It is to prevent a new war in Europe

Wendy Sherman, a veteran American diplomat on a very complex mission

Wendy Sherman is leading the current talks with the Russians to stave off an armed conflict in Ukraine.

AFP

By choosing Wendy Sherman, the administration of US President Joe Biden has sent its most experienced negotiators into battle in an effort to stave off a Russian invasion of Ukraine and a new conflict in Europe.

And no one in government has spent more time in high-stakes talks with hostile states than the 72-year-old deputy secretary of state, who represented the United States in two rounds of critical discussions with Russia this week.

It was part of an extraordinary mission, 23 years ago, led by former Secretary of Defense William Perry, to try and strike a deal with North Korea.

For many North Koreans, it was the first time they had seen an American, and the regime did its best to make an offer that satisfies both sides.

“It was all supposed to be automatic,” Sherman later told the Guardian. “There was a photographer watching everything we did with a hand-camera from the 1950s.

It was all somewhat surreal.”

And the American negotiator added, “When we wanted to talk (with the North Koreans), we walked outside, knowing that there might be bugs in the trees.

And when we wanted to deliver a message, and weren't sure who to talk to, we would sit in the waiting room and talk, knowing we were being bugged.”

Sherman, unwilling to be a diplomat, was initially an activist, working as a social worker in Baltimore, trying to make affordable housing more accessible.

After serving as an employee of Congress and the Democratic National Committee, she ran Emily List, an organization committed to raising money for Democratic candidates.

deep post

This background, combined with her deep involvement in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, made her deeply Republican suspect.

But her experience and gentle demeanor earned her enough Republicans to win the Senate's endorsement of deputy secretary of state, by 56 votes to 42.

While former Secretary of State John Kerry flew in at the crucial moments of the Iran talks, it was Sherman who led the day-to-day negotiations of the United States;

An achievement of stamina, as the discussions continued into the night hours.

Laura Rosen, who has covered Iran's nuclear talks from start to finish and now writes for Substack newsletters, remembers that while the Iranians got along better with Kerry, Sherman was seen as the most effective negotiator.

“What I often think about, watching Sherman conduct high-stakes (nuclear) diplomacy with Iran and her mantra, now, with Russia, is that skills are transferable,” Rosen said. “I trained as a social worker and entered foreign policy through Democratic Party politics;

Now, as a 72-year-old grandmother, Sherman is working with her Russian counterpart on the Iran nuclear deal talks (Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov), to see if the United States, the transatlantic alliance, and Russia can agree on diplomatic solutions to avoid war and preserve peace. and European security.

Required features

Short silver hair and metallic-rimmed glasses add to her character as a steel negotiator;

But the economist, Douglas Riddicker, who was the US representative on the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund, insists that there is a softer side, which also enhances Sherman's skills as a negotiator.

'They are hard as nails, and clever as a whip,' said Riedeker.

She is also tremendously human.” He continued, “There are some people who are so hard and experienced that they are so pessimistic that they lose the element of humanity.

But Wendy (Sherman) can act and think like a human being, as well as someone who takes on the mandate that has been given to her.”

 useful skills

Wendy Sherman began her career as a social worker, working with abused women;

and poor communities.

An experience that she believes has put her in a good place to take on people like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Those skills have been so effective with both dictators and members of Congress, says the negotiator who led the US delegation, once in talks with Russia, that they help understand interpersonal relationships, how people think and feel, and have different sets of interests.

Sherman dealt with the Russians in a different era, joining the administration of former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and leading efforts to obtain funding, through Congress, to support post-Soviet states.

Under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, she worked on North Korea policy and helped write the Agreed Framework Agreement in 1994.

Veteran diplomacy continues to defend the deal, even though Pyongyang has begun producing nuclear weapons capable of reaching the US mainland, arguing that during the Clinton administration no amount of plutonium was added to North Korea's stockpile.

Critics, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, including John Bolton, dismissed her efforts as appeasement.

Sherman returned to government under Barack Obama, as a chief negotiator, in the run-up to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, an agreement that collapsed due to President Donald Trump's withdrawal in 2018. The Biden administration is trying to revive the deal, though the prospects look dim.

Iran introduced new conditions.

Sherman was chosen by President Biden, in 2020, to be the deputy secretary of state.

She is the author of Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Strength, and Perseverance, drawing on her experiences in diplomacy and negotiation over three decades.

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