by Keith Edmund White
Negroponte Address – Question & Answer Period
[Note: Ambassador Negroponte spoke on the Canada-United States relationship, and his speech will be available via webcast on cusli.org in the coming weeks, and a copy of his transcript will likely appear on CUSLI-Nexus, the CUSLI Journal, or other CUSLI-forum in the coming months.]
[Additional Note: The below are my quickly composed transcript of the conference. The quotes are representative of the comments but may not represent the precise language used; again refer to culsi.org for webcasts of the presentation]
Q: What does it say that for an entire generation of Canadians and Americans, the two countries have not concluded a bilateral treaty?
Negroponte: My instinct, my intuition, I don’t think this is something to be lamented. It is a demonstration that we are able to work things out at a level less than the level of formal agreements, if you will. Sometimes you might have executive agreements or implement agreements. So I don’t think this is something to be regretted. But on the other hand…if you don’t raise things to a certain level, I would pose the following question: does that mean you don’t obligate yourself to think of the relationship as a whole…does the relationship get the direction that it should receive?
But let’s face it, it is easy for Canadians and Americans and government officials to deal with one another. I remember when I was dealing with NAFTA…I made a query about [getting a Mexican area code for the American market], and was told that it would be harder than anything.
There was one area of cooperation because I think it is very important. Intelligence. There is an incredibly important group in our international group, it’s called the five eyes. The 5 eyes in the intelligence are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. It’s a group of intelligence chiefs who might once a year in informal and not highly publicized meetings. And we go over everything, there’s nothing we don’t talk about…the level of work we do is very impressive indeed.
Q: Who are your historical heroes and book recommendations? (Former Michigan governor James J. Blanchard)
Negroponte: Books, well, I am trying to keep up with the books I assign to my students all the time. John Gaddis just published a biography on George Kennan…it is so carefully written. And one of the reasons it’s so carefully written is that Gaddis worked out an agreement with Kennan he’d be his biographer in 1980, and Kennan then told him he couldn’t publish the work until after his death, giving him many more years then we may have expected to prepare the work. It really is a masterpiece, the biography. And if you’re interested in the post-independence of American foreign policy, Robert Kagan’s book Dangerous Nation. While admittedly there’s some discussion of Theodore Roosevelt’s designs on Canada, which I urge you to read with a high degree of appreciation of historical appreciation.
My hero? Franklin Roosevelt. And just for what he accomplished in World War II.
Q: The role of the traditional nation-state with social media, fast-moving strategic interests, how do you see the traditional role for the diplomatic corps in any country?
Negroponte: “The answer to this question really depends what part of the world you’re talking about. Because Europe is so much further ahead than anyone else in terms of integration, and melding sovereignty, and then getting it back in a different form. That integration creates a asymmetry between Europe and all other nations. North America is different…in North America the nation states, I don’t think, the nation states of North America look to that kind of integration or devolution of sovereignty to a North American Brussels…
And then if you go to Asia, that’s one of the frequent complaints of Asia, it doesn’t even have the international institutions and structures to deal with the international issues they may face. Obviously, there is OASAN, APEC, and the Asia Summit, but none have decision-making powers. Yet, you do see Asia slowly moving to some international structures from which they can manage the relationships. But, today, Asian relationships are dominated by very strong-minded nation-states, China, Japan, and India, not international organizations. Therefore, the answer depends on what region of the world you are talking about.
Q: How should we view the fallout from wiki-leaks?
Negroponte: In seriousness, it’s a serious problem you count on that confidentiality of a conversation with a national leader or with a political opponent of the regime, for a reasonable period of time. Most of us are accustomed to a 20-25 year confidentiality period.
…
It has been harmful, it will take us a while to recover, but I don’t think the damage is permanent. Yet, it is certainly not been a highlight of American diplomacy.
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