Monday, January 28, 2008

Maynard Wayne Glitman, The last battle of the Cold War


Providing a first-hand account of the bureaucratic and public struggles leading to the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, the author focuses on debates among American negotiators, Europeans and Soviets. This is an important look at policy making and negotiations all the more relevant in an age of nuclear proliferation.
Ambassador Glitman played a central role in US INF policy and negotiations during the last decade of the Cold War. His record provides an invaluable account of the dramatic and pivotal developments in Washington, NATO, and Geneva, culminating in the unprecedented achievement of the INF Treaty in 1987, the first agreement in history to eliminate nuclear weapons. His book is an essential reading for anyone who seeks to learn the behind-the-scenes story of the hard work by dedicated diplomats. Part revealing memoir, part insightful diplomatic history, this is a remarkably thorough book highlighting the role and importance of disarmament and arms control negotiations.

Born in 1933, Mr. Glitman entered the Foreign Service in 1956. From 1956 to 1959, he was an economic officer in the Department of State and then was a fiscal and financial officer. An international relations officer in the Department of State until 1967, he was detailed to the United Nations General Assembly and to the National Security Council. From 1968 to 1973, he was a political officer in Paris. He returned to the Department of State to be Director of the Office of International Trade Policy and subsequently was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Trade Policy. He was then detailed to the Department of Defense, where he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1976 - 1977. From 1977 to 1981, he was deputy chief of mission at the United States Mission to NATO in Brussels. He was then appointed Department of State representative and deputy negotiator to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Negotiations, with the rank of Ambassador, in Geneva from 1981 to 1984. In 1984 Mr. Glitman was chief U.S. representative at the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction (MBFR) Talks in Vienna. Since 1985 he has been the chief U.S. negotiator for Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces in Geneva. He was nominated U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belgium, 1988-1991.

Maynard Wayne Glitman, The last battle of the Cold War: an inside account of negotiating the intermediate range nuclear force treaty, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006.

(Marco Davi')

Friday, January 11, 2008

Rudolf Agstner and the history of Austrian Embassies


The Austrian diplomat Rudolf Agstner, currently Ambassador in Addis Abeba, published several books on the history of Austrian embassies abroad such as for example on the embassies in Switzerland, in the United Kingdom and in Germany. On the embassy in Germany he published "130 Jahre Österreichische Botschaft Berlin. Von der Moltkestrasse zur Stauffenbergstrasse. Handbuch der Vertretungsbehörden von Österreich (-Ungarn) in Deutschland seit 1720" (Philo & Philo Fine Arts, 2003) [130 Years Austrain Embassy in Berlin. From the Moltkestrasse to the Stauffenbergstrasse. Handbook of the Representations of Austria (-Hungary) in Germany since 1720]. The book elaborates the Austro-German relations from a different angle, by narrating the history of the Austrian diplomatic and consular representation to Germany over the last centuries. It stretches from the embassy in the Palais Ratibor in the Moltkerstrasse which dates back to the times of the Habsburg Empire to the opening of the new Austrian embassy in the Stauffenbergstrasse in Berlin in 2001. The author describes the various Austrian embassies in Berlin, Bonn and
East-Berlin, and goes back to the 15 delegations, which were in Germany in the 19th century. He also refers to the times of famous Honorary Consuls such as Rothschild, Oppenheim or lemperer.
Rudolf Agstner is an Austrian diplomat. He entered the Austrian diplomatic service in 1977. He has served at the embassies in Paris, Brussels, Tripoli, Cairo and at the Permanent Representation at the UN in New York. He has also taught at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte [Institute for Contemporary History] of the University of Innsbruck. He has published 11 books and around 100 articles.