Jeffrey Feltman studies the Middle East

Russian Envoy to the Middle East, Alexander Sultanov, is visiting Lebanon. He has been speaking in fluent Arabic in all of his statements and interviews with the press. He has spoken in Arabic in his private meetings too. His counterpart at the US Department of State, Jeffrey Feltman, who under the supervision of Martin Indyk was able to shift from the neo-conservative camp of the Bush administration to the Obama camp, is still having a hard time with his second Arabic word. Journalists in Lebanon tell me that they only have heard him speak one Arabic word in his lony term as ambassador in Lebanon: Shukran (thanks) at the end of his (English language) statements to the press. His second word is ba-ta-ta (potato). It is expected that he will be able to prounounce the word before the press in a few months only.