponsored meeting of Western European foreign ministers with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Bonn. Once again, France stood out as seemingly arrogant and as the ally least disposed to back Washington in an international crisis...