Word: diplomatized
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...strong backer of Doe, has assigned two military advisers to counsel the Liberian command on how to restore and maintain army discipline. But asked when the killing would stop, one Monrovia-based diplomat gave this reply: "When the army runs out of ammunition...
...ironfisted retaliation, but De Klerk stands for law. In an action both symbolic and concrete, President de Klerk quickly dismantled the shadowy National Security Management System, which controlled the black townships, and downgraded the State Security Council. "The most important thing about De Klerk," says a senior Western diplomat, "is that he is a civilian. He believes in civilian control and getting away from the junta way of doing things...
...Clearly," says U.S. Ambassador William Swing, who was a junior diplomat in South Africa in the mid-1960s, "there has not been a time in my association with this country that the prospects for a settlement along just lines have been as favorable." Yet Pretoria is notorious for its habit of taking two steps backward for every step forward. De Klerk is urging against unrealistic hopes. But if he fails to fulfill at least some of the expectations, he will risk a powerful backlash that could wreck any prospect for progress in the near future...
Perhaps the only realistic outcome at this time is a transitional one, to what one deeply involved Western diplomat calls a "zebra-striped government." Says he: "Power sharing with a real share for the blacks is definitely on offer in the next phase. A surrender of white power is not." But, he adds, once that first hurdle is surmounted, South Africa will be poised for the final jump. "The next constitution," says this diplomat, "will not be the ultimate constitution...
There is at least some possibility of a coalition that would unite angry conservatives in the party with worried bureaucrats at all levels and military men who resent their increasing role in controlling ethnic rebellion. "There is grist for their mill," says a senior Western diplomat in Moscow of such opponents. "They want to restore centralization, keep the country strong. It's a prescription for a real Russian-dominated empire." If disorder does increase, he adds, "maybe a leader will emerge...