The really don’t get that Russia remembers the Mongol invasion, the Chinese remember the Opium Wars, the Indians remember the Salt Tax, the Arabs remember the promises made by Lawrence, the Iranians remember the UK/US overthrow of their prime minister, the Colombians remember the theft of Panama, etc.

Those things matter, they don’t go away, and they color relations forever. The US just doesn’t get it. This past week the US Supreme Court acted as if racism is gone from the US, at the same time a TV personality was watching her empire crumble around her because of her racist rhetoric. The ‘slave states’ are still trying to disenfranchise minority voters, this time with the excuse of ‘voter fraud’.

It is the CEO culture imposed on the rest of us.

I think that things were much simpler until the 80’s. Things were in balance (for the most part), then Ronny and the USA’s paranoia upset that balance. I suspect that in your job you had at least hints that the USSR didn’t really care much about *Star Wars*, but it became a good excuse for them to take more money from the public purse because they were worried about China (as you said). The USA didn’t bankrupt the USSR, they did that to themselves (and some of their Diplomats knew that was going to happen). We were more concerned with the USA because the USA was sticking their over-sized nose in our region too much, and we definitely didn’t trust Reagan or the direction the Republicans were heading. And neither did the USSR or China for that matter. *sigh* Fact is, many Soviet’s didn’t consider the USA a *threat* as such, they considered the USA a PITA and a bunch of amateur *busy bodies*.

The major problem the USA has had for decades is no real long-term vision or goals, either Nationally or Internationally. And until that changes, nobody is safe. Perhaps especially American’s. From what I saw in my time there, I don’t believe the USA has ever truly understood other Nations, I know some individuals did, but they were largely ignored or underrated. The USA has had some great Diplomat’s, and I met a couple. If you talked to any of them, I guarantee they’d be bitter.

Hmmm… Time for some quotations… How about from ‘Yes (Prime) Minister’. 😉

“That’s another of those irregular verbs, isn’t it? I give confidential press briefings; you leak; he’s being charged under section 2A of the Official Secrets Act.”

“You can’t put the nation’s interest at risk just because of some silly sentimentality about justice.”

“Government is not about morality, it is about stability; keeping things going, preventing anarchy, stopping society falling to bits. Still being here tomorrow.”

“A Politician’s dilemma. He must obviously follow his conscience, but he must also know where he’s going. So he can’t follow his conscience, because it may not be going the same way that he is.”

“In government, many people have the power to stop things happening but almost nobody has the power to make things happen. The system has the engine of a lawn mower and the brakes of a Rolls Royce.”

“Press statements are not delivered under oath.”

“Government is not about morality, it is about stability; keeping things going, preventing anarchy, stopping society falling to bits. Still being here tomorrow.”

“Diplomacy is about surviving to the next century. Politics is about surviving until Friday afternoon.”

“The public aren’t interested in foreign affairs. All they want to know is who are the goodies and who are the baddies.”

And last, but by no means least… 😉

[The Prime Minister believes that he gave a clear, simple, straightforward and honest answer.]
Sir Humphrey: Unfortunately, although the answer was indeed clear, simple, and straightforward, there is some difficulty in justifiably assigning to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement, inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information you communicated and the facts, insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated, is such as to cause epistemological problems, of sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be expected to bear.
Hacker: Epistemological — what are you talking about?
Sir Humphrey: You told a lie.
Hacker: A lie?
Sir Humphrey: A lie.
Hacker: What do you mean, a lie?
Sir Humphrey: I mean you… lied. Yes, I know this is a difficult concept to get across to a politician. You… ah yes, you did not tell the truth.
Hacker: You mean we are bugging Hugh Halifax’s telephones?
Sir Humphrey: We were.
Hacker: We were? When did we stop?
Sir Humphrey: [checks his watch] Seventeen minutes ago.

Heh… That show was WAY ahead of it’s time, or perhaps it just shows that things never really change. 😉 Did you know that Maggie Thatcher tried to get the show cancelled several times? She said in her Memoirs that “It was too close to the truth.” 😆

Oh… And perhaps ex-PM Gillard should have watched the show, and understood satire & irony. 😉

“The Prime Minister is much more worried by discontent among back-benchers than among nurses and teachers. Nurses and teachers can’t vote against him until the next election. Back-benchers can vote against him at 10 o’clock tonight.”

And… one last one *for the road*:

“Yes, we will want simultaneous translators. No, not when the PM meets the leaders of the English-speaking nations. Yes, the English-speaking nations can be said to include the United States. With a certain generosity of spirit.”

😆

The people at the top are always looking for short cuts and sure things, instead of just getting on with the job doing what we know works.

Well, you were carrying out negotiations which always require back and forth.

