And as an exercise in diplomacy, the cadets must answer questions from mock reporters.

Was everything just an exercise in diplomacy?

Some of the most delicate exercises in diplomacy involve dealings among countries that do not have formal relations.

It is an exercise in diplomacy."

The twice-yearly collection of the parias from Fezana had become something close to routine now, more an exercise in diplomacy than a military one.

Mr. Rutter said that matching his buyers with specific floors in the building became an exercise in diplomacy - literally.

For pilot Wedge Antilles and his company, it's an unfamiliar exercise in diplomacy - and one that's filled with unexpected peril.

Mr. de Villepin's comments, in an interview with Europe 1 radio, raise the pressure in what has been a nail-biting exercise in diplomacy between Washington and Paris.

For the ambassador it was one more exercise in diplomacy, conversations in carefully chosen words selected to show little on the one hand, and to uncover much on the other.

All of which has transformed the simple task of pumping crude into a strange exercise in diplomacy, civics and bluff, less the oil business than an exercise in velvet-gloved imperialism.

While Mr. Bush repeatedly asserted that he was taking these steps in search of peace, it was widely noted that all three of the other objectives would shore up domestic and international support for war, should his exercise in diplomacy fail.

An Exercise in Diplomacy Nearly 200 Republicans and Democrats descended on a rambling lodge and conference center in Hershey, Pa., this weekend for what was billed as a three-day course in civility, to exercise their diplomacy and exorcize their demons.