'It's a case of still waters running deep,' a Swiss diplomat explains.

From the point of view of these other nations, a Western diplomat explained, the issue of food aid is not about saving starving Soviet citizens.

"The policy is 'Shoot first and don't ask questions later,' " explained the diplomat, who escaped unharmed.

They pointed to my neck and hips, and the embarrassed diplomat explained that I had been busted by the vice squad.

As a European diplomat explained, "We're against it, and he has no leverage any more on policies that take time to implement.

"Anything of value is rationed," explained a diplomat stationed in Pyongyang.

One American diplomat explained, "The whole idea has never necessarily been to seize cocaine, but to disrupt the traffickers' communications and transportation systems."

A senior diplomat here explained the conviction among some Palestinians that only violence can work.

Part of the problem during late-night negotiations, diplomats explained, was that each time a faction changed a candidate, it changed the ethnic makeup of the cabinet.

The German diplomat, in response, explained that "German policy in the East had now taken an entirely different course."