Stupid American Ambassadors

In today's America there are no standards when it comes to Middle East positions in the U.S. government or anywhere else. President Bill Clinton officially inaugurated the marginalization of Arabists - Middle East specialists - through the appointment of Martin Indyk to the position of assistant secretary of Near East affairs in the State Department. Indyk was the first non-Arabic speaking, and non-career diplomat to head the Middle East bureau at State. He made his career at the Israel lobby - AIPAC - and was president of the Israel lobby's "think tank" the Washington Institute when Clinton selected him - Indyk wasn't even a U.S. citizen at the time (he's Australian) and his citizenship application had to be speed through to qualify him. He set a precedent at Foggy Bottom that all his successors have followed - since Indyk not a single Near East assistant secretary has been even minimally fluent in Arabic or have any significant knowledge of the Arab world. Besides their ignorance, the common traits they all have is: fanatical support for Israel. And this - Zionist credentials - is all the qualification that now matters in America where the Israel lobby will work to undercut any Arabists whom are perceived as pro-Arab.

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Bush had similar appointees, and so does Obama. The latter's appointment for Near East assistance secretary is none other than Bush's former ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman. A fanatical Zionist who as ambassador to Lebanon was known for being the only "big country" ambassador to the nation who could not speak Arabic (Chinese ambassador, for instance, even has a Ph.D. in Arab literature), and appointment of non-Arabic speakers to Arab countries is something the U.S. is quite happy to maintain; and who was notorious for opining on Lebanese domestic politics as if it were the colonial times that Lebanese took to the streets against his big mouth:

Feltman continues his patronizing treatment of the Arab world as head of the Middle East bureau. And, for the record, Feltman claims to speak Arabic but this is a lie. He took six months of Arabic and yet does not shy away writing Arabic as a language of fluency on his resume. This is a common feature of contemptible American diplomats.

All this has been by way of introduction to my mockery of former U.S. ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg. This is a man with no serious knowledge of Arab history of contemporary affairs, or, of course, of the Arabic language. But, yet, uses his title as ambassador to an Arab nation to feign expertise on the Middle East and to pass his superficial and ignorant writing as analysis. And today he wrote a piece on the Yemeni war on the Huffington Post pretending that he is well-informed. It is clear that he just went to Wikipedia before writing his piece in a futile effort to sound smart, and his knowledge is nothing more than cut-and-paste masquerading as insight.

His writing today:

unique translucent alabaster windows known as gammariyas, which trace their origins back to the Sabaean rulers who built the skyscraper palace of Ghumdan 1,800 years ago

What the New York Times wrote on November 15, 2009:

The translucent alabaster windows known as gammariyas... This country has been famous for its unique architecture ever since Sabaean rulers built the skyscraper palace of Ghumdan 1,800 years ago

Do not these fools have better things to do in their retirement then pretend they're smart?

H/T: Angry Arab.