Sunday, November 21, 2010

Under: just don't get it. Vapid Iran twitter diplomacy

From Claire Berlinski:



I've been working on an article all week about Turkey's bafflingly supine diplomatic position toward Iran. Now I read this.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's spokesman sent a birthday greeting to the president of Iran, who turned 54 this week.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to send American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home.
In a tweet sent Thursday on Ahmadinejad's birthday, Crowley said, "What a gift that would be."
Let me get this straight. Our Secretary of State has wished the president of a regime that kidnapped American citizens a happy birthday, asked him nicely to give them back, and thinks Twitter is the appropriate medium for this communication? Could this all be true?
I can't believe I've been working all week on a piece arguing that Turkey doesn't seem to grasp what it's dealing with.

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