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Tag: jet lag

How jet lag hurts diplomats

03/03/2016 /

Jet lag is a pain for every traveler. For diplomats and leaders it can be a killer.  The effects of jet lag can impair leaders, diplomats and the negotiations they are engaged in.

In this article, published by The Washingotn Post, Dan Caldwell and William G. Hocking give us some examples of well-known leaders who suffered from the effects of jet lag.

This is the story of Secretary of State J.F.Dulles. In 1956 he agreed to provide Egypt with economic aid to build the Aswan dam. After a long return flight to the USA, he found out that Egypt had bought weapons from the Soviet Union. Therefore, he immediately decided to cancel the agreement just signed. Years later, Dulles regretted this decision and affirmed that it was due to the effects of jet lag.

The article indicates other anectodes involving leaders such as J. H.W. Bush, H. Kissinger, H. Clinton.

Possible strategies to cope with jet lag are the use of melatonin, a substance that helps sinchronysing the cyrcadian system, or the use of sleeping pills, as many leaders admit to do.

Another alternative for the Gouvernments could be the return to residential diplomacy, that means relying more on their diplomats posted in the foreign countries.

Read here the full article

Jet.Lag

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org

Jet lag: an unexpected threat for diplomats

17/09/2015 /

What do the Suez Crisis and George H.W. Bush vomiting on the Japanese Prime Minister have in common? They both generated from jet lag. Years after the 1956 Middle-East crisis, John Foster Dulles recognized that cancelling the Aswan agreement with the Egyptian leader Nasser, which opened the way for the Soviet Union to improve its relationship with Egypt, was a significant mistake and was due to the effects of jet lag. Similarly, the gastroenteritis attack that in 1992 caused former President Bush to vomit on him and the Japanese Prime Minister, was brought on by the effects of the trip to Japan.

These are only two examples contained in the article “How jet lag hurts diplomats, without them even realizing it“, in which Dan Caldwell and William Hocking stress that the symptoms of jet lag – fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches and irritability – could crucially impair high-level leaders and diplomats who engage in significant negotiations and discussions. With a view to obviate to these bad effects, the authors suggest that exposure to sunlight and rest can help re-synchronize circadian clock and operate at the height of mental acuity. In this sense, the selective use of pharmacological agents including melatonin may be of benefit. As an alternative, Caldwell and Hocking suggest that policy-makers may return to rely on resident diplomats to represent their country’s interests and positions to foreign governments.

 Jet lag

Image source: Flickr – Hernán Piñera – (CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

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