diplomacy

Sunday, April 12, 2009
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THE LANGUAGE OF DIPLOMACY
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According to Talleyrand (see below) “Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts.” Elsewhere he gives the following definition of non-intervention: “Mot metaphysique et politique qui signifie a peu pres la meme chose qu'intervention.” (A metaphysical and political word that means approximately the same thing as intervention.)
Had our revolutionaries known what Talleyrand knew, namely that, in diplomacy verbal support means the opposite of military intervention, the Genocide could have been averted.
What a difference a single word makes! No wonder medieval Jewish scribes copying the scriptures were warned a single wrong letter would mean the destruction of the world.
Which is why Turks are against the use of the word genocide: they know it would usher in escalating territorial and financial demands with no end in sight, in addition to legitimizing Kurdish territorial claims.
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Talleyrand (1754-1838) maybe said to have been the French Mikoyan. No matter who was at the top he got along with him. He knew how to compromise, adapt, and survive. Like Mikoyan he was educated in a seminary and it was said of him (as it could have been said of Mikoyan): “He would sell his soul for money, and he would be right for he would be exchanging dung for gold.”
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Monday, April 13, 2009
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MY FAVORITE AMERICAN WRITER
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It was in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones that I first “met” Gandhi, and it was in Gandhi's writings that I first read about Thoreau. I dare anyone to read him (Thoreau) and not be infatuated by his down-to-earth honesty and style that does not take any prisoners.
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On politicians: “Office-seekers and speech-makers who do not so much as lay an honest egg.”
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On patriotism: “The remembrance of my country spoils my walk.”
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On society: “Pigs in a littler which lie close together to keep each other warm.”
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On wealth: “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.”
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On his fellow men: “The man I meet with is not often so instructive as the silence he breaks.”
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On his choice of career: “I have tried trade; but I found that it would take ten years to get under way in that, and that then I should probably be on my way to the devil.”
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
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ON BLUNDERS
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Since the number of blunders is infinite and man's capacity to commit them without limit, both the young and the old, the experienced and the inexperienced, the careful and the careless, and the wise and the fool are destined to commit an equal number of them.
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MAN AND GOD
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If to believe in God were the same as believing in men who speak in His name, a suicidal terrorist would qualify as a man of faith instead of a brainwashed fanatic and a brainless dupe.
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THE GOOD AND THE BAD
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In the presence of a bad man I am diminished. In the presence of a good man I am born again.
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ON BEING HONEST
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One of the benefits of being honest is to be shunned by crooks.
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ON ECOLOGY
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God is not an ecologist. He exterminated dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, the mammoth, and countless other species.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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DRAGON'S TEETH
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“The Passage du Commerce Saint-André” by Balthus is no doubt one of the most mysterious paintings by one of the most enigmatic modern painters. The old man in it is identified by Balthus himself as an Armenian. See BALTHUS: A BIOGRAPHY by Nicholas Fox Weber (New York, 1999), page 27.
I am reminded of the words of a much traveled Dutch doctor who once told me: “No matter where you go, you will run into an Armenian.”
If Talaat were alive today he would be willing to concede that deporting Armenians was a blunder because it amounted to sowing dragon's teeth.
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In DICTIONARY OF LITERARY AND THEMATIC TERMS by Edward Quinn (New York, 2000), there is an entry on “naturalism,” with a single bibliographic source, Y.H. Krikorian's NATURALISM AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT (1944).
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ON THE ART OF WRITING
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Reduce a page into a single line.
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ON THE ART OF LIVING
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“Divorce reason and marry booze.” This according to Omar Khayyam.
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ACCORDING TO HORACE
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“Poems written by water-drinkers have a short lifespan.”
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ON LITERARY IMMORTALITY
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It lasts as long as the blink of an eye when measured in cosmic time.
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MORE WORDS OF WISDOM
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Viscount Samuel: “It is those who strive to make things better who save them from becoming worse.”
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The TALMUD: “Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has another friend: be discreet.”
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