Word: kirkpatrick
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...tirade was the latest shock in what some White House aides bluntly refer to in private as "the Kirkpatrick problem." Worse, the speech came only days after she and Secretary of State Alexander Haig deeply embarrassed the Administration by missing signals on how the U.S. should vote on a Security Council resolution concerning a Falklands ceasefire. The two events served to highlight the apparent inability of Reagan's foreign policy team to speak with a single, coherent voice. But they also renewed speculation that Kirkpatrick, who has had a long-running feud with Haig, might be removed from...
...White House attempted to play down the Kirkpatrick speech. But aides traveling with the President confessed to astonishment at her behavior. Said one incredulous adviser: "Can you believe she made that speech while we're over here? What's the matter with her?" Asked by reporters whether he agreed that U.S. foreign policy was inept, Haig shrugged good-naturedly: "No more so than 200 some years of American history. At times it is. At times it's not." For her part, Kirkpatrick claimed correctly but somewhat irrelevantly that she had "said nothing I have not said...
...Kirkpatrick's difficulties stem, at least in part, from the nature of her job. Says one knowledgeable diplomatic source: "She has been shocked into seeing that her role is a marginal one. You can't change the framework of existing foreign policy in New York." Indeed, ever since the U.N. ambassadorship became a Cabinet-level post in 1961, the position has had a complicated dual status. As a Cabinet member, Kirkpatrick is entitled to press her views on the President. At the same time, however, she must report to and take orders from the Secretary of State. Apparently...
...Kirkpatrick's brusque manner has ruffled friend and foe alike, and occasionally dulls her effectiveness as a diplomat. Last year, for example, when 93 "nonaligned" countries signed a document criticizing the U.S. for, among other things, "aggression," after a pair of U.S. Navy jets shot down two Libyan fighters over the Gulf of Sidra, Kirkpatrick lashed out with a letter accusing them of what she called "absurd and erroneous charges" and "fabrications and vile at tacks." The upshot was that countries planning to criticize the document decided to keep silent, for fear of appearing to side with...
Despite her tough-minded, critical approach to her job, Kirkpatrick has made few practical changes that might give the U.S. more clout. She is often behind schedule, and her staff once kept Soviet U.N. Ambassador Oleg Troyanovsky cooling his heels in the lobby of the U.S. mission for 15 minutes. In another embarrassing incident, her entourage attended a North Korean diplomatic reception by mistake, thinking it was hosted by South Koreans. Morale has been so poor that two key staffers have quit in the past year, partly as a result of Kirkpatrick's lack of concern for administrative detail...