Follow-Up: That State Department Twitter-Diplomacy....Gives the Game Away?

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.

Inconvenient (Rocket) Facts: Israel Still Can't Get It Right

Latest: Sporadic attacks in Gaza after end of the three-hour respite

A follow-up to our story this morning on the BBC inconveniencing the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, with the numbers of 42 rocket launches into southern Israeli between June cease-fire and 4 November (when Israel killed 6 Hamas activists in Gaza) and 320 after 4 November to the end of the cease-fire....

The Israeli Consulate in New York, feeling a bit of pressure over the claim that it was Israel that broke the cease-fire in November, has put out charts to prove Hamas' responsibility. Unfortunately, the charts they've provided are more helpful for the supposed bad guys than they are for Tel Aviv:





The Consulate interprets the graph as showing that "rather than use the 'state of calm' to promote peace and to build a civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Hamas took advantage of the situation to expand its terrorist capabilities".

Hmm...first full month of the cease-fire, July: 1 attack. August: 8 September: 1 October: 1. Now, my maths is poor but that's 11 rocket attacks compared to almost 500 in the previous four months.

The Hamas "expansion" was in fact a 98 percent decrease in launches.

The number went back to 126 in November, closing in on pre-truce levels, but of course that was after the catalytic event of the Israeli raid into Gaza and the killing of the six Hamas activists (which, for some reason, the Consulate doesn't mention).

So, if I could offer a friendly work of advice to the Israeli number- and message-spinners in New York....You may want to bury this press release, guys. Because from where I'm sitting, you're helping to make Hamas' case rather than your own.

The CIA and US Foreign Policy: Special Conference

Our partners at the Clinton Institute for American Studies, University College Dublin, have asked up to pass around the word about a special two-day conference on 20–21 February 2009 on "The CIA and US Foreign Policy: Reforms, Representations, and New Approaches to Intelligence."



Plenary speakers include:

PROFESSOR RICHARD H. IMMERMAN (Professor and Edward J. Buthusiem Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow in History at Temple University, former-Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analytical Integrity and Standards and Analytic Ombudsman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence)

PROFESSOR RICHARD J. ALDRICH (Professor of International Security at the University of Warwick and the author of several books on intelligence and security communities, including The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence)

This conference will consider the historical and contemporary role of the Central Intelligence Agency in the formulation and implementation of American foreign relations. We invite papers and panels that address any aspect of the relationship between the CIA and US foreign policy from the creation of the Agency in 1947 up to the present day. There will be a particular, although by no means exclusive, attention to issues of Agency reform, representation and interaction, as well as new approaches to intelligence.

For further information, visit:

http://www.ucdclinton.ie/events_conferences_2009_ciaandusforeignpolicy.htm

Please send single paper and panel proposals in an email to kaeten.mistry@ucd.ie with the following information:

1) Name, contact details and academic affiliation
2) Paper title
3) 200-300 word abstract
4) Brief CV or biographical statement

For queries or further information contact:

Dr. Kaeten Mistry: kaeten.mistry@ucd.ie
Clinton Institute for American Studies
Belfield House
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
+ 353 1 716 1592

A Farewell Song for George Bush: "They Think We're Disposable"

A sixth nominee for a Good-bye to our 43rd President. This one is quite quirky --- moviegoers might recall it in a far different context --- but I think the sentiments are worthwhile:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vOp4nxlbb1w&feature=related[/youtube]

See all the Farewell Song contest entrants

Rice to UN: US Seeks Regime Change in Gaza

Last night, as I followed Condoleezza Rice's statement to the UN Security Council, I claimed that she had just asked --- under cover of the conditions for a cease-fire --- for a "legal coup" to replace Hamas with the Palestinian Authority.

Because of the seriousness of the allegation, I have rechecked this morning. Here are the two sentences from Rice's statement, reprinted at the State Department website:

Our goal must be the stabilization and normalization of life in Gaza. This will require a principled resolution of the political challenges in Gaza that reestablishes ultimately the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate control and facilitates the normal operation of all crossings.

Rice's following sentence is also important, as it points to the strategy of putting forth Cairo --- with the "Mubarak proposal" for the ceasefire --- as the public face of this process:

The November 26 Arab League statement will serve as an important guide in these efforts, efforts that are led by Egypt.

(I cannot find a "November 26 Arab League statement". The closest match is a statement by the UN-US-Europe-Russia Quartet on 26 November 2007 welcoming "the commitment of the Israeli and Palestinians leaders to launch bilateral negotiations toward the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace".)