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From the American perspective, this article has surely been written by “a conservative Bedouin, closed minded, uneducated and somehow barbarian”.

It would not make a hoot of difference that he might have achieved a Master’s degree in “Peace education, human rights and international cooperation” from the ancient capital of the Roman Empire and a PhD in intercultural dialogue from Pisa, one of the oldest universities in the world, established in 1343.

I apologize to readers for this introduction but here is one Jordanian who is not impressed by the latest Wikileaks cable and intends to analyze current American policy with a view to suggesting some basic lessons in diplomacy.

US diplomacy seems to have a double face. Many observers today are skeptical, worried and above all, dubious about American policies in the Middle East. Moreover, the most serious problem facing the US abroad is its poor public image in the Arab world, especially in the Middle East. The more we interact with American diplomacy, the poorer the image gets. As expressed in the words of Peter Van Ham:

« The problem is that Arabs and Muslims will not attach credibility to US public diplomacy as long as US policies in the Middle East and beyond remain unchanged »
Diplomacy as an instrument of foreign policy has a multi functional role to deal with information, representation and negotiation. It may be defined as the art of moving beyond National Interest through the incessant exchange of information among people and nations. However, no country, whatever its status, has the right to manipulate the truth or present a biased picture of an entire nation in a most offensive way.

Although it was the American diplomat Edmund Gullion who coined the phrase “Public Diplomacy” in 1965, being one of the first to use this term doesn’t mean that you are the best to comprehend it. We only have to recall the perception of public diplomacy from the perspective of the American Defence Department in its interpretation that:

“Public Diplomacy seeks through the exchange of people and ideas to build lasting relationships and receptivity to a nation’s culture, values, and policies. It seeks also to influence attitudes and mobilize publics in ways that support policies and interests.”

Conversely, for the many bystanders observing how American policy is developing in the Middle East, its failure to adopt such public diplomacy is worrying. Whatever slight credibility the US might have had is rapidly waning along with its standing in Arab countries. The Americans are faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to playing the key protagonists in this scenario. So what is the solution? As their first major tactic they are clearly adopting the solution proposed by Joseph S Nye :
« If I can get you to want to do what I want, then I do not have to force you to do what you do not want to do »

In conclusion, it might be a good idea to tone down the idealized expectations we have of the Americans’ capability to achieve their goals. Modern history has proved that Americans have not turned plans on paper into translatable actions in the field: the finishing line is a long way off track from the start.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

http://amersabaileh.blogspot.com