Diplomats’ language skills can stop wars – we must not let them slide
That are foreign offices for? In theory, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the diplomatic service should help the government conduct our international relations on the basis of a deep understanding of other countries. Yet in practice things aren’t so easy, and world affairs can sometimes take diplomatic services by surprise.
Back in 1992, I attended a top-level briefing of the prime minister on events in Yugoslavia, a crisis that scarcely anybody around the world had foreseen. At previous crisis briefings I had always felt somebody knew not only the main players but also their fathers and probably their grandfathers.… Seguir leyendo »