it's oscar time, so i can't help but wonder whether the bush administration is going for the worst at international diplomacy award. yeah, i never heard of that one before, but it must be a new one. maybe it's more along the lines of a lifetime achievement award.
seriously, i really didn't think they could get much worse after the debacles relating to the iraq war, the transformation of the u.s. as standing for human rights into a country virtually synonymous for violations of human rights, burning bridges with most traditional allies, transforming overwhelming international sympathy for the u.s. post-9-11 into the worst period of anti-americanism in my lifetime, permitting north korea to get a nuclear weapon, undermining the u.s.'s treaty obligations under the non-proliferation agreement to help india get a nuclear weapon at the same time that it demands that india's ally iran go beyond what that treaty requires, etc. the list goes on and on.
even though it probably won't have as monumental an effect as any of those other things, forbidding israel from even exploring whether talks with syria are possible, i think, is a previously unachieved height of diplomatic ineptitude. so not only is bush against our government uttering a peep to the syrians, israel isn't allowed to either, even when it is in their clear national interests to at least figure out if syria wants to talk.
maybe the syrian overture wouldn't have come to anything. a lot of these backdoor trial balloons don't. so it is possible the administration's latest bone-headed stance won't make any difference in the long run. but the level of nonsense that passes for international relations with this administration still is stunning to behold. i mean, there is literally no down side to israel exploring their options with syria, other than the fact it would screw up the administration's narrative of an intransigent regime. the bushies have allegedly spent the last five years focusing on that region of the world. one would think by now they would have developed the fucking clue.
