Word: ambassadors
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...through France's political scene. With one move, Sarkozy robbed his Socialist Party foes of one of their most famous members, tempered his image as a partisan right-winger, and sent a message to leaders across the world that his government would bring big changes. Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and a close friend of Kouchner, calls it an "astonishing" appointment, predicting: "This could mean major changes in French foreign policy in Israel, Africa, Washington. This is not the same old, same...
...intending to strengthen presidential control over foreign affairs rather than delegate more of it away. It was Sarkozy, not Kouchner, for example, who delivered the opening remarks at the Foreign Ministers' summit on Darfur on June 25. And Sarkozy has brought Jean-David Levitte, the respected former French ambassador to Washington, back to Paris to be his national security adviser, based in the Elysée Palace. Kouchner also has deep political differences with Sarkozy - he voted for Sarkozy's Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal - including a long-standing belief that Turkey should become a member...
HOWEVER TEMPTED THEY may be, active diplomats can't insult world leaders. So the esteemed former Swiss ambassador to the U.S. Edouard Brunner waited until retirement. Brunner, former U.N. mediator in the Middle East, caused a stir in 2002 when he wrote that Margaret Thatcher was solely responsible for the failure of initial talks between Britain and the newly democratic Argentina after the Falklands war, calling the former Prime Minister "vindictive." (Thatcher did not comment.) Brunner...
...major U.S-led offensive of the war. "We couldn't really call it what it is, Operation Last Chance," says a senior military official. There is widespread awareness among the military and diplomatic players in Baghdad that, with patience dwindling in Washington, they have only until September - when Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due to give Congress a progress report - to show significant gains in taming the jihadist insurgency and in arresting the country's descent into civil war. Phantom Thunder is an effort to dislodge al-Qaeda from its bases of operation in the suburban belts north and south...
...Nakagawa is hardly a lone dissenter. Japan's Ambassador to the U.S. Ryozo Kato called the bill "harmful to Japan-U.S. relations," while Foreign Minister Taro Aso said it was "regrettable." Tokyo is also actively lobbying in Washington against the resolution, which is, nonetheless, expected to be adopted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on June...