Wednesday, July 01, 2009

UK ambassador in Lebanon

I watched the other day as the UK ambassador in Lebanon, Frances Guy, (on whom I am accused by friends of having a crush) made an statement to the press in very good Arabic--and she was not reading it. When was the last time you saw a US ambassador in Lebanon speak Arabic? If I am not mistaken, the last time a real Arabist served as ambassador in Lebanon was when the able Richard P Parker was ambassador in the late seventies. In recent years, you have Geoffrey Feltman expressing pride in himself when he would say "thank you" in Arabic after speaking to reporters in...English.