Comments on: Ross Gets An Appointment But Maybe Not Quite the One He Wanted

By: Max L. Cadenhead

Max L. Cadenhead — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:41:08 +0000

Ross will scuttle the talks with Iran if he can. His loyalty is first to Israel, all other “loyalties” are secondary. However, I believe that the Obama administration fully intends to have a “smackdown” of the neo-cons, and the zionists who have for so long been in charge of Israeli policy and who have made a bad, bloody joke out of the US “Mideast” policies. Nothing Obama proposes will work unless Israel is reined in and the Arabs can be convinced that the US is not ruled by TelAviv. Indeed, it seems inevitable that this reining in of Israel will occur, and it is about time. Public sentiment is moving more and more against Israel. This is truly made obvious by the ongoing legal extremes that are needed now, worldwide, to stifle any criticisms of Israel, no matter how justified. The injustice rampant in the EU, and in Britain and Germany in particular, with their ongoing legal harassment against a foreign service officer, (in Britain), or the arrest for exercising free speech, (in Germany and most of Europe), for any comments, however mild, that are thought to be against Israel’s policiies or purposes. It is really a very bad joke, but as the Israelis believe, “some of us are more equal than others”.

By: Abbas Khalil

Abbas Khalil — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:09:30 +0000

Probably, low-level diplomats would be silent when faced with this kind of distortion of the name Persian Gulf; a name that dates back to 1500 BC and the official name in all the UN maps, documentations and historical literature. To change this name has one purpose and one purpose alone (no matter what the name you change it to): is it antagonize the Iranian people before even the Iranian government! Is this what Mr. Obama was talking about when he talked of respect to the Iranians?!

By: Hugh Jack

Hugh Jack — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:18:31 +0000

From my days as a diplomat in the Gulf the local convention was to refer to the Arabian Gulf. It was a sop to our hosts but consistently used, even in cables home. I cannot now recall whether American cables used the form but certainly it was in conversation, etc. The omission of the word “Persian” would appear to be a sensible formulation.

We should perhaps spend more effort in assessing how much influence Ross might have on US policy in the service of Israel.

By: Hassan Shaida

Hassan Shaida — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:36:17 +0000

I wish I could agree with Paul Ingram. I think Mr Ross had a hand in choosing his job title and knows that Arabs hate Persians more than they hate Israel. Hence dropping the “Persian” from the Gulf, to pander to the Arabs at no cost to Israel. To every Iranian, regardless of his political or religious affinity, the name of the Persian Gulf is too important to allow him/er to be “not too hung up about”.

By: Paul Ingram

Paul Ingram — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:24:42 +0000

Let’s not get too hung up about the omission of the word ‘Persian’. I know from my own experience as a presenter on domestic Iranian TV that this is sensitive within Iran itself, but to be honest, the level of ignorance in the US and Europe about this sensitivity and the difference is widespread – I suspect there was no deliberate sleight involved. Let’s focus on the more substantial possibilities coming out of these developments, and in particular Ross’ influence over Clinton, and their power to derail any potential warming of relations between Iran and the US.

By: Abbas Khalil

Abbas Khalil — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:23:28 +0000

I find the omission of “Persian” from “Gulf” as a very serious slight to Iran’s people and its history since the “Persian Gulf” name is the right and official name for that body of water. That slight not only won’t bode well with Iran’s government, but would be taken as a grave insult to Iran’s history. Iran, will view this as a provocation intended to pander to the ever-hostile Arab governments and goes against Obama’s stated interest in reaching out to Iranian people.

Now, regarding this appointment, it would defy credulity to think that Ross won’t have a strong influence shaping Iran’s policy in favor of Israeli interests, which will most certainly scuttle the negotiations; probably, that’s exactly what the Israelis would be hoping for, a short-tracked distant-to-fail kind of negotiation.

I feel Iran should just wait until its next election in June while in the meantime watch for any serious sign of changing American policies towards it like for example freeing its diplomats ceased in Erbil, Iraq by the GWB administration.

Hope there is a serious back channel at work and not this appointment. This is very disappointing on all accounts, to say the least!