Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Hello, Syria
In another example of Smart Diplomacy™, AP reports that President Obama
"will return an ambassador to Syria, filling a post that has been vacant for four years and marking an acceleration of Washington's engagement with the Arab world.The U.S. does have diplomatic relations with Syria, although that is not the case with Iran (Syria being its client state), as President Obama reminded reporters yesterday during the presser, when the question was posed about whether Iranian diplomats were still going to be invited to U.S. embassies around the world for a July 4th cook out. What happened to the last ambassador?
"The move reinforces Obama's determination, outlined in his Cairo speech earlier this month, to deepen America's role in the Middle East as he seeks to broker peace among Israel and its Arab neighbors and improve U.S. relations in the region."
"The U.S. withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005 to protest Syrian actions in neighboring Lebanon. Washington has criticized Syria and Iran for supporting Islamic militant groups such as the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The U.S. also has accused Syria of not doing enough to stop the infiltration of militants to fight U.S. and allied forces in neighboring Iraq."It is all well and good to have an ambassador in an embassy to further diplomatic relations with a host country, but it is not as if all diplomacy and all consular duties grind to a halt when an ambassador in not in residence. Might it have been even Smarter Diplomacy™ to have Syria make some substantive or at least symbolic gesture to the U.S. before a U.S. ambassador returned to that country?
4 Comments:
By 
Christopher Chambers, at
Wed Jun 24, 03:13:00 PM:
Actually I heard the President was appointing South Carolina governor (and let's cut off our nose to spite our face so me-no-want Stimulus $) Mark Sanford as special envoy to Syria, after he finishes his international relation(s) in Argentina. LOL
By 
, at
Wed Jun 24, 03:30:00 PM:
Chris!shame on you did not you proof-read, that must be a typo...surely you meant the Syrian diplomatic "hole" will be filled by The Rev.( holy man don't cha know)Jesse Jackson- he comes to mind instantly? Who's the fool, chump!LoL, indeed...great role models you have....or , did I miss something...like human values , or sumtink? You have bruises all over yourself.Stop smacking your own face, it's impolite to do thus ,in public.
By JPMcT, at
Wed Jun 24, 04:14:00 PM:
Actually, Mr. Chambers, I doubt that Mark Sanford has donated enough money to the Democratic Party to qualify for an ambassadorship.
I suspect he will have to do penance by spending the rest of his term cleaning the rugstains in the Oval Office left by the previous Democratic occupant.
Besides, as we all know, adultery is only professional suicide if committed by a Republican.
By Gary Rosen, at
Wed Jun 24, 09:52:00 PM:
Chrissy's just engaging in his usual burning-bag-of-shit-on-the-doorstep tactic to draw attention from the fact that his beloved BO is once again getting down on his knees and fellating some repressive dictatorship. The One needed to find someone, after all, after McCain shamed him out of kissing Ahmedinejad's ass.
