Word: diplomats
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...extremists of the left are trying to reinforce their position, thereby setting the scene for possible civil war. The Ayatullah Khomeini, old and ailing, does not understand modern statecraft, diplomacy or administration. Jimmy Carter does not know how to deal with him; neither does anybody else. Says a European diplomat: "What can you do when faced with a mad geriatric case?" Yet this remarkable old man, and he alone, seems to possess the power to preserve his volatile country from total anarchy?and to free the rest of the American hostages in Tehran...
...child in hand. She suddenly began to shout obscenities at the guards. In an instant the mob started to surge toward her, but photographers provided a distraction, and in the confusion she was quickly led away. Behind her, the crowd kept murmuring, "Kill her, kill her." Said a Western diplomat: "The crowd now represents a 'third force,' and it has to be reckoned with. If either Khomeini or the students were to try to negotiate, I wouldn't rule out a mass attack by this...
...stupid, vindictive old man"?their official support seemed tepid. Asked New York Times Columnist James Reston: "Where are the allies?" Where, he wondered, are the Europeans who always yearned for "collective security"? European diplomats retorted that they had backed the U.S. as well as they could and that West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in particular, had strongly supported Carter. Schmidt told colleagues: "The West must show unity. We must back the U.S." If the Europeans were restrained, it was probably because 1) it was a time for "cool professionalism," as an American diplomat...
Whatever their views of the U.S.-Iran dispute, diplomats everywhere agree that Khomeini's support of the assault is a dangerous precedent. "Under the tenets of diplomatic immunity," explains Robert Beers, executive director of the American Foreign Service Association, "anyone accredited to another country as a diplomat is entitled to the protection of the host government. This protection is exactly what has been violated in this instance." The outrage in Tehran suggests that this vital principle of discourse between nations may be violated again in this age when terrorism is becoming commonplace. Says Beers sadly, "The old rules simply...
...chance to gain a bit of image-building publicity. If Arafat's emissaries were successful, the Palestinians could boast that they had turned the other cheek by helping Israel's protector and ally; if they failed, the world would at least give them credit for trying. As one Israeli diplomat bitterly observed, "It was a no-lose situation...