Telecom in National Review Online! (Lions and Tigers and Bears; Oh My!)

Neal Freeman, one of the key figures behind the U.S. efforts to privatize the Intelsat global satellite system, looks back on the difficult task. The article includes a charming quip about U.S. naivete towards entrenched international bureaucracies:

Reagan appointed me to represent him in the international satellite system, asking me to look into "this privatization thing." I saluted, clicked heels, and strode off to shape up the international satellite business. That was 1983. As I remember it, I was young then. What the Great Communicator had failed to tell me was that the Intelsat organization was governed by a treaty and that privatization, accordingly, would require the approval of (ultimately) 146 signatories to that treaty. Some of these countries, I now confess, were new to me. Many of them were difficult. One was French.

Mr. Freeman, I feel your pain.