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THE CABINET: In the Tradition

For 150 years the U. S. has made much of its diplomatic inexperience. If the classic picture of a British diplomat is a well-read University man, trained to translate Rimbaud or snub the Estonian minister with equal aplomb, the classic figure of the U. S. diplomatist is a man who knows no foreign language, mixes up seating arrangements, and is just learning as he goes along. U. S. foreign service bags at the knees, pretends that its hearing is not very good, cannot dance, has only a vague idea of what is going...

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President BARACK OBAMA, at NATO talks involving over 50 world leaders, describing the withdrawal of 130,000 combat troops from Afghanistan, planned for the end of 2014
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