And Afghan political observers have noted that Mr. Karzai, who despite his harsh negotiation tactics has repeatedly mentioned the importance of a lasting security deal with the United States, had the power of approval over the delegate list, making it more likely he could sway the council.
Meanwhile, the United States blames Russia for it harsh negotiation tactics.
With a 2010 budget deficit of around 7% of GDP to be cut to 4.6% this year and a public debt of 83% of GDP, the prime minister and the finance minister Teixeira dos Santos have long resisted the idea of an international rescue package and conducted harsh negotiations with the European commission in order to avoid Ireland and Greece's track.
Yet the real fantasy is to imagine that more sanctions or harsher negotiations could have produced a deal that was much better than this one.
In these kinds of situations, if you practice harsh, ruthless, win-lose negotiation, sure, you may do well in one negotiation, but then the other person won't want to negotiate with you again and they'll try to find someone else and your reputation will get around and pretty soon you're doing yourself a big disservice.
"Talking in terms republicans would understand, I told the harsh truth that the negotiations on the future of Northern Ireland would not be taking place if it had not been for the military action of the IRA," he said.
During the initial negotiations Europe turned a harsh face towards Cyprus.
Adopting new sanctions, issuing harsh condemnations, and pulling out of negotiations with North Korea have yielded few results in the past.
He understands that his administrative skill is more useful than acting as a soldier, and earns the respect of the people under his control by not being unduly harsh with punishment and embarking on negotiations with the Scots.
In 2004, when three young Japanese aid workers were released from Iraq after lengthy government negotiations, they were greeted with harsh criticism from the Japanese public and media.
Such harsh competing sentiments will not make one-on-one negotiations easy — unless someone plays Moe Howard and knocks a couple of knuckleheads together.
