Confirmed: US sending ambassador to Syria
Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem has confirmed media reports that the Obama administration plans to name Robert Ford ambassador to Syria. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed that the White House plans to name an ambassador, but would not identify him.Ford, an Arabist, is the U.S. deputy ambassador in Iraq. A career diplomat, he has worked previously in Bahrain, Cairo and was U.S. ambassador to Algeria from 2006-2008.What could go wrong?
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley confirmed Washington had sent Damascus the name of a potential nominee but declined to confirm who it was.
"We look forward to restoring our ambassador to Damascus because we think Syria plays a vital role and our bilateral relationship should progress," he said.
"... We will continue to engage Syria to play a more constructive role in the region. We have questions for Syria in terms of its support of extremist groups in the region. But we are committed to advance our relationship."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:38 AM
1 Comments:
Here's what Assad has said:
"Now the problem is that the United States is weaker, and the whole influential world is weak as well…. You always need power to do politics. Now nobody is doing politics…. So what you need is strong United States with good politics, not weaker United States. If you have weaker United States, it is not good for the balance of the world."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/02/direct-quotes-bashar-assad.html
Carl, if you're on facebook, try Martin Kramer's fan page. That's where this link came from. He's interesting.
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