United Nations -- For the last few weeks, Bill Richardson has been trying to do two apparently unreconcilable jobs as the Clinton administration's new energy secretary and the government's representative to the United Nations. That should end formally on Friday when Richardson -- a politician turned diplomat who has been about the most relaxed and genial envoy this diplomatic hothouse has seen in a generation -- resigns his U.N. assignment. But informally, he said over breakfast early one morning before catching yet another shuttle, there is no rupture involved.
"One of the major goals I have is to give the Energy Department more international visibility," he said. "I'm going to do a lot of travel, a lot of retail energy diplomacy, beef up my international department there." He has new friends to help him. "There are a lot of issues in the energy area that involve the Russians: plutonium disposition, uranium agreements and nuclear safety, nuclear weapons safety," he said. "A lot of the Energy Department relationship is Russian, and I got to know a lot of the players."
Two years of experience -- on Iraq and the Persian Gulf area, the source of much of the oil the United States uses; on the spread of nuclear weapons; on reactor safety; on trying to bring North Korea into an agreement on nuclear energy; on global climate -- can be applied in his new job, he said.
At the United Nations, diplomats who were initially frosty at having a politician -- a former Democratic congressman from New Mexico -- thrust on them by Washington seem to have come to appreciate a style that is zany by U.N. standards. He's known to have referred to a distinguished diplomat as "what's his name" and to have worn khakis and a blazer into the Security Council. At a dinner that he and his wife, Barbara, gave for financier George Soros, Richardson began his toast by admitting cheerfully that he had never met Soros before.
In contrast to Madeleine Albright, who was rushed through the corridors
of the United Nations with an important-looking phalanx of protective
aides when she represented the United States here, Bill Richardson
ambles around, joking in English and Spanish with reporters. The faces
of other U.S. diplomats reveal a flicker of panic when he steps up to a
microphone.
Twenty-eight nations have lined up to give him farewell dinners. He
admits he gets a lot of attention because he is perceived as being close
to the president. Ambassadors also know he may be Al Gore's running mate
in two years. But people genuinely like him.
"One should not confuse two things of a different nature," said Danilo Turk, Slovenia's representative who was president of the Security Council during Richardson's last month here. "For one thing, Bill Richardson, everyone would agree, is a very good communicator. He listens and understands. He remembers the subject of a previous conversation. "The other thing is the variety of diplomatic initiatives -- that may or may not originate with him."
In the "other thing" department, Richardson has had a tough tenure here. Respect for the United States, which is crippling the organization by withholding its dues, is at an all-time low. Americans are losing good positions within the organization, and Washington may forfeit its General Assembly vote if it falls too far behind in payments. Richardson's replacement, Richard Holbrooke, has not yet been formally presented to the Senate by the White House for confirmation. In this environment the administration, supersensitive to political swings, has thrown proposals at the Security Council without prior consultation and changed policies without warning, most recently on Iraq.
John Weston, who retired this summer as Britain's representative, pointed to a sudden announcement by Washington early this year that the Security Council would be asked to set up a Cambodian war crimes tribunal. "It's a bit silly to come out with this one fine day without having thought through the idea," he said. "This requires talking in the corridors. Launching the idea cold is to court problems." Weston also recalled the surprise of Richardson's trip to Afghanistan in April, made at President Clinton's behest. It was a critical moment for the United Nations in Afghanistan, the British envoy said, and Richardson "didn't tell anyone he was going."
For Europeans now trying to think as one within the European Union, the
Lone Ranger behavior of Washington is easier to criticize. Europe's
brightest diplomats are often steered into careers in international
organizations, and prime ambassadorial assignments like the United
Nations do not go to political appointees.
Richardson says he understands and appreciates this after his
experiences here.
"The United States needs to better train its diplomats to participate in
multilateral fora," he said in diplomatese, "because the multilateral
fora for the challenges that lie ahead for the United States are going
to be very important: nuclear proliferation, ethnic wars, international
terrorism, the plight of women, global climate change, refugees. It
would make sense to give American diplomats tours -- almost a
requirement -- to serve in a multilateral framework to learn the give
and take of multilateral diplomacy."
Richardson said he has enjoyed everything about U.N. life, including nonstop dinners. "U.N. diplomats and U.N. Secretariat people are quality people, good people," he said. "This perception that the U.N. has a lot of deadbeats is totally false. I've met some of the more talented, intelligent and interesting people here. "To achieve our objectives, you have to engage in the social life of the U.N. That's why I spent a lot of time in the Delegates' Lounge. That's why I spent a lot of time at the cafeteria. That's why I spent a lot of time giving parties and attending parties, because you get business done there."
Richardson, who often seemed to other diplomats to be impatient with the pace of Security Council work, said he liked a lot of it. "I love Security Council meetings," he said. "Not the big formal ones but the internal ones, which you don't see. I love the give and take, the fact that there the traditional postures of diplomacy are put aside and personality politics dominates, and skill at finding solutions or evading solutions by knowing U.N. rules comes across, and where a weak country with a strong ambassador can many times play a broker role." He said he found that certain personal relationships were crucial: with secretary-general Kofi Annan; with Richard Butler, chairman of the disarmament commission for Iraq; and with the other envoys of the five permanent members of the Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
"I found Kofi to be one of the most skillful political animals in the world," Richardson said. "His ability to maneuver is incredibly good. He always makes you leave your meeting with him thinking that you've made your point. That's a master skill." "Butler is a very independent, very proud, passionate person who has to trust you," he said of the chairman of the U.N. Special Commission, who is now caught in a political battle in Washington over how tough a policy the United States should have on Iraq. "That was one of my more satisfying relationships." "I particularly enjoyed my relationship with Lavrov," he said of Sergey Lavrov, the Russian representative. "It was one that bordered on friendship, serious friendship."
There have been many unpublicized compromises worked out behind the scenes with the help of Lavrov. "He uses his enormous knowledge of the U.N., combined with personal charisma and his strength within the Russian bureaucracy, to get things done." Richardson said he also leaves with warm feelings for Alain Dejammet of France, an impassioned critic of U.S. policy in Africa and Iraq. "Dejammet and I have sort of a special relationship," he said. As for the Chinese, against whom he has made at least two tough speeches on human rights, they will be giving the first and one of the largest farewell dinners. "Despite policy differences at the U.N., you have to maintain strong personal relationships," he said. "Otherwise you can't do business."
