I was the chief British negotiator on the subject, and I was steeped in the issue.

I still remember as one of the most emotional moments in my diplomatic career, when this treaty was initialled in 1990, and there was a press conference, with the Russian Ambassador and chief negotiator together with the American Ambassador and chief negotiator, where the Russian Ambassador said that this was not only an extremely meaningful and important treaty and agreement but also it symbolized the victory of civil society over the military society.

The various players included the Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Defence Minister as well as Prime Minister Sharon's senior adviser and, on the Palestinian side, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Civil Affairs and the Palestinian Chief Negotiator.

Iran s current president, Hassan Rouhani, was his country s chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005. Iran s president at this time was the scholarly moderate Mohammed Khatami, with whom I at one time attempted to negotiate a trade and cooperation agreement on behalf of the European Union.

During that visit, I was able to attend meetings with him and other top Iranian leaders, including Mohammad Zarif, Iran s foreign minister and, later, its chief negotiator in the negotiations in Vienna. I quickly saw that with these men at Iran s helm, an agreement would be possible.

Negotiations this year in Vienna, brokered by the United Nations, showed that an agreed settlement between Serbia and Kosovo on final status will not happen. Talks continue, but, as UN negotiator and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari diplomatically told the Security Council, they are effectively dead.

One of the EU s main architects, Jean Monnet, a French diplomat and economist, spent much of World War II in Washington, DC, as a negotiator for the European allies. After Germany s defeat, he was convinced that only a united Europe could prevent another devastating war in the West.

Following the opening statement by Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Paul Krajnik, head of the Austrian delegation, paid tribute to his former colleague, describing him as a very skilled and dedicated negotiator with a deep commitment to the success of environment related agreements and protocols such as the Montreal Protocol.

In the midst of this turmoil came the assassination of the Afghan government s chief peace negotiator with the Taliban, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Soon after, an outraged President Hamid Karzai signed a strategic partnership agreement with India (though he added, as a placatory afterthought, that Pakistan is our twin brother ).

The simple fact is that even if US trade negotiator Susan Schwab had refused to make a single concession, and if Europe, Japan, and the big emerging markets had kept their best offers on the table, the US would still remain more open than all but a few small countries.

Chinese diplomats have not responded directly, but they have noticeably hardened their stand on climate talks. In February, China s top climate negotiator, Yu Qingtai, said at the UN that rich nations, which caused the problem of climate change in the first place, must be treated as culprits, and developing countries as victims.

The negotiations were to be held between Song Il ho, North Korea s ambassador responsible for normalizing relations with Japan, and Hiroshi Nakai, a former minister who negotiates officially for the release of Japanese citizens abducted by the North. But Nakai was unable to leave Tokyo, and a university professor replaced him as Japan s negotiator.

This means that Israel would be able to annex some settlements adjacent to its border, while giving up only a small share of its land an exchange to which it should be open when serious negotiations are underway. The good news is that Tzipi Livni, Israel s main negotiator, recently stated that Israel would not claim isolated settlements on Arab land.

The US, for its part, views Iran as a duplicitous and unreliable negotiator that is committed to nuclear weapons and unserious about talks. The time has come to test Iran s intentions by reaching something like the two phased agreements outlined here a longer term, step by step process with reciprocal actions, in which each side must give something to get what it needs.

This time the world united, even booing the US lead negotiator until she reversed position and agreed to sign the Bali Action Plan. Likewise, the unwillingness of major developing countries such as China and India to sign on to a plan also seems to be ending, though considerable work remains to craft a global agreement to which both rich and poor countries can agree.

She facilitated visits to the zone of conflict by high level representatives of the Group of Friends, including the visits of Ambassador Steven Mann, Special Negotiator for Eurasian Conflicts of the United States State Department in April and of Sir Brian Fall, the Special Representative for the South Caucasus of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in June, as well as other diplomatic representatives.

In Asia, the US has been playing a similar role in pushing for multilateral resolution of dangerous bilateral disputes between China and its many neighbors over territories in the East and South China Seas, while at the same time restraining US allies who might otherwise provoke crises. And, on big global issues like climate change, organized crime, trade, and prevention of atrocities, the absence of the US as a policy catalyst and active negotiator will be quickly and keenly felt.