A former aide to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, Jeffrey Feltman is reported to be about to get a big job at the UN, Under Secy Genl for Political Affairs. At Jadaliyyah, Vijay Prashad says that Feltman will give the UN greater credibility with the US government, at the cost of UN credibility in the Muslim world. For Feltman applauded the crushing of the Arab spring in Bahrain and has been a ceaseless supporter of Israel and critic of Iran. The Israel lobby, globalized:
On one issue Feltman is remarkably consistent. When it comes to the Middle East, Feltman has been outspoken about the threats posed by Iran in the region. Whether in Beirut or Manama, he has publically denounced Iranian “interference” outside its own boundaries. At the same time, Feltman has generously offered US assistance to these same regimes. In other words, US interference is quite acceptable, but Iranian interference is utterly unacceptable. This might be adequate behavior for the diplomat of a country, but it is hardly the temperament for a senior UN official. It raises doubts about Feltman’s ability to be even-handed in his deliberations as a steward of the world’s political dilemmas.
Feltman’s intemperate logic was not of the distant past. It was on display in March 2012 at a Lebanese American Organization’s meeting at the Cannon Office Building in Washington, DC (as Franklin Lamb reported on this site this week). At this meeting, the former US Ambassador to Lebanon, instructed the Lebanese people as to what they must do in their next election, “The Lebanese people must join together to tell Hezbollah and its allies that the Lebanese state will no longer be hijacked for an Iranian-Syrian agenda.” The people must “use the 2013 parliamentary elections to defeat the remnants of the Syrian occupation, the pillar of which is Hezbollah.”….
A clear-eyed assessment comes from Karim Makdisi, who teaches at the American University of Beirut. Makdisi recalls Feltman’s role as Ambassador in the area, where he made himself an extremely divisive figure. Feltman pushed for UN Resolution 1559 from 2004, to disarm the Lebanese resistance, he supported the Israeli invasion in 2006, and he provided assistance to the March 14 political party against Hezbollah. In other words, Feltman actively took sides in a divided political landscape. Feltman’s appointment “would be a disaster and send exactly the wrong signal for the UN” to the region. Having recognized its weakness, the US knows that it will be the UN that takes the lead in Syria and elsewhere for the foreseeable future. Makdisi believes that in “anticipating a larger role for the UN,” the US wishes Feltman to be well-placed to “ensure that US interests are maintained as much as possible.” Whatever credibility remains with the UN will whittle in the region with this appointment.
speaking of syria…recently reported the US was mulling over supplying weapons (excuse me, that’s from memory) stepping up pressure on syria.
anyone not living under a rock is probably aware of the recent horrific massacre in homs. all the initial reports said it was the regime doing it, everyone condemned it.
so who did it?
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/05/26/syria_massacre_more_than_90_killed_in_houla_homs_province.html
the regimes response: “blamed the deaths on “armed terrorist gangs”.”
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi, Homs Massacre; Real Story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVx9m9SJIy0
naturally the syrian observatory said is was the regime. was it AQ?
i think the feltman appointment is as much or more about syria as it is iran.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18221461#
can’t figure out why syria would agree to UN observers and then carry out a big massacre.
RE: “A former aide to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, Jeffrey Feltman is reported to be about to get a big job at the UN, Under Secy Genl for Political Affairs.” ~ Weiss
MY COMMENT: Good old Jeffrey “Saint Nicholas” Feltman!
SEE: How the US and Israel Hope to Destroy Hezbollah ~ Franklin Lamb, Counterpunch, 11/19/10
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb11192010.html
They love Feltman in the ME:
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/10/squeezing-hezbollah-jeff-feltman%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98really-great-plan%E2%80%99/
It sounds much more convincing when a report comes from “UN Officials”. Yet as we see in this article, Mr Feltman is highly biased.
Another example in the headlines right now regarding the massacre in Syria. The head of the UN Mission is Norwegian Maj Gen Robert Mood. His training since Norway has been at Nato War College, USMC University and USMC School of Advanced War Fighting.
So the reports from the UN Mission to Syria need to be seen for what they are: reports thay may be heavily biased or distorted.
Another Jewish Torquemada gets appointed to high office.