Word: diplomatic
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...bring that about led last week to more intramural conflict within the Reagan Administration, reflecting disagreements of officials groping for a new policy and unable to find any. "We don't know what we can do next," admitted one State Department official. Another senior diplomat grumbled that because of poor communications with Beirut, Washington is having trouble merely determining what is going on. Said he: "We're hamstrung...
...dismissed Chernenko as a faceless bureaucrat who would always be everyone's second choice for the job. Now he was being seen as the last-gasp leader of a gerontocracy intent on keeping the younger generation from moving too quickly into the corridors of power. Said a Western diplomat in Moscow: "If Andropov had lasted another four months, I don't think Chernenko would have made...
...hammer-and-sickle flags above the Kremlin were raised again to full staff. Most dead Soviet leaders vanish quickly into history. It was not clear how much of Andropov's legacy would survive the transition. For the moment, the watchword appeared to be continuity. Said a senior British diplomat...
...According to a widely told anecdote, Romanov ordered Leningrad's Hermitage museum to open its china clos ets so that guests at his daughter's wedding reception could eat in grand style. Several priceless items from Catherine the Great's dinner service were broken during the revelry. One U.S. diplomat who met with Romanov was taken aback when he rudely interrupted his interpreter to correct the translation of one of his titles. Recalls the American visitor: "The impression Romanov gave was one of boorishness and arrogance. He strutted around as if he were lord of all he surveyed...
Privately, British officials were blunt in observing that U.S. prestige suffered badly as a result of the collapse of Gemayel's government and the announcement of the Marine redeployment. Said a London diplomat: "Now Soviet propaganda can have a field day with what is truthfully a humiliating defeat for American foreign policy." The French were even more critical, although their 1,250-member MNF detachment will remain in Beirut while President Francois Mitterrand seeks a U.N. replacement. Said a senior French spokesman: "We will either revive the idea of a U.N. force [in Beirut], or we will conclude that...