Educative Joke: Shuttle Diplomacy anecdote by Henry Kissinger

International (Shuttle) Diplomacy From Henry Kissinger

Journalist talks with Henry Kissinger.

– Tell me, Mr. Kissinger, you are considered the inventor of the “shuttle diplomacy”. Explain what it is.

– Oh, it’s very simple, – says Kissinger – For example, you want to marry Rockefeller’s daughter to a simple guy from a Siberian village.

– It’s impossible! How would you do that?

– Very simple. I’m going to a Siberian village, find a simple peasant there and ask: “Do you want to marry an American lady?”

He says: “Why? We’ve got great girls here!

And I say: “Yes, but she is Rockefeller’s daughter.”

He goes: “Oh! This changes everything.”

Then I go to Switzerland to a bank board meeting. I ask them: “Do you want a Siberian peasant to be your bank President?”

And the bank people say: “No way!”.

– But what if he is Rockefeller’s son-in-law?

– Oh! This changes everything!

So I go to Rockefeller and ask: “Would you like your daughter to marry a Russian peasant?”

– Poof, – says Rockefeller – No.

So I go: “But what if he is the president of a Swiss bank?”

– Oh! This changes everything! Susie! Come here, Mr.Kissinger has found a good fiance for you. He’s the president of a Swiss bank! ”

Susie: “But all financiers are skinny boring men”

I say: “But this one is a big Siberian man.”

Susie: “Oh! This changes everything! ”


DEFINITION

In diplomacy and international relations, shuttle diplomacy is the action of an outside party in serving as an intermediary between (or among) principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal contact. Originally and usually, the process entails successive travel ("shuttling") by the intermediary, from the working location of one principal, to that of another.

The term was first applied to describe the efforts of United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, beginning November 5, 1973,[1] which facilitated the cessation of hostilities following the Yom Kippur War.

Negotiators often use shuttle diplomacy when one or both of two principals refuses recognition of the other prior to mutually desired negotiation.

Mediators have adopted the term "shuttle diplomacy" as well.