Word: diplomatic
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Most U.S. analysts played down the significance of reports that the Syrians and, by implication, the Soviets were preparing for war. Said a senior U.S. diplomat in Washington: "We think it's bluster and bluff to scare the hell out of Lebanon not to ratify the agreement with Israel, no more than that." A Western diplomat in Moscow noted that there was no sign that the Soviets had evacuated any dependents from Damascus. That, he added, was "the important thing...
...offering the regime of Syrian President Hafez Assad more and better materiel than he had before. Moscow, moreover, has added a new dimension to its involvement in Syria by installing SA-5 missile bases that have to be manned by Soviet troops and technicians. Says a West European diplomat in Damascus: "For the first time, the Soviets have bases in Syria. This is a categorical and qualitative change in the nature of Soviet involvement...
...last summer, however, Assad's room for maneuver shrank. Two months ago, Syrian Ambassador Muhammad Ah' Halabi presented his credentials in Moscow. Despite the dramatic increase in Soviet military aid to Syria, foreign analysts are leery of attaching too much importance to the relationship. Says a Western diplomat in Damascus: "Right now this is a very happy marriage of convenience...
Relations between Washington and Kabul became even frostier than usual last week after Afghanistan expelled U.S. Second Secretary Peter Graham, accusing the diplomat of selling pornographic literature in exchange for rugs. Calling the charge "ludicrous and wholly without foundation," the State Department retaliated by ordering Masjaedi Hewadmal, second secretary at the Afghan embassy in Washington, to leave...
...forgery hastened war and the unification of Germany. In 1870, King William I of Prussia met with the French ambassador at Ems and sent a report of what took place to Premier Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck edited this account to make the King appear insulting toward the diplomat and then released his version to the press. As he had hoped, the outraged French attacked Germany, enabling Bismarck to embark on the Franco-Prussian War, which he decisively won. Governmental forgery goes on, in many guises and places. The practices of the Soviet Union's KGB have made the term...