Meeting with Ambassador Schulte

Last Monday we met with Ambassador Gregory Schulte who is the US Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in Vienna. He talked to us about his job title and explained that he is responsible for overseeing several factions within the UN including drugs and crime, international trade law, the UN office of outer space, and more. He explained that he was appointed by President Bush, so therefore must carry out the President’s goals as laid out in the national security strategy. Ambassador Schulte compared his job and working with a transnational community to the Congress of Vienna. He explained that many different countries with different priorities and agendas were forced to work together to establish a balance of power and keep peace among them. The main difference from what he does with the UN today and the Congress of Vienna is that he is an appointed official who is to serve the public and protect not just state rights, but human rights as well. Another difference that he pointed out is that diplomacy (for the most part) no longer occurs behind closed doors, in the Ambassador’s job he must always be ready to state a position, give the media information, and answer to public opinion and political scrutiny. I was surprised to learn that the US is one of (if not the) biggest participators as a country in human trafficking (whether for sex, labor, etc.) As part of his job, the Ambassador tries to figure out why these phenomena occur and how they can be prevented or diminished.

Another area that the Ambassador kept mentioning is our current situation with Iran and their nuclear pursuits. He told us about how Iran is posing a huge threat to us and the various paths a country can take to posses nuclear weapons (it is scary how easy these paths are). He said the IAEA is currently trying to understand what Iran’s intentions are, and as a "nuclear watchdog" they are trying to help countries keep peace and keep nuclear threats at bay through multinational efforts of diplomacy.

Overall, it was interesting meeting Ambassador Schulte and hearing about his job at the UN. My personal feelings are that he definitely came off as a typical "shmoozey" politician who seemed to have all his lines perfectly rehearsed and pre-though out. When some of the students in our class asked him tough questions about what the UN is doing about current genocides such as in Darfur, or the controversial Iraq war, instead giving an up-front, honest answer he pretty much just talked in circles or avoided the question by referring to subjects he has a lot of knowledge on, such as Iran. He was careful not to criticize our government, and he seemed to be promoting and supporting Bush’s policies (which is to be expected considering he owes his job to Bush). One quote I thought to be ironic is when he said that the Middle East policy of President Bush is to "promote freedom, peace, and reduce terrorism" which seems a little contradictory seeing as we are there on a false premise (any weapons of mass destruction found yet?) and it hardly seems like we are working to promote peace, but then again, im not over there myself so this is just my own personal reflection.