Unintelligent sharing

Deja Vu observed the other day:

Never mind, Miliband holds a joint news conference with the Syrian FM who blames Israeli bombs for the processed uranium UN inspectors uncovered. Miliband assures reporters that Syria is a good country, a true force for stability in the Middle East.

Why? He and Sarkozy dream of driving a wedge between Iran and Syria. The Syrian FM was not silly enough to disabuse him of the dream.

According to the Telegraph he’s gone a step further (via Daily Alert).

Britain re-established high-level intelligence links with the Syrian authorities as David Miliband made his landmark visit to Damascus yesterday, according to senior Syrian officials.

Further on in the Telegraph, it points out that this thawing could be a result of the American election.

Washington has long insisted on isolating Syria but with a change of administration – and attitude – looming, Britain and France are leading efforts to lure Damascus out of the solitude it has found itself in since it was implicated in the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, three years ago.

And Joshua Landis is quoted:

Joshua Landis, an American expert on Syria, said the visit was “a message from the British to Obama. Like the French, they want the US to push Syrian-Israeli peace. Negotiations between Syria and Israel began last May, but the Bush Administration was unhappy about the dialogue and refused to support them.”

According to this, the Israeli negotiations with Syria, have been effectively protecting Syria from international pressure. But the naive premise of that Syrian-Israeli peace is that – as Deja Vu noted above – it would have the effect of drawing Syria out of Iran’s orbit. More likely Syria, seeing how much the West values peace with Israel, will use that as leverage to generate more pressure and continue its ties with Iran.

Mere Rhetoric on Miliband last year concluded with:

This is almost identical to what Hillary said in April – complete with the “obviously this won’t work but we should do it anyway.” Because engaging Syria feels good. Just like fiddling with Israeli security because it might tangentially maybe be connected to AQ’s popularity feels good. And what’s the worst that could happen?

Martin Peretz has more on MIliband’s pedigree.

via Daily Alert.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.