Wednesday
Jan072009
Follow-Up: That State Department Twitter-Diplomacy....Gives the Game Away?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 21:14
After our "full and frank" discussion earlier this week over the US State Department's emergence on Twitter, American officials have made their first foray back into the cyber-woods.
Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy is asking, "Did You Know [that] State Dept has a Senior Advisor on Muslim Engagement?" while State's bloggers are putting out the line, "Cease-Fire in Gaza Must Be Durable, Sustainable."
The twist comes when you read that blog, which is a re-print of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech to the UN Security Council last night without any further exposition or explanation. And, following up on our interpretation that Rice's statement is much more than a call for a "durable, sustainable cease-fire" --- "US Seeks Regime Change in Gaza" --- the killer phrase is still there:
....a principled resolution of the political challenges in Gaza that reestablishes ultimately the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate control....
There is a comment box available for those wishing to take up this small matter.
Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy is asking, "Did You Know [that] State Dept has a Senior Advisor on Muslim Engagement?" while State's bloggers are putting out the line, "Cease-Fire in Gaza Must Be Durable, Sustainable."
The twist comes when you read that blog, which is a re-print of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech to the UN Security Council last night without any further exposition or explanation. And, following up on our interpretation that Rice's statement is much more than a call for a "durable, sustainable cease-fire" --- "US Seeks Regime Change in Gaza" --- the killer phrase is still there:
....a principled resolution of the political challenges in Gaza that reestablishes ultimately the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate control....
There is a comment box available for those wishing to take up this small matter.
Reader Comments (1)
Is this not the politics of imperial control? Only now it's not just loyal client states doing Washington's bidding, but the international community and the Palestinian authority are also actively complicit in what amounts to an attempt to overthrow an elected gov't - however unpalatable hamas's rule in Gaza might be for the West. I'd qualify that, however, by stating that it seem to me that the EU and others have few alternatives - given their pre-existing stance of supporting negotiations with the PA and not Hamas - other than to offer platitudes about avoiding civilian casualities and halting the escalating humanitarian crisis.
If the strategy is to topple hamas and replace them with PA/Fatah - what happens if this fails, which seems likely given the fact the Gazans had turned against them in the polls. Also isn't Abbas's position untenable? His collusion with the U.S - if that is the case - whilst all this is going on, is making him look more like a stooge with each passing day. Needless to say, this strategy is hardly conducive to stability, nevermind peace.