Ambassador Ford is Ruling Facebook
There will be no happy ending in Syria whether or not Ambassador Ford is there, but the way he's using Facebook is exactly the way it should be used:
@Ninos Ishaia: We have expressed regret about security force losses. All of those lost are real people. I personally posted my regrets on June 1 and on July 10 on this page. Secretary Clinton expressed her regret at security force losses in her article in Asharq al-Awsat on June 17. However, the casualties among unarmed civilians are far greater; the UN is now estimating at least 2,700. Moreover, the government’s use of excessive force – arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings (Ghiyath Matar, Hamza al-Khatib and Zeineb Hosni, just to name a few) are pushing more people from peaceful to armed opposition. We don’t advocate such violence, but our analysis tells us this is happening on the ground.
@Vigdis Jakupsdottir Mahfoud: The September 29 meeting was not secret. I walked down a public street in downtown Damascus at 11:00AM – does that sound secret, especially when you know that I am followed by Syrian intelligence? I am accredited to the Syrian government, but diplomats from all nations’ embassies around the world meet with people from both inside and outside government. At the Syrian ambassador’s home in Washington at a dinner in January I myself met American doctors, businessmen and politicians. It’s normal. And it is not a foreign conspiracy. Syria’s problems come not from foreign interference but from intolerance – the same kind of intolerance we saw in front of Abdul Azim’s office. Unfortunately, those problems now are growing worse and more violent. And as for international law, the Vienna Convention requires that the Syrian government protect diplomats and not stop us from doing our normal work.
What a shame that the US Embassy in Ankara doesn't attempt to speak to Turks in the same way. On their Facebook page, you see tripe about the Solar Decathlon. For obvious reasons, no one in Turkey seems particularly interested in it.
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Oct '10
Re: Ambassador Ford is Ruling Facebook
ricciardone is afraid of erdogan.
Mar '11
Re: Ambassador Ford is Ruling Facebook
How's that Facebook revolution going in Egypt?