EU embarrassed by Ashton
And you thought the Europeans had no shame. Well, it turns out that they do. Even the obtuse Europeans recognized that their foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, went too far last week when she scolded an Israeli military court for convicting Abdallah Abu Rahma of attacking IDF soldiers during riots against the Israeli 'security fence' at Bil'in. So the EU has 'downgraded' Ashton's statement in a bid to minimize its impact. Wednesday’s statement, which raised Israeli ire for expressing concern about the conviction of Abdallah Abu Rahma in an Israeli military court, was issued as a “Statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.”But no one is really fooled by this little bit of diplomatic legerdemain. Ashton is now toxic enough to be excluded from this week's festivities in Washington.
On Thursday, the EU’s Web site had the statement under the heading “Statement by the Spokesperson of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.”
In the world of diplomacy, this tiny difference is not without significance.
As one diplomatic official explained, there are three types of statements that come out of Ashton’s office.
The first and strongest statement is issued by the High Representative in the name of the EU, and is a statement she makes after consultation with the EU’s foreign ministers.
The level under that is a statement issued in her name, which is a category of statements that she can make on her own. And the lowest level is a statement issued by the “Spokesperson of the High Representative.”
Maybe it's an admission of her utter irrelevance as kind-of foreign minister of the European Union, maybe she just wants her own show.And to think that French Foreign Minister Kouchner was angling for a European seat at the table. There's no chance of that happening now. All because Ashton couldn't keep her big, anti-Semitic mouth shut. Good riddance.
But Baroness Ashton is not coming to Hillary Clinton's Middle East confab, no she is not. I wrote about her two or three times a while back, and not admiringly. And her performance since then, even in the eyes of official Europe sitting in Brussels, has not brought her many but also not any fans. She is one of those international bureaucrats whose life is travel, travel, travel.
And pronounce, pronounce, pronounce.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:45 PM
2 Comments:
The Europeans have always been viscerally pro-Arab. The Israelis would be outnumbered in the room by three parties that take the Palestinian position. There is no one to back up Israel in there.
We'll see next month if the Palestinians and Israelis can even agree on what to talk about.That is, if Israel doesn't agree that the revanants should be the first issue on the table. And that is without even getting into the core existential issues that divide the two sides and have impeded every peace effort for decades.
This vile travesty of a politician has NEVER in her life been elected to ANYTHING!!
She has quietly, in the British civil service tradition, been gently pushed upwards the more incompetence she has shown.
She is married to creepy dhimmi Peter Kellner who runs the yougov political polling company.
Looking at her you wonder which end her brain is situated!
Post a Comment
<< Home