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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (1107275)12/31/2018 5:31:21 AM
From: puborectalis  Read Replies (2) of 1572745
 
Then there is James Baker, the former treasury secretary and White House chief of staff, who, empowered by President George H.W. Bush, was arguably the best secretary of state in the modern age, playing pivotal roles in German reunification, the peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union and the 1991 Madrid peace conference that brought Israelis and Arabs into direct talks for the first time.

Mr. Baker tends to avoid pointing a direct finger at Mr. Trump, but the video message he delivered on receiving the annual excellence in diplomacy award from the American Academy of Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. last month was unmistakable. He warned that walking away from the multinational system created after World War II would produce “greater economic and strategic instability.”

Then he laid down rules for effective diplomacy wholly at odds with Mr. Trump’s approach: Be discreet, since much important work between states is done in private. Pick your battles carefully. Compromise on small points in service of winning the important ones. Most successful agreements are based on mutual advantage, not zero-sum outcomes.

As these leaders pass from the scene, it will be left to a new generation to find a way forward from the wreckage Mr. Trump has already created.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Carol Giacomo, a former diplomatic correspondent for Reuters in Washington, covered foreign policy for the international wire service for more than two decades before joining the Times editorial board in 2007. @giacomonyt
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