{"id":23,"date":"2006-08-01T13:46:59","date_gmt":"2006-08-01T18:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=23"},"modified":"2018-02-28T14:35:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T19:35:28","slug":"a-vocabulary-lesson-for-us-policymakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=23","title":{"rendered":"A Vocabulary Lesson for U.S. Policymakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute, www.minaret.org<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Among the many shortcomings of US foreign policy seems to be a general lack of understanding of key diplomatic terms. In the effort to aid my country in solving these shortcomings, I submit the following examples: <\/span><\/p>\n

DIPLOMACY: <\/span><\/strong>1. <\/span><\/strong>international relations: <\/span><\/strong>the management of communication and relationships between nations by members and employees of each nation’s government[1] <\/span><\/p>\n

This definition would assume that key actors in an international crisis wishing to pursue a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdiplomatic path\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 would engage employed representatives of their respective countries to communicate. Yet, as seen recently with its disputes with <\/span>Iran<\/span> and <\/span>Syria<\/span>, the <\/span>United States<\/span> seems to be taking the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclow road\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by refusing to enter into direct negotiations<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

NEGOTIATION<\/span><\/strong>-1. <\/span><\/strong>resolving of disagreements: the reaching of agreement through discussion and compromise <\/span><\/p>\n

An example of American policymakers failure to understand this definition can be seen in their recent attempts to reach the negotiating table with <\/span>Iran<\/span>. The <\/span>United States<\/span> wishing to halt <\/span>Iran<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s development of nuclear technology, insist that before negotiations<\/span><\/em> could begin, <\/span>Iran<\/span> would first have to halt their development of nuclear technology. Perhaps diplomats were confusing negotiation<\/span><\/em> with surrender<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

SURRENDER – <\/span><\/strong>1. intransitive verb declare yourself defeated: to declare to an opponent that he or she has won so that fighting or conflict can cease
\n2. transitive verb give up possession of something: to relinquish possession or control of something because of coercion or force <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, as a precondition to a ceasefire<\/span><\/em> in <\/span>Lebanon<\/span>, the <\/span>US<\/span> insists that the Lebanese government surrender<\/span><\/em> its sovereignty to the United Nations and for Hizbullah to surrender<\/span><\/em> their weapons. Therefore, in the present violent conflict over <\/span>Lebanon<\/span>, diplomats also seem to be confusing surrender<\/span><\/em> and ceasefire<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

CEASEFIRE<\/span><\/strong>– 1. agreement to stop fighting: an agreement between opposing sides in a conflict that they will stop fighting, usually for a limited time during which they will try to reach a more permanent peace agreement <\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, in supporting the continued fighting rather than an immediate ceasefire<\/span><\/em>, policymakers claim that a ceasefire<\/span><\/em> will not lead to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dca more permanent peace agreement,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 despite the clear link between ceasefire<\/span><\/em> and peace<\/span><\/em> in the definition of ceasefire<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

PEACE<\/span><\/strong>– 1. freedom from war: freedom from war, or the time when a war or conflict ends <\/span><\/p>\n

Since making a Lebanese effort to disarm Hizbullah a pre-condition for a ceasefire<\/span><\/em> does not terminate the present conflict but rather ignites a new conflict in the form of a Lebanese civil war (as the regime change in Iraq ignited a new conflict there), this leads to the ultimate question as to whether the US policymakers are truly dedicated to peace<\/span><\/em> in the Middle East at all, or whether they have some other objective in mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Definitions taken from Encarta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s online dictionary<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute, www.minaret.org Among the many shortcomings of US foreign policy seems to be a general lack of understanding of key diplomatic terms. In the effort to aid my country in solving these shortcomings, I submit the following examples: DIPLOMACY: 1. international relations: the management of communication and relationships between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18262,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/18262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}