Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05MUSCAT1002
2005-06-22 13:41:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Muscat
Cable title:  

SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: RICE'S VISIT TO THE REGION

Tags:  KPAO KMDR OIIP MU 
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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


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Occupying Our Thoughts
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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
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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."

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Rank Ordering
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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."

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Other Media
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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