Bushama: Jeffrey Feltman (a Democratic version of Elliott Abrams)

"As expected, President Barack Obama today announced his intent to nominate Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of State's Near Eastern affairs bureau and a former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, to be the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs." This nomination should get more attention because it is yet another example of the theme of continuity in the Obama's Middle East policies. Feltman was a cheerleader for Bush early on and only in the 2006 election in the US he revealed to all in Lebanon that he was a Democrat but only to tell them that US policies in the Middle East under Bush will not change under a Democrat, and he was right. This nomination is a further evidence of the deterioration of Middle East expertise at the US Department of State. Gone are the days when the Middle East experts were the likes of Richard P Parker or Richard Murphy and others: these were people who knew the region and spoke its languages and interacted with its people. Don't get me wrong: there are still such people in the Department of State but they are marginalized and excluded from decision making. Feltman is a tool of Martin Indyk who pushed hard for this nomination. And from what I am told in Washignton, DC Dennis Ross continues to exercise influence beyond his specific portfolio and yesterday he even met--for some reason--with the Lebanese buffoonish Minister of Defense. Feltman can speak three (undecipherable) Arabic words and he uses them in the beginning of every conversation with Arabs before he quickly switches to English. What bothers me about Feltman is not only the politics but the attitude: he has the attitude of 19th century colonial officers in Asia. His successor at the US embassy in Beirut for example--politics aside--is a much nicer and less arrogant person although the politics are the same. (thanks FLC)