Diplomacy

Blogger LaShawn Barber is mocking the fuss made over coverage of US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s appearance at the remembrance ceremony at Auschwitz.
His parka, touque and hiking boots got noticed in the crowd of black clad leaders. It matters how a world leader representing his country appears at a scheduled and somber event. Mr. Cheney dressed appropriately for the inauguration. Connexions looks at why joking or scorn over the reaction to Mr. Cheney’s choice of clothing isn’t useful.

I’m obliged to disagree. Rightly or wrongly, the clothes we wear are taken as strong indicators of our attitude to the situations we’re in. If the minister turns up to take your wedding or Grandma’s funeral in jeans and a t-shirt I reckon you’d be entitled to feel aggrieved.

I think we are entitled to expect the leaders who represent us on solemn occasions will dress appropriately. If I’d been a US citizen I’m pretty sure I would be feeling let down. I don’t begrudge the fellow the opportunity to dress warmly, but if a parka was the best VP Cheney could manage I’d suggest he changes his tailor.

Dignitaries were ushered into warm rooms to await the ceremony. Those that chose to attend waited outside.

Some of the elderly survivors sat wrapped in blankets against the driving snow for up to two hours before the ceremony began.

Some wore tags displaying their prison number – numbers that are still tattooed on their bodies.

“I’m number 4662,” said one elderly woman. “We had no names here, and I have a hard time calling myself with my real name here. It’s too painful.”

After the ceremony Mr. Cheney met with the Presidents of Poland and the Ukraine.

Update: I left a quick comment at LaShawn Barber’s blog summarizing the above. An act of courtesy. We disagree on this minor issue.
*Bene Diction – You take yourself way too seriously.*
It isn’t about me.
This is just the sort of thing that I am concerned about. LaShawn is one of the 10 head bloggers at the aggregator.
What is going to happen when Blogdom listers disagree with the 10 and Dr. Warnock over more important issues?

When I was working for a CBC affiliate I was doing a Saturday air shift when a defendent in a court case I was covering pleaded out. Understandably I was asked to go to court and cover the breaking news. I grabbed a jacket and met the camera man at the courthouse.
The stand up was a head shot, but the outtakes showed the jeans I was wearing. My news director saw the out takes( or may have received a complaint) and called me into his office Monday.

Needless to say, all my co-workers heard him yelling. And he was correct.
I was representing the station in the Court of Queen’s Bench. Jeans were inappropriate, and I could have taken the extra few minutes to change (kept changes of clothes in my car). There are times that image matters and dignity toward an institution and what it represents counts.

China
About 2 thousand invited mourners attended the funeral of Zhao Ziyang in Beijing yesterday.

US and Iran
In Switzerland a World Economic Forum dinner being held to promote dialogue between Iran and the US regarding nuclear weapons wound up being a series of diplomatic blunders and ended with sharp words.

A World Economic Forum dinner designed to promote dialogue between Iran and the United States on Friday night began with a comic strip series of diplomatic and gastronomic blunders, and ended with a sharp exchange over nuclear weapons.

With Iran’s vice-president and foreign minister in the room, the organizers began by announcing they had disinvited Swiss cartoonist Patrick Chappatte, one of the listed panelists, because the issues were too serious.

The star guest, U.S. Senator Joe Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, was missing. The organizers kept saying he was on his way.

Moderator David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, apologized for the fact that wine had been served, upsetting the Muslim guests. Waiters cleared the offending glasses.

They also removed the menus since the hotel had planned to serve non-hallal meat, breaching Islamic dietary rules. Even the soup spoons were withdrawn — erroneously, it transpired.

One participant asked whether different cultures could not tolerate each other’s dietary customs. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi responded that tolerance was fine but it did not mean people should not respect each other’s religious values.

If wine was served, his delegation could not participate in the meal, he said.