He recommended The United Nations “get tough” with the Reds, and said diplomatic language was useless in these military talks. “To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightenment and civilized people”, he complained to the Chiefs on August 6, “ is to deride one’s own dignity and to invite the disaster their treachery will inevitably bring upon us.”
In the sentence, the phrase “representatives of an enlightenment and civilized people” is used sarcastically by the speaker to describe the people they are negotiating with, whom they actually consider uncivilized and treacherous. In this context, the speaker is likely referring to the "Reds," a term historically used to describe communists, especially during the Cold War, thus indicating that the speaker does not genuinely consider them to be civilized.
He recommended The United Nations “get tough” with the Reds, and said diplomatic language was useless in these military talks. “To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightenment and civilized people”, he complained to the Chiefs on August 6, “ is to deride one’s own dignity and to invite the disaster their treachery will inevitably bring upon us.”
这里”as the representatives of ..."是指自己还是对方？
我理解是指说话人自己。(edit: 自己/United Nations)
如果指对方，应该是deal(treat?) them as ....
In the sentence, the phrase “representatives of an enlightenment and civilized people” is used sarcastically by the speaker to describe the people they are negotiating with, whom they actually consider uncivilized and treacherous. In this context, the speaker is likely referring to the "Reds," a term historically used to describe communists, especially during the Cold War, thus indicating that the speaker does not genuinely consider them to be civilized.