The Albright Touch

Pre-reading questions

Reading 1

The former Secretary of State Madaleine Albright’s style of diplomacy is an interesting mix – tough talk and friendly banter. Some examples:

(1) She softened up Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov by giving his granddaughter an autograph picture of President Clinton

(2) SOMEBODY AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT LOVES ME, read the T-shirt she gave Senator Jesse Helms. He sent her some barbecue for the flight home

(3) Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic made the mistake of trying to browbeat her in Belgrade. But his smile vanished when she snapped back at him

Judging by these examples say what kind of person Madeleine Albright is. What adjectives can characterise her?

By turns charming and tough, the U.S. Secretary of State doesn’t flinch from unquiet democracy

The five US army black helicopters swooped down on the Croa­tian village of Prevrsac, and out of one climbed U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with a gaggle of re­porters and cameramen in tow. She had just given President Franjo Tudjman a public lecture in Zagreb for failing to live up to the peace accord that ended the Yugoslav civil war 18 months earlier. In Prevrsac, standing, with cameras rolling, in front of a burned-out Serb home, she dressed down one of Tudiman's min­isters over Croatian attacks against re­turning refugees. "It's disgusting," Albright snapped. Secretaries of State usually make their protests to foreign lead­ers in private. Albright delivered hers with a two-by-four with the whole world watching.

It's been only four months since she was sworn in, but already American diplomacy is feeling the Albright touch. Her interpreters spend more time sit­ting silently; during a Paris visit, she con­ducted her meeting with Foreign Minister Herve de Charette in French, one of five languages she speaks. Her speechwriters, chained for four years by Warren Christo­pher's stilted delivery, are now free to insert colorful one-liners into the text of public statements. Harried bodyguards make her wear a bulletproof vest at times. Albright's public diplomacy in risky spots overseas often makes them nervous.

Foreign leaders are discovering that she's difficult to bully. Before meeting Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade, her aides warned that the Serbian President would try to throw her off stride early in the session. As she began reciting a laun­dry list of Serbian violations of the peace accord, Milosevic did just that, interrupt­ing with a patronizing smile: "Madame Secretary, you're not well informed." AI­bright, who had spent three years in Bel­grade as a child, retorted, "Don't tell me I'm uninformed. I lived here." Milose­vic's smile disappeared.

The U.S.'s first female Secretary of State, however, has been careful to culti­vate other men whose help she needs. "It makes a big difference... if you can get on a first name basis with a foreign minister," Albright told TIME. She has exchanged a dozen letters and phone calls with usually dour Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov, who now greets her with flowers when she flies to Moscow. The two even share private jokes. During one of their first meetings, Albright recounted that she learned that her Georgetown house was in­fested with termites. Now, whenever Primakov's aides try to quibble over a promise he has just made in negotiations, Albright will quip, "The termites are back," and the two laugh.

Back home AIbright has made more than a dozen out-of-town trips to talk foreign policy with Americans or to let influential Senators show her off with constituents. Her most ardent courtship has been of Senator Jesse Helms, the Foreign Relations Committee's curmudgeon chairman whose home state of North Carolina Albright has visited twice. During her trip there last March, she spoke of Helms' alma mater and attended a big day dinner for his wife. When Albright boarded the Air Force jet to return to Washington, she found on her seat a of barbecue he had delivered.

It's too soon to say how much difference the sound bites and charm campaigns are making. With the barbecue came a promise from Helms not block the Senate from voting on a treaty banning chemical weapons. Albright persuaded Primakov to lounge an objection to NATO troops levels, which opened the way to Russia's signing agreement with NATO last month on the alliance's expansion in Eastern Europe.

But Albright was not intimidating enough to force Tudjman and Milosevic to surrender war criminals or allow hundreds thousands of refugees to return to their homes. Helms is so willing to make trouble for the Administration, announcing last week that he would block Massachusetts Governor William Weld's nomination to be ambas^­sador to Mexico.

Albright has made little headway in other parts of the world. The Israeli-Palestinian talks have broken down, and China has ignored her calls to stop jailing dissidents. ^­"She clearly has a sharper style," says Richard Haass, director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings lnstitution. "But if this were a report card, at best you'd give her an incomplete." The final grade depends on results.

· Say what grade would you give Madeleine Albright? Why?

· Read the article about her memoirs in the ADDITIONAL READING section and say if your attitude to her has changed after it. Give Mrs Albright’s character sketch.

Ex.4.1.Find in the article above synonyms to:

1) to scold 2) assistant 3) to counter/return/retaliate 4) to court 5) to argue 6) progress

Find in the article above antonyms to:

a) tender, weak b) in public c) natural, relaxed d) cheerful e) to encourage

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