A few years ago Treppenwitz observed:
Has anyone else noticed that most civilized countries don’t list any designated ‘negotiators’ among their dignitaries? Last time I checked, none of the EU members, the U.S., nor any top tier Asian nations lists among their top political echelon anyone described as a ‘negotiator’.
Yet if you look at the countries and entities who seem to have appointed themselves as designated thorns in the side of civilization, each of them has several prominently placed ‘negotiators’ listed on their letterhead.
For example, the Palestinian Authority has the perpetually shrill Saeb Erikat as their chief negotiator, the North Koreans have Kim Kye-gwan named as their chief nuclear negotiator and the Iranians have Saeed Jalili, installed as their top nuclear negotiator.
Doesn’t it seem just the tiniest bit odd that these entities profess a desire for nothing more than peaceful coexistence yet seem to have mounted what amounts to pre-emptive defense strategies, complete with designated council, designed to block all attempts at indictment?
These oleaginous negotiators are invited by the world to sit smugly at polished conference tables wearing bespoke suits and sipping mineral water while playing us for the fools that we apparently are. Their intention seems to be to use the trappings of diplomacy to the same ends that the PLO, Red Brigades and Baader-Meinhof Gang used grenades, AK-47s and hijacked passenger airliners back in the ’70s.
In short, while they seem to have climbed a few rungs up the sartorial ladder and mastered the mind-numbing language of diplomacy, these self-described ‘negotiators’ seem to be nothing more than the same old practitioners of extortion, writ large.
Instead of doing their negotiating via angry communiqués handed out of hijacked airplane cockpits or published in left-wing Italian newspapers, they now deliver their ultimatums across polished conference tables in blasé Oxford-accented tones.
What brings this observation to mind is the recent news that the Arab world has allowed the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel.
Mussa said that the Arab ministers had called for a four-month deadline for the indirect talks.
“Despite a lack of conviction over Israel’s seriousness, (Arab foreign ministers) will give indirect talks a chance, for the final time, in order to facilitate US efforts, within four months,” he said.
“There was a consensus that Israel is not interested in peace, the proof being what is taking place on occupied land… acts which are meant to provoke the Arab and American sides,” he added.
Since 1993 Israel has been negotiating with the PLO and PA. It has done so at great risk to itself and suffered increased terrorism as a result of the concessions it made in the course of those negotiations. The negotiations are aimed at creating a Palestinian state and yet the Palestinians and the Arab world generally treat these negotiations as a favor that they doing for Israel!
It is like Treppenwitz observed, negotiation is merely terror by a different name.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
