Clark explains three levels of diplomacy. We need a President who will work at level three.

calteacherguy

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-19-07 10:29 PM
Original message

Clark explains three levels of diplomacy. We need a President who will work at level three.

Edited on Sun Aug-19-07 10:35 PM by calteacherguy

CLARK: According to O'Reilly diplomacy's like having a chat. (laughter) But of course, then he's never done diplomacy.

(laughter and applause)

CLARK: This- Imagine diplomacy's three levels. Okay? Level one is the most superficial kind of diplomacy that says, 'Okay, I'll talk to you, you no good, stinking you,' you know, 'Get out of here. If you ever do this, I'll blow your head off.' Okay. That's check the block. Thank you very much for the diplomacy. The next level down is, this is what I call the Jim Baker diplomacy. You walk in to the guy and you say, 'You know,' (clears throat) 'I'm here representing the United States' (Texas accent) 'and I wonder what it's goin' take for you boys to see things our way.' (laughter) And so, you get into the sort of horse tradin'. Say, 'I'll give you this if you'll give me that.' That's the second level of diplomacy.

The third level is the level that I'm talking about. You go in with a statement of principles. You say things like, 'Borders should be respected.' 'People should have rights.' 'Nations should choose their own form of government.' 'No nation should use force to threaten another nation.' Say, 'Which one of these principles do you agree with?' When they say, 'We agree with all of them,' you say, 'Good. Can we, can we sign a statement and sort of say there's an agreement in principle here on these things?' And you work it through statements and agreements of principles into greater community of interests, into organizations that can deal with those specific interests. Is it about border controls? Is it about the movement of agricultural products? Is it about marketing petroleum. Is it about sharing refining assets? Is it about exchanging security? Is it about turning over Al Qaeda members held in Iraq? Is it about releasing reserves that have been held in New York, financial reserves? There's a multiplicity of issues. There's a long way we can go down there.

But diplomacy's not simply going in and threatening them and saying, 'There, I talked to them. Okay? You guys do this again, you're dead.' (laughter) Diplomacy's not simply going in and say, 'I'll give you this. You give me that.' It's about changing people's perception of their future possibilities. Imagine if Iran actually believed it could be accepted as a member of the world community, join the World Trade Organization, receive financial assistance from Western banks, major Western..., be invested in by the American oil industry (laughter), and participate in all the fruits of the economy. Imagine that. The Iranian people would love it. They want blue jeans, pop music, travel and access, just like the people of Eastern Europe. Surely, we can build a dialog which diffuses tensions and may give us an opportunity to find common interests or convergent interests, and surely we have to try to do that before we resort to threats or beyond. And that's what I mean by diplomacy.

It hasn't been done, and we need your help so our elected Representatives will put the pressure on this administration to do it or force the administration to acknowledge the bankruptcy of its strategies and policies. We need leadership from you Kossacks, the future. Give us that leadership! Thank you!

(applause and cheering)

CLARK: Great to be with you. Thank you.

http://securingamerica.com/node/2601