Historian Ussam Makdisi sent me this comment about Feltman leaks (I cite with his permission):
"1) most important, you get the sense that Feltman does not really run things at all despite all your worries that he does...
4) This is an old 19th century story about Lebanese "notables" bowing down before Western man but what's interesting is how pathetic they all are--how they grovel in their attempt to manipulate the West and how the West in turn understands this precisely and yet delights in being the object of devotion at the same time as it holds these notables in justified contempt."
"1) most important, you get the sense that Feltman does not really run things at all despite all your worries that he does...
4) This is an old 19th century story about Lebanese "notables" bowing down before Western man but what's interesting is how pathetic they all are--how they grovel in their attempt to manipulate the West and how the West in turn understands this precisely and yet delights in being the object of devotion at the same time as it holds these notables in justified contempt."
