We’ve just had a public holiday in the UK and, in consequence, a long weekend but I wanted to add a few thoughts to Jeffrey’s post last Friday about Chris Ford’s resignation.
Being the US representative at NPT meetings is a pretty thankless task, but Dr Ford did it very well. What made him a bit different was his willingness to debate and discuss the “D word”. This speech, In Praise of Complexity: Some Thoughts on Disarmament Ethics in the Real World, is a good example of his style. You don’t often see this level of thoughtfulness from a government official from anywhere.
He is also one of the funnier diplomats out there. I saw him close-up at a workshop earlier this year. His speech focused on the issue of withdrawal from the NPT and his opening went something along the lines of “In January 2003, when North Korea suspended the suspension of its withdrawal, as it were…”
Stupid question, not being intimate with the US delegation: is Chris Ford the guy with the bow tie??
Is “not being intimate” a loaded term?
Just think of the Bush appointees who will be jobless in a few months doing everything possible now to collect a paycheck from places like India….
Thoughtful? Have you read his swan song in the November 2007 Nonproliferation Review, “Debating Disarmament: Interpreting Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons”?
http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/npr/vol14/143/143ford.pdf
I’ll refrain from commenting further on it since I’m writing an extensive rebuttal (better late than never).