Wednesday January 2, 2008

I've Been Thinking:

Egypt is playing diplomatic hardball and Egypt is out to get Israel.

The Egyptians are threatening to use all their diplomatic clout to stymie Israeli interests in the developing world.
The Egyptians will be leaning especially heavily on those Muslim countries interested in expanding what have been until now quiet associations with Israel.

Egypt, a country with significant power in the developing world, has threatened to turn Israeli foreign minister Tzippi Livni into a persona non grata in the developing world by applying serious anti-Israel diplomacy.

Why? Because the Israeli foreign minister "publicly disrespected" Egypt by announcing that Israel had brought video footage of Egyptian security personnel assisting Hamas smuggle weapons into Gaza to show the Americans.

It happens to be true but not very diplomatic - and therein lies the problem.
Public pronouncements, not matter how truthful, have little to do with diplomacy.
Pronouncements of this sort are actually antithetical to Middle East diplomacy. Truth about violations can be leaked - and often are, but they are not made public at press conferences.

The right to shame Egypt belongs only to a super power, not to little Israel.

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