SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: RICE'S VISIT TO THE REGION

UNCLAS MUSCAT 001002 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD, NEA/P, INR/R/MR LONDON FOR GOLDRICH PARIS FOR ZEYA USCENTCOM FOR PLUSH FOREIGN PRESS CENTER FOR ASILAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO KMDR OIIP MU SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: RICE'S VISIT TO THE REGION -------------- Occupying Our Thoughts -------------- ¶1. The privately owned Arabic-language daily "al-Watan" published an editorial on June 21 under the headline "Rice's Tour And Lessons Of Democracy": "Secretary Rice said that her country made a mistake when it sought to achieve stability in the Middle East at the expense of democratization, and that U.S. support for dictatorships has not resulted in peace. These are nice statements, but they do not address the Arabs' true priority: the Israeli occupation. It is not appropriate to ask occupied nations to practice democracy while the occupier's weapons are still stuck in their ribs. Washington should stop preaching its fake lessons of democracy, since the source of violence and hatred is occupation itself. Arabs have different values and different priorities, and every time Washington trots out its distorted political messages, it proves that it does not understand us." -------------- Rank Ordering -------------- ¶2. "Al-Watan" featured another editorial on June 22 entitled "Condi's Democracy": "The basic message that Rice carried to the region was the rhetorical message of democracy. Some analysts believe the itinerary itself was Washington's way of signaling how it ranks the countries of the region in terms of democratization: the visit began with Israel, and then moved on to Egypt, Jordan, and finally Saudi Arabia. Certainly the Israelis will not miss the opportunity to gloat about their status as `the only democratic body' in the Middle East.... But what did Rice's visit really accomplish? It was important only because of the media attention, not because of the substantive discussions with the host countries." -------------- Other Media -------------- ¶3. Secretary Rice's speech in Cairo has not yet been a topic on the Internet message boards "al-Sablah" and "al-Majarra," but the Embassy will continue to monitor these boards and report any developments. SNOWDEN