ne hundred years ago, in the days when diplomatic summits followed wars, carved up continents and sometimes lasted months (today’s attendees complain if they run past midnight), Harold Nicolson attended the Paris Peace Conference as a junior U.K. diplomat. His conclusion: “Amateurish diplomacy leads to improvisation.”
“Nothing could be more fatal than the habit (the at present persistent and pernicious habit) of personal contact between the Statesmen of the World,” the Bloomsbury-set diarist and author wrote in his account of the 1919 talks. “Diplomacy is the art of negotiating documents in a ratifiable and therefore dependable form. It is by no …read more
Source:: European Voice
