The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2023

16 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL political movements around the world led by women, and what the U.S. is doing to aid the people of Ukraine and Afghani- stan. She also touched on Russian Presi- dent Vladimir Putin’s relationship with Iran and China. Asked about how her current role speaks to the power of diplomacy, she said: “What I’ve learned is that, even with limitations, diplomacy is the best path that we have, and we need to continue to pursue a diplomatic path to achieve whatever it is we’re trying to achieve, and we’ve had some successes. We got 143 member states in the [U.N.] Security Council to condemn Russia’s annexations of Ukrainian territory.” Other speakers and panelists at the event included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, several U.S. women members of Congress and state repre- sentatives, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, former Afghan parliamentar- ian Naheed A. Farid, and international female journalists, among many others. G20 Takeaways T he two-day summit in Bali that brought together the world’s Group of 20 (G20) wealthiest nations concluded in November 2022 with no joint declara- tions due to Russian opposition to any references to the war in Ukraine. Nevertheless, some leaders adopted a declaration deploring the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine and demanding its unconditional withdrawal, Reuters reported . The day before the summit, Presi- dent Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a highly anticipated bilateral meeting, the first between the two since President Biden took office. Perhaps the most concrete outcome was that Secre- tary Blinken now plans to visit China early this year—the highest-level U.S. visit to China in more than four years, NPR wrote. By the close of the summit, G20 economies had agreed to pace their interest rate rises carefully to avoid spillovers, to take coordinated action to address food security challenges, and to work to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Embassy Plans Run Afoul of Simians G ambian activists and conservation- ists have condemned a plan to build an American embassy inside a park that’s home to endangered Western Red Colobus monkeys. On Oct. 27, the Gambian govern- ment said it had signed a memorandum of agreement to sell 10 hectares of land located within the Bijilo Forest Park and Nature Trail, near the capital of Banjul, to the U.S. government for the construc- tion of a new embassy, according to Gambian outlet The Voice . In a Facebook post, U.S. Embassy Banjul promised that “consistent with the United States’ global environmental diplomacy pledge, we will construct a green embassy facility and collaborate with local environmental experts on the best ways to preserve the natural sur- roundings and abundant plant life at the project site.” The embassy would replace existing structures, Bloomberg reported, includ- ing the park’s visitors center, without affecting the 51-hectare reserve itself. n This edition of Talking Points was compiled by Julia Wohlers. I n foreign politics, things are some- times what they seem, but rarely what they are called. We distinguish good diplomacy from bad by the results obtained and the price paid. Official diplomacy must carry on in the world as it is, and not in the world as it should be. An overwhelming success should be avoided, and never admitted. When negotiations are over, a true diplomat should make out that he has obtained less than he desired. Thus he prepares the way for asking more another time, and he does not leave his adversary with a rankling sense of defeat. … People imagine that the difficulties of diplomatic dealings are only with foreign governments. It is not so. The most difficult [government] to deal with is generally your own. Diplomacy can, and sometimes must, avail itself of a new technique. But its essence remains the same throughout the ages. Our arts are the immemorial devices of the peasant in the market- place, buying and selling his wares. Not all posts abroad are pleasant and healthy, nor are all governments and colleagues agreeable to deal with. … When a diplomat comes home, he finds that he is out of touch with his own country. His friends have got used to doing without him. — Excerpted from“Handbook of the Perfect Diplomat” (1929), by Italian diplomat Daniele Varè, translated for the Jan. 1972 FSJ . 50 Years Ago Handbook of the Perfect Diplomat (1929)