The U.S. Ambassador to Scotland visited the Uni today, and all students were asked to participate in a Q&A session. Of course, they were searched, not allowed bags, and there were plenty of innocuously bland looking people with those forgettable gray faces in the room, handily identifiably as Secret Service. D. was well groomed — he even wore a deceptively civil-looking tie! — and well-armed with his questions, one of which was:
What does it mean for international diplomacy that the US is perceived to be backing out of treaties (such as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Geneva Convention) at will?
To which the good Ambassador replied, “…all countries have the right to reconsider treaties.”
Yes. All right then. That’s… helpful.
Others asked about the incoherence of American policies, to which the Ambassador replied that there was no incoherence, people had just changed policies and the world was slowly catching up; people asked about hidden weapons of mass destruction; his predictable response was a version of “well, we all believed they were there.” A disturbing man next to D. kept asking questions about white phosphorus, and unsettled him a good bit — because next to him on the other side was one of those Gray Men…
Before D. even met with the Ambassador, a gentleman asked if he’d be willing to stay after to talk about the Ambassador’s comments. (A fellow student told D. this was because he had a ponytail and was wearing a beret. He asked why that made a difference, but no one could tell him anything definite.) The upshot of all of this is that D. may be on BBC news tonight at 6:30. We have Choral Society, so we won’t be home to see the spectacle, but if you’re watching, hark at the bloke in the tie. Doesn’t he look mild-mannered? Beneath the t-shirt and the tie, there’s a giant ‘H’ on his chest…
– D & T
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H…for HOBBIT, of course.
It just means he’d rather be home reading a book rather than listening to predictable political twaddle.
Oh, yes, anything but listening to political twaddle, actually. It was frighteningly reminiscent of having to listen to Hewlett Packard’s CEO come talk to us, telling us all lies, and we all knew they were lies, but what can you do? Can you leap up, as the guy next to me did, and call the man a liar?
Society simply doesn’t have the skills to deal with being lied to directly.
It’s … disgusting and shameful.
missed it last night – migraine, so didn’t manage to get it taped either, sorry.
India
Hawthorne (author of “The Scarlet Letter”) Lives?
I missed it too being on the other side of the pond and missing a TV. Is this part of your 15 minutes of fame?
Heh. Okay, fine. Hawthorne Lives. I think that’s a worthy ‘H’ on the shirt as well, and I can see old Nathaniel not being on the side of the establishment…
I think this is at least five of his fifteen, don’t you?
Who said I only get 15? And if I didn’t see it, and it didn’t make it to TV, it can hardly count.
We didn’t get to see it either, lacking a connected TV and, at the time, a connected phone/internet line.
I’m glad D asked that question, though. I hope that the answer stuck in the ambassador’s throat. Imagine our righteous outrage if Pakistan or North Korea backed out of a treaty they’d signed. What a great model we are.