Internet democracy
That proverbial slow boat to China may soon have another passenger, courtesy of the State Department’s most recent tool, the DipNote blog (www.blogs.state.gov), which “offers the opportunity for participants to discuss important foreign policy issues with senior department officials.”
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The whiz who came up with this handy invention clearly didn’t imagine the sort of undiplomatic comments that might appear below State Department staffers’ blog posts.
Although a Foggy Bottom spokesman told Yeas & Nays that comments are “vetted,” some nasty ones wiggled through the doubtless double-netted screen:
» Eric in New Mexico wrote: “If and when [America] attacks Iran, I hope that the Russians and the Chinese launch a preemptive strike on the U.S. This will carry a message to the American people, that to every move, there is a counter move.”
» Bill in Texas urged readers interested in Holocaust denial to view Hashemi Rafsanjani’s writing.
Trust us: There are plenty more.
Incredibly, that double-netted screen made sure that reviews of State’s famously sloth-like passport renewal system were glowingly positive.
