| Non, Nyet, Nein |
14 April 2003
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Coalition of the Unwilling Meets, Decides Nothing
One Russian newspaper called the tri-partite meeting of President Chirac, Chancellor Schroeder and President Putin the "Summit of Losers." While the temptation to award them laurels for trying to prevent a war is significant, they failed, and the journalist who gave it that title was right. What is worse is they appear to have no plan for winning the post-war settlement either.
Of the three, President Chirac came out the biggest loser, to the extent that Americans order "Liberty Fries" rather than "French Fries," although rather unfairly, the hamburger retains its German name. Yet, he is no fool, so it is puzzling why he did not take the next big step and get the other two to sign on to a formal plan for UN administration of Iraq under the occupation.
With no troops on the ground, France, Germany and Russia are out of the game until they have a diplomatic plan to pursue. What they need to to seize control of the agenda, which would require a formal plan. This would allow them to take control of the terms of debate. The first plan out of the box will be the basis of discussion, and as any good negotiator knows, writing that working draft is the key to winning; that which is objectionable is left out and must be negotiated in, while that which is desirable is in and must be negotiated out.
What the Summit of Losers gave the world, instead, was some posturing and a dismal effort to regain some political capital. Rather than a bold stroke designed to gain the initiative, they backed a whining declaration about the UN and multi-polarism and couldn't get UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to turn up. No wonder they couldn't keep the peace.