Dip-ping into humor

ccjhr blog, announced below, is not the only new entry to the international law blogosphere. Our colleagues have noted here and here the launch of "Dipnote: U.S. Department of State Official Blog" (duly added to our "connections" list at right). Its purposes? To "offe[r] the public an alternative source to mainstream media for U.S. foreign policy information" and "the opportunity for participants to discuss important foreign policy issues with senior Department officials."
For our colleague Rosa Brooks (below) the launch provides occasion for a dip into humor -- and not just a humorous poke at the inevitable association of the blog's name, based on the term "diplomatic note," with, as Rosa puts it in her Los Angeles Times column, "'dipsh-' um, 'dipstick.'" For Rosa the launch is a vehicle for announcing the discovery at State of "'a previously unknown but surprisingly effective' method of foreign relations,'" which the official whom she purports to quote "dubbed 'diplomacy.'" A further ersatz quote comes from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

'This is an exciting moment in U.S. foreign policy. Now that we have discovered this innovative new method, "diplomacy," our nation will no longer have to rely exclusively on more traditional forms of foreign relations such as mockery, insults and unilateral military action.'

Kudos to Rosa for trying to add levity to our public discourse. Must say, though, that a quick look at this week's top foreign affairs stories -- "Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations," "Bush Defends Interrogations," "From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths," "I survived Blackwater" -- offers little to laugh about.
 
Bloggers Team