As Russian tanks and warplanes invaded the Republic of Georgia last week, the world expected a terse statement from President Bush and the dispatch of a high-level US envoy to the region, perhaps even Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, to broker a cease-fire agreement. The conventional wisdom was mistaken..
While President Bush issued a rather meek call for an end to hostilities, Secretary Rice did not assign one of her ranking subordinates to negotiate an end to the hostilities. The American response to the crisis was limited to a few public comments and private phone calls to foreign capitals.
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Simultaneous to the muted reaction by Washington, a scene from yesteryear appeared in newspapers and on video screens around the world. Nicolas Sarkozy, the current French President known as much for his obstinacy as for his pro-American tilt, made an unlikely peacemaker in the Russo-Georgian conflict.
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In the English-speaking 21st century, his shuttle diplomacy between Moscow (see picture with President Dmitri Medvedev) and Tbilisi hearkened back to the 19th century in which French modes of statecraft and the French-tongue dominated negotiations between states. Although far from attaining the heights of his renowned predecessors, Mazarin and Vergennes, Sarkozy managed to impress more than a few critics by halting the conflict with a flexible five-point plan acceptable to both combatants.
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Did Sarkozy merely act out of obligation due to being the current EU President? The answer is not entirely clear. However, Sarkozy did dispel a widely-held notion held by many American statesmen - and one repeated by Richard Holbrooke yesterday on CNN. If the United States does not lead the world, the former Ambassador essentially said, then no one will lead. Although true in several past instances (but by no means all), the French President was the only head of state to take immediate action and produce more than empty rhetoric.
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In a post-unilateral world, the diplomatic initiative by Sarkozy bodes well for a new era in constructive, multilateral engagement.
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J Roquen