I was never able to convince people that the biggest concern the Soviets had was China. Yes, the US was a threat, but China could actually occupy territory and control it, while the US couldn’t. They would use Mother Mud and Grandfather Frost to deal with most armies, but the Chinese had the people to hold the land, not just take it. Russians remember the last time it happened and lasted for centuries. The US can’t remember last year.

Meekin needs to understand that the best way of avoiding ‘rogues’ like Snowden is to not violate the privacy of Australians.

Sure, listening was important. But often the response to certain questions, phrased in the correct way, at the correct time, were as important if not more. It’s why we spent a lot of time being trained in Psychology and body language (etc.) You never wanted to play poker with anyone in my section. You’d loose everything, and spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how! 😈

I used to enjoy going to a Casino before… Then it became so boring. And the big Casino’s are very good at spotting the *operators*. And they tend not to have a sense of humor about it. 🙂 *shrug*

Trust me m8… You would have loved it! ) 😀

Anyway… Here’s our ‘Spy Chief’s’ take on Snowden:
Spy chief Steve Meekin says Australian intelligence concerned about rogue insiders in wake of Edward Snowden leaks

Uh, Badtux, you do have a financial interest in the expansion of surveillance. If you are lucky, y’all could get a contract for watching people steal the new monitoring equipment the Senate wants to put along the southern border to keep the livestock from water.

As long as we are going to throw money at border security, I think it would be nice if we installed some markers on the US-Canadian border in the plains. It would probably be of interest to the locals to find out where it was, because no one seems to be very sure.

Kryten, my liver would never last in Australia. I have spent some leisure time with RAAF types, and it wasn’t a very pleasant week that followed. I enjoyed the gathering more than the analyzing of the data, and that was one of the reasons I left the service. It was obvious that the people at the top wanted me to do things that weren’t really part of my specialty, but that I had proved I could do. I didn’t go through all of the training, and put up with all of the necessary periodic refreshers, to head off in a different direction. I really liked doing what I had trained for, and that didn’t seem to be very important to the people who were making the decisions. I sort of sneaked out before they figured out what I was doing and hit me with a ‘stop loss’ letter involuntarily extending my enlistment.

Actually, you don’t have to ask questions, you just have to learn how to listen. It is amazing what people will tell you if they believe you are really listening to them. Asking questions can be tricky, because they usually indicate what you are interested in knowing. ‘Active listening’ takes a bit longer, but the information is usually more detailed than you would get from questions.

Yah, USA USA, we’re #1! In surveillance technology, anyhow. Yay.

(H/T Avedon for the Digby ref.)

That is very true, or was. As I’ve mentioned before, I did once question my orders though that was more a case of wrong tasking than legality. My team and I were not suited to the task, we were trained for different missions. Some *Commanders* tend to think that any soldier under their command will do any job no matter what. I had to attend a formal meeting with three superior officers after that even to explain myself (it’s a formal requirement). I did, and that was accepted and the end of it. As the US (should have) learned, wrong tasking of assets only creates problems. And yes, it is a Catch-22. 🙂 Joseph Heller was quite a visionary. Sadly, he passed away in ’99. I always enjoyed his satire! 😀 😉

Unfortunately, only the Officers are required to take a Legal course during trainingnow, and it’s optional. It used to be NCO’s also, and manditory. And the junior ranks were taught to see their NCO’s if they had any misgivings over an order. The NCO’s used to be the *moral & Legal Compass* for a unit, and a buffer between the ranks and the Officers. It’s all changed now… I’m glad I’m out of it. *shrug*

Your FBI always remind me of our ASIO, and Clowns. Except that Clowns get paid to entertain, and most are pretty good at their job’s! IN DIO, I and my team spent more time trying to ensure that ASIO didn’t do something else really stupid than we did doing the job we were supposed be doing (Looking after National Security). It’s a sad day when the biggest threat to Nat. Security is one of your own Security Org’s! (For those who don’t know, ASIO -> ‘The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’. I’m glad to see that ASIO”s role has been watered down and they are now only *Information Gatherer’s* rather than used for Field Operations! DIO -> ‘Defence Intelligence Organisation’ is also primarily an Information Intel Org, though their scope is International, ASIO’s is National. The other BIG difference is ASIO are Civilian, DIO are Military. And another BIG difference between DIO and say the CIA, is that DIO operate both Nationally & Internationally. They are limited Nationally to Foreign Nationals, except where there is a positive link between Foreign Nationals of interest and a Citizen. The reality was (in my time) that we spent most of our time watching and talking to Foreign Diplomat’s. 🙂

When I was with DIO, one of the first signs (A poster) you saw as you entered the HQ building (if you knew where it was, it was never made public) was a quote by Thomas Berger: “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” 🙂