Wooing U.S. Muslims

[Vladimir]

This is something a few of you will find interesting:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/09/israeli_spies_pitching_us_musl.html


The question, mostly directed to employees of the clandestine service branch, was: Which are the best allies among friendly spy services, in terms of liaison with the CIA, and which are the worst? In other words, who acts like, well, friends?

“Israel came in dead last,” a recently retired CIA official told me the other day.

This is interesting for many reasons. It's the Washington Post and their guy is in the White House. There is also the timing between "Top Secret America (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/)" and the announcement of the plan to cut the DoD contractor workforce by 10%. Although I'll rarely credit any U.S. administration with forward-thinking Mideast strategy this new article makes me wonder if Obama's recent diplomatic chill toward Israel is related to this.

Is this an attempt by the Post to steer national policies, is the administration using the paper to advance a policy, or is the Post just a bunch of left-leaning boobs?

[rory_20_uk]

Arabs are now politically left wing, eh? Odd for a collection of despots and dictators.

~:smoking:

[Beskar]

Arabs are now politically left wing, eh? Odd for a collection of despots and dictators.

~:smoking:

:laugh4:

[Fragony]

I don't understand America. But it's hardly surprising the Israeli's are less cooperative, Israel built a wall and dug in so why exchange too much, especially with Obama in charge, the blitzbeard aren't as dangerous for Israeli government as they are for the arab ones. Pakistan and indirectly Iran have nuclear tech just because of of a screwup of the CIA

[drone]

Is this an attempt by the Post to steer national policies, is the administration using the paper to advance a policy, or is the Post just a bunch of left-leaning boobs?
There is a fair share of cons and neo-cons on the editorial board at the WaPo, so there is some right boobage as well. And as a blog, is SpyTalk in the paper edition, or only part of the online service?

Regarding the Israelis, I would be surprised if they weren't pulling stunts like this. It's been going on for years, I assume they get away with it because their lobby keeps the heat off in Congress. It's like off-the-books foreign aid. I'm actually kind of happy the way the administration has treated Israel lately.

[Vladimir]

There is a fair share of cons and neo-cons on the editorial board at the WaPo, so there is some right boobage as well. And as a blog, is SpyTalk in the paper edition, or only part of the online service?

Regarding the Israelis, I would be surprised if they weren't pulling stunts like this. It's been going on for years, I assume they get away with it because their lobby keeps the heat off in Congress. It's like off-the-books foreign aid. I'm actually kind of happy the way the administration has treated Israel lately.

I a Right-nutter myself and don't mind the Post as they often conduct a lot of good research. I'm unfamiliar with the author or blog and shouldn't have mentioned politics...although I suspect that I subconsciously wanted to use the nutter pun.

I know the Israeli's are acting this way and don't entirely blame them. I wondered if: "...this [is] an attempt by the Post to steer national policies, is the administration using the paper to advance a policy, or..." I'm not sure who is leading what, but the implications are interesting.

[drone]

That's why I put in the bit about the blog. There are some persistent "columns" in the online WaPo that don't get printed in the paper, I'm not sure if SpyTalk is one of these, but I think it might be. If they are trying to plant seeds, I would expect a regular opinion column would be a more likely place. Obama's unwillingness to kiss Netanyahu's feet has been roundly criticized in the WaPo by Krauthammer (of course), and I think by Hiatt and Thiessen as well. And with Hiatt in charge of the editorial board, I don't see a concerted anti-Israel stance happening any time soon.

[Skullheadhq]

. Pakistan and indirectly Iran have nuclear tech just because of of a screwup of the CIA


Pakistan has nuclear tech thanks to messed up Dutch security, look it up.

[Fragony]

Pakistan has nuclear tech thanks to messed up Dutch security, look it up.

That was not a messup from our part, CIA urged us to let him go, and now Pakistan has kaboom

[Skullheadhq]

That was not a messup from our part, CIA urged us to let him go, and now Pakistan has kaboom

It could help combat overpopulation in India with it's 1.3 billion citizens.

[lars573]

That was not a messup from our part, CIA urged us to let him go, and now Pakistan has kaboom
I prefer "bucket of sunshine" or "bucket of instant sunshine."