#10
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When America and Cuba have to meet, the State Department schedules a meeting with the Swiss. In this case, a sizable delegation from the Economic Bureau arrives at the Swiss embassy to discuss the details of a (very real) fact finding mission to observe Swiss advances in Alpine hydro-power. While hands are being shaken in the foyer, Mark (who works for State, but definitely NOT the Economic Bureau) detaches himself from the main group and follows a demure assistant back through a series of hallways to the Cuban Interest Section; the official/unofficial home of Cuban diplomacy in the US.
Mark is shown into one of the smaller offices and shakes hands with an older Cuban woman. If she has an official title here it hasn’t ever been made clear to him. She offers him a seat and turns that piercing gaze in his direction. When she speaks, her accent is thicker than it needs to be, he’s almost certain. There’s something staged about her voice. It’s a tactic. But what does it signify?
“So. You show your true colors. You’re going to reinstate the travel ban. I’d say I’m surprised but nothing really surprises me about you anymore.”
“I think you have the wrong outlook entirely.”
“Really? I can’t wait for you to explain it to me.”
“How I would phrase it is this: against significant opposition from Congress, the president is considering NOT reinstating the travel ban. The question is, where can he find the political cover to do so?”
“And the answer to this question?”
“We may need some help there.”
“I won’t insult you by restating to you what my country will not do in this regard.”
“I understand. And I won’t insult you by making promises that the next administration could simply void if it wanted to.”
“So. We know what the board looks like. Where do we go from here?”
Mark exhales and leans back in his chair, trying not to look like he’s trying not to look nervous.
“Africa.”
She responds with silence at first. That single word means a lot to one well-versed in foreign affairs. He’s talking about a settlement of the Angola situation and she knows it. What they both know is that Cuba has spent the last decade over-extending itself in foreign interventions, none of which has resulted in any real prestige for the regime, Castro’s primary motivation for the projects. There is a lot more they both know, and it flashes in their eyes as they stare at each other and the silence grows.
“Ah...Well...Let’s hear what you have to say.”
And then the meeting really begins.
----
Some time later in Cuba...
All eyes are on Fidel...metaphorically-speaking. His advisers have long since learned not to appear too over-eager to follow his directives, and they trade looks with each other, stare into the middle-distance in mock-concentration, or pretend to consult the briefing notes that contain the American proposal. After a minute, the aging dictator grunts and begins to rapidly nod.
“Why not? We’ll go along for now. When they break their word, the world will see, and we’ll be no worse off than before.”
----
Some time later still, in Pretoria
The US ambassador shakes hands with Botha and is ushered out of the room. The door closes behind him. The Prime Minister looks sardonically at his assistant.
“Might as well try. It'll never work, but might as well.”
----
Lou’s sitting at House of Hunan on K Street, smoking a cigarette and waiting for this mope to show up. Lou works at the Heritage Foundation on the Hill, but he’s come across town to meet with a contact at the State Department. When he finally walks through the door, 20 minutes late, Lou practically stabs the cigarette into the ashtray, grinding it to nothing.
“What the hell are you guys playing at? Why bring me in for all those consults if you were just going to ignore me?”
“What? How close-minded do you think we are? We took meetings with a lot of people."
"That's not what Baker told my boss."
"Pff, please, your boss is a lot of things, and I hate to insult the guy, but he loves to exaggerate."
"The party agreed to a compromise on foreign policy at the convention. Baker promised us-"
"Well Baker's my vice president and I respect him, but what I'm hearing is they're talking to a lot of people. The day before the inauguration Anderson had a round-table with Kissinger and Brzezinski, and you think he agreed much with either of them? Everyone gets a meeting these days.”
“Oh please, don’t play the honorable independent with me. You’re charting a failing course, my friend, and you’re going to take the country down with you. These latest briefings from Foggy Bottom? This is basically Carter all over again.”
“That’s an overly simplistic interpretation of complex-”
“Oh what am I, a reporter? Stop feeding me lines. Come on, it’s an open secret that this administration is basically continuing the policies of the last one. All those hardliners that were just trying to wait Carter out? They’re seeing the writing on the wall now.”
“Anderson is not just continuing-”
“Okay, fine, maybe there are some minor differences, I’m not denying it. But compared to- I mean can you imagine what would’ve happened here if Dole had won? You think Carter’s Director at Nonproliferation would’ve tried to get a job in a Dole administration? Half the people in senior positions are embedded Carter appointees who drilled down after the election results came in. They want to work for you, and you’re making it easy.”
“Continuity is underrated in American democracy.”
Lou shoots daggers across the table. The man from State continues:
"Look, I won't deny it, the players in the room aren't who I thought they'd be. Like you, I thought foreign policy was gonna be Baker's baby and that Percy was just a showpiece. And then out of nowhere as National Security Adviser, here comes Mort Halperin- "
"Mort-fucking-Halperin! Fucking traitor."
"Yeah. How dare he, um, get his phone tapped by Nixon?"
"He's a prick."
"Okay. Well anyway, that's who has the president's ear these days from what I hear. Don't shoot the messenger."
“So what? What’s your path forward. Let me guess: you’re not renewing the travel ban.”
“The Cuba ban? No. Why would we? Carter already shelved it, it’s a stupid policy, and we’ve got political cover. Plus we think we can get something out of it.”
“They’re propping up dictators in Africa.”
“That’s not our remit.”
“They’re jailing dissidents!”
“That’s not our remit.”
“What, you live in a cave now? You’re just going to igno-”
“I’m going to do what I get paid to do and worry about the rest in my off time. If you can’t put up those walls then maybe you see why your white papers aren’t official policy at the moment.”
“This is punishment, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you could possibly mean.”
“Fuck you. This is because our old boss backed the Conservative Party defections. Well he was fired, wasn't he? That's not good enough for you? You're purging us, you're gonna destroy a successful partnership just because an old man had the effrontery to stand up and tell the truth about your spineless candidate and-”
“Listen friend, if you’re suggesting the State Department is that politicized we can end this right now. Is Anderson mad at you? Maybe. Are Christopher and Milliken pissed off? I don’t personally take meetings with them but my guess is shit yeah, they’re pissed off. Do you think that trickles down to me? Are you that venal? Say what you want about Anderson, he’s a stickler for protocol. None of that inter-party shit comes back on me, on any of us.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying sometimes you just lose.”
The two men stare at each other for a beat.
“You know where we take this next, don’t you?”
“You take it wherever you have to take it, and god bless. You still want lunch or-”
“Fuck you.”
Lou takes his leave.