This is gold, so I cite it in full; regarding Downer's negotiating tactics with the East Timorese government over the Timor gap oil revenues.
Peter Galbraith, the former US diplomat and author of books on foreign policy issues, was attached to the UN office advising the negotiations. He recalls going to Adelaide in 2000 to notify Downer that the East Timorese wanted to renegotiate the "Timor Gap" treaty agreed by the Indonesians in 1989."Somehow he considered this deeply offensive that we were doing it, that I was doing it," Galbraith said. "At the meeting he sort of kept making the point that he'd been more successful than his famous father and perhaps that I'd been less than mine. There was a real psycho-drama there that really had nothing to do with the issue." (Galbraith is the son of the celebrated economist and author J.K. Galbraith. Downer's father, Sir Alexander, was immigration minister in the Menzies government.)
"The thing about the oil negotiations," Galbraith adds, "is that Downer adopted both a condescending and bullying approach both towards the East Timorese and the United Nations that ended up making him one of the most unpopular people in East Timor. "It did considerable damage to Australia's reputation, and ended up for a worse bargain for Australia than a more diplomatic approach would have produced. The matter would have wrapped up sooner and Australia could have had a larger share of the oil."
Galbraith, who is a senior adviser in the presidential campaign of US Democrat candidate Barack Obama, said: "Being Australia's longest-serving foreign minister may not necessarily equal being its best."He won't do any damage in his job as the Cyprus negotiator," Galbraith added, referring to Downer's new job as a UN special envoy. "Because one thing's for sure: if there were any serious chance of making progress between the Greeks and Turks on Cyprus, the UN would not have appointed Downer."
HAMISH McDONALD. 'Downer diplomacy: if you don't succeed, bully again' Sydney Morning Herald July 12, 2008.
10 comments:
This reminds me of another classic Galbraith quote on Downer from several years ago, but I can't remember the words, only that it was a classic. Can anyone remember what it was?
Note sure Jon, but if this lot's anything to go by, I'd like to see the earlier rounds as well.
I still can't remember the exact quote, but Galbraith was pointing out that in his diplomatic career, he'd been the subject of a diplomatic complaint on a few previous occasions. Once was by Slobodan Milosevic, once by Saddam Hussein and some larger number of times by Alexander Downer. The juxtaposition was great.
There's a reference to the comment, but not the actual quote here:
http://www.etan.org/et2002b/april/21-27/24oil.htm
Hehe.
Of course, Saddam had relatively few complaints about Downer.
You may also enjoy this:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/07/03/1214950947565.html
Hmm, didnt seem to work. Mabe the link got chopped.
Is there perhaps some setting I can change to make it appear just as "link"?
Try this
Thaks Jon - that one's a corker. Saw it in the dead tree version
How did you do that linky thing?
With an html anchor tag.
<a href="...">anchored text<a>
Ta Jon!
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