Wednesday, December 27, 2006
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Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times. (Flaubert)
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Reader Comments (4)
it is a nice blog, but my only gripe is he doesn't comment on any of the political events occurring. Then again it's probably due to the nature of his job. Still it would be refreshing to have an outspoken Syrian diplomat, banging his shoes on the table ala Khruschev style!
He's a diplomat, not a blogger. It's amazing he's got a blog at all - and of course comments are disabled. I can imagine the trolls he would get otherwise.
This is a very nice piece of public relations. Syrians are human beings, not horned demons, and the Syrian ambassador has put up a blog to prove it. Ambassadors are charged with representing their country to their host nations, so if blogs are a popular way for people to communicate, why not keep a blog? He'll get a larger audience than by throwing parties at the embassy in DC.
Now if you're expecting to engage in substantive, frank discussions, of course an ambassador is not going to conduct these in the wide-open forum of the blog. An ambassador's blog is like a corporate vice-president's company blog - an organ of the institution which he represents. Anyone complaining about it misunderstands the whole point of a corporate or governmental website.
Leila, well put. But I would add that the blog comes across to me very much reflecting his personality as I have seen it in the media and in comments from those who have met him in person: humane, kind, cultured. In other words, everything the Syrian regime is not. So the Syrian old guard should be thanking their lucky undeserving stars to have someone such as Imad Moustapha putting Syria's best face forward.
I hope you guys didn't misunderstand me! Of course it's a very nice blog which I regularly frequent and it does reflect his personality. Overall he seems like a top guy and I agree the nature of his job and position mean he can't be as frank as he may want to be.