At 09:10 PM 3/12/2007, Bill Babcock wrote:
>Not true at all. spend a little time looking at the Kyoto accords
>and other political resolutions to global warming. It's economic
>warfare. we sent nitwits to the bargaining table and wound up getting screwed.
We always send nitwits.
<rant on>
Another lifetime ago (17 years - hard to believe) I was doing work
for one of Uncle Sam's three-lettered Agency's in a Country that
shall remain nameless (would not be to difficult to discover). I had
been in country for just over a year this particular trip laboring
away in private sector positions (magazine editor/contributor, radio
show host, US company quality control inspection rep, etc...) when I
managed to obtain employment within the Host country's
government. In fact I was working within their version of a State
Department. Not only that I was employed within the office that
dealt with US 301 trade issues. Nominally I was charged with
attending trade conferences on their behalf to listen to the US side
and prepare reports as to what the US position really was in general
and some items in particular.
US Trade missions to these conferences/meetings are a conglomeration
of Bureaucrats (State, Commerce, etc...) and representatives of US
companies with a particular interest in the current round of talks
(aviation, agriculture, etc...).
For the Host Country's side I was able to obtain a significant amount
of intel for them during the "Continental Breakfast" before sitting
down at the conference table. The US attendees would see me bellying
up to the pastry bar with them and since I had a "white-face" they
assumed I must be part of their delegation. I overheard lots of good
information for my reports to the Host.
Obviously similar reports and much more were going out the backdoor to Uncle.
For the most part US attendees at these conferences seemed to be
caught up in the moment of being overseas and wanting to get away
from the stale boardroom setting to get some shopping down or sample
some of the local delights. They didn't seem particular focused. I
can assure you the other side was focused 100% on a successful
outcome to these meetings.
The reason I am no longer doing this type of work is that my Agency
case officer blew my position through his sloppy procedures. We (my
wife and I) hightailed it back home before I got a knock at the door
to become a "quest" rather then a visitor. She had just become
pregnant with our first child so the excuse was that we were moving
back to the states for the baby. She only found out the truth this
last fall when I was yelling at the TV when some no nothing
reporter/reportettte was going on about Plame being "undercover" and
my kids how asked me how I knew that Plame wasn't undercover and
therefore no law had been broken. Since it had been 16/17 yars I
figured what the hell and told them. Still have an old briefcase
full of documents that worked their way out the backdoor.
<rant off>
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