I am not a diplomat. I am an engineer. Engineers probably have personalities suited better for being anti-diplomats. I am sure that dealing with difficult social and political issues is not easy, and therefore diplomacy is not easy.
However, the recent interaction in Egypt between Secretary of State Rice and Iran's Foreign Minister Mottaki struck even me as odd. Engineers are not known for social graces, but it does not appear this State Department has any social grace either. The State Department's official response to an "incident" at this Egypt meeting really made me wonder if they take diplomacy seriously:
"I don't know which woman he was afraid of, the woman in the red dress or the secretary of state," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday, regarding the actions of Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki.
Seriously? Is this how one responds in an uncomfortable diplomatic situation? I could have done that. Not that engineers are good at snark, but even I could have thrown out that kind of pithy, insulting statement.
A Time piece really confirmed to me that Rice’s corner of government is both unserious and incompetent (like we needed confirmation, but really, they have to try at some point, maybe, to stop screwing this up), and thus the diary with a brief discussion.
If you remember, Mottaki was seated across the table from Rice at a diplomatic dinner in Egypt. Everyone is in Egypt for a summit to help improve the Iraq situation- god knows it needs both help and improvement. Mottaki walked out soon after being seated because, he states, the female violinist was dressed too revealingly.
Again, the the official State Department response to this incident:
"I don't know which woman he was afraid of, the woman in the red dress or the secretary of state"
Update: I meant to also say that I heard an interview with Rice on my drive home last night where she essentially had the same response as the official State Department statement. And she was literally laughing (an awkward laugh, but a laugh). This confirms that the "red dress" statement was not an accidental response from an underling, but really does represent the leadership at State. The combination of these two statements really struck me as odd- her having been the Provost at Stanford made me assume she was deft. I guess not.
Yes, his walking out is a bit odd, but one does not improve the situation by laughing at the guy. When his response is the statement below, he appears intelligent, witty and culturally informed:
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit then piped in, telling Mottaki, "We want to warm the atmosphere some."
Mottaki smiled and replied in English with a saying: "In Russia, they eat ice cream in winter because it's warmer than the weather"—more or less meaning, "You take whatever atmosphere-warming you can get."
"That's true," Rice replied, according to the Iraqi official.
So, Rice can confirm that this is what they really do say in Russia, but misses entirely the meaning of the statement. If she had remotely gathered the meaning, her response would not have been to laugh at the Minister, thus cooling the already cold situation further. Again, irony is generally lost on engineers, but not when it is this obvious. God help us.
There is a piece in Time today that prompted me to write the diary. Iran, through Mottaki, says they are ready to meet with the US, but in a more formal setting:
Mottaki explained that he did not meet Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice one-on-one during the conference, because "ministers of foreign affairs don't just meet accidentally."
Where Rice's approach is to do diplomacy by ambush:
Rice had reportedly planned to approach Mottaki at the dinner to demand that Iran stop providing Shi'ite militias in Iraq with arms to attack U.S. forces there.
I am just an idiot, socially awkward engineer, but Mottaki's approach seems more fitting and appropriate for affairs of State than Rice's.
Please correct me if I am wrong. Please tell me we are not as screwed as I think we are.