The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. S. Haq

I read with interest ambassador James E. Moriarty's letter in a Dhaka based English Daily regarding his recent meeting with certain Bangladeshi politicians over a tea. The letter is self-explanatory. I believe the ambassador has discharged, through that meeting, not only a part of his diplomatic accountability to the US government but a part of his government's accountability to people of Bangladesh, among other things. I also believe he has done that with a clear purpose, as well as goal and in an open manner - without disturbing or affecting otherwise peace, security, stability and integrity of Bangladesh. It is fine.

Bangladesh is probably aware of the fact - domains of diplomacy have in recent times undergone drastic changes and reformations in quantitative, qualitative and other terms in pursuits of for example dealing with or coping with or both: increasing thrusts and competitions of the information age and technological environments; growing scarcities of usable scarce resources; and existing and evolving challenges, as well as opportunities of a progressively re-integrating world at local, national, global and other levels.

Interesting though, moves are ongoing towards an increasingly borderless world for common good, per se.

A brief analysis of for example, present day physics, chemistry, biology and engineering (used in a deeper sense) of diplomacy and the world of diplomacy would reveal - among other things and relative to time, space and other variables - -

1. diplomacy has assumed now-a-days a greater and more substantive role than that in the past when it comes to dealing with matters such as war and peace; development and environment; accountability and better governance; transparency and informed decision; popular participation and democracy; trade and technology; conflict mongering and conflict resolution; truth and media speculation - the Discovery TV channel transmitted last evening (26 July 2008) the story of Bangladeshi honey hunters of Sunderban under the title Discover India; commitment and human rights.

Further diplomacy is increasingly becoming a powerful tool for facilitating change for better or change for worse or a mixture of both or otherwise at local, national, global and other levels.

Despite those and other related developments, gaps between the demand side and the supply side of diplomacy in qualitative, quantitative and other terms are widening day by day, threatening for example foundation related strengths and institutional effectiveness of diplomacy at local, global and other levels;

2. roles of diplomacy as antidotes (in certain ways) to for example the culture of isolation, the practice of tunnel vision (as applicable) and the regime of terrorism, as well as extremism have been attaining additional dimensions at various conceptual, operation and other levels of human endeavors and interactions, per se;

3. domains of diplomacy apparently possess a great amount of yet to be harnessed potential for facilitating the initiation, management, maintenance and promotion of peace, security, progress and prosperity - under certain circumstances, though - in an increasingly unpredictable world. Closely relating to it - is the fact diplomacy is being used against for example, well-beings of humans or other living beings or both - again under certain circumstances. It will not be out of place to mention here diplomacy could be instrumental in triggering corruption or promoting corruption (or both) and de-accelerating corruption - either directly or otherwise and among other things;

4. diplomacy-at-work is becoming, inter alia and as appropriate, more stressful, more strenuous, more patience-intensive, more innovation, as well as invention-starved, more interdependent, more inter-disciplinary, more tolerance-driven, more frustrating - when the ray of hope for success starts diminishing - per se, more time consuming, more luck and uncertainty-driven, more variable-laden, and more thankless human enterprise than that in the past;

5. diplomacy has got several faces - both covert and overt - when it comes to say, its (I mean, diplomacy) nature, scope and result-orientation during peace times and in emergencies;

6. contemporary research, development and engineering (RDE) activities in areas of existing interfaces between human elements and diplomacy and vice versa, the application of resultant findings of RDE to relevant operation areas and the management of lessons and best practices in pertinent areas do not appear to be adequate for creating say, the future of diplomacy at local, global and other levels through the 21st century; and

7. unholy alliances of, and unproductive interferences in each other's territories by, power, politics and diplomacy are being instrumental in inter alia lingering dispute resolution, making dispute resolution more complicated and all the more difficult, as appropriate.

Successes and failures of diplomacy have - over the years and in an average sense - produced mixed results, outcomes and impacts when it comes to combating challenges, harnessing opportunities, sustaining gains and building upon gains, to mention a few. There exist instances of attempts towards for example hiding evils designs or continuing evil activities or both under civilized and smart covers of diplomacy - advances pertaining to anti-people nuke programs in Iran, North Korea and other countries bear testimony to that. Also, there exist instances of attempts towards for example promoting common good again under civilized and smart covers of diplomacy - the Bush administration's success in Indo-US nuke deal bears testimony to that. Congratulations to both the US and India!

The last word - the time is ripe now for Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and other concerned countries to rise to the occasion when it comes to: one, liberating the countries from narrow perceptions of present day diplomacy at least for the sake of facilitating continuity and growth therein + creating, sustaining and promoting awareness and understanding among the people and the media (print, electronic, others) about for example true faces of present day diplomacy, powers of present day diplomacy, benefits of present day diplomacy, present day jurisdictions of diplomacy and limitations of present day diplomacy + building and promoting pro-diplomacy mindset and ownership in pursuits of say, better for all + using diplomacy more judiciously than that at present; two, internalizing and utilizing mechanics and dynamics of diplomacy to a humanly possible extent in pursuits of making efforts and initiatives - towards protecting, preserving and promoting respective competitive, comparative and other advantages - more solid, more competitive and more result-driven than those at present; three, making more friends and utilize more influential friendships in pursuits of achieving mutual, as well as common good; four, enhancing, sustaining and promoting capacity, capability and entrepreneurial skills for maximization of developmental outcomes (used in a wider sense) via diplomacy and vice versa; and five, mustering the best possible ways and means for dealing with say, aggressive diplomacy not as a threat to national sovereignty but an opportunity for progress and prosperity; to mention a few. Let us help ourselves to help the universe.

By the way, ambassador Moriarty did not, I believe, commit a crime by sourcing inputs from various political party leaders on the country's present political and other situations via the tea party - enabling his team and himself to present the case of Bangladesh to for example the US state department in a timely, relevant, wholesome, objective, realistic and intelligent manner.