Accurate dramatization, per State Department cables published by Wikileaks, of how the United States conducts diplomacy in the Middle East.Looks accurate to me--down to the opposable thumbs...
The basis for the rather unflattering portrayal of 'Mideast experts' may be based on an article in Just Journalism on how Mideast experts downplay Arab fears of Iran and insist on blaming Israel:
One of the most noteworthy revelations to emerge from the WikiLeaks release of secret US diplomatic messages was that several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, had encouraged the US to use military force to halt Iran’s nuclear programme. Having been the first broadsheet to break the story in the UK, The Guardian also led in editorial coverage of the leaked discussions about Iran.If anything--as the article describes--instead of Wikileaks bringing about a turnaround in diplomatic policy, the Mideast 'experts' ignore the Wikileaks cables and have just become more firmly entrenched--determined to maintain what they have been claiming all along.
Despite a leading article on the leaked cables, and a special multi-authored comment piece specifically on the Middle East angle, there was no acknowledgement that the privately-expressed fears of states such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan suggested that Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme are well founded. Instead, the issue was downplayed, and Israel was painted as the primary antagonist in the area.
Read the whole thing.
Which is what we should have expected
Technorati Tag: Middle East and US Diplomacy.
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