Hubris At The Manama Dialogue

Security honchos from top dog countries and Gulf states came together over the weekend to harrumph at the Manama Dialog -

"The 4th Manama Dialogue Forum is annually organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It is the largest gathering of Gulf national security chiefs. The two-day event is an opportunity for the conferees to share views and visions on security challenges facing the Gulf region, as well as drawing up mechanisms for successful cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels."

The International Institute for Strategic Studies is a British based "think tank" which basically is another front group to legitimize manipulation of the planet by established power and money. They pretend to be independent but serve elite interests as when they helped set the stage for invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Dialogue seems to be where they dictate to client states and vassals How Things Are Going To Be.

But the Gulf country reps in attendence clearly weren't impressed with U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates:

"MANAMA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates defended Israel's nuclear program on Saturday, saying the Jewish state did not seek to destroy its neighbors or support terrorism, unlike Iran.
Asked at the Manama Dialogue conference whether he thought Israel's nuclear program posed a threat to the region, Gates replied: "No, I do not."
The statement was greeted by laughter from a room filled with government officials from Middle Eastern countries."

Gates went on to bloviate about the dire threat posed by Iran, clearly telegraphing to the region that the US intends at some point to rain death down on that country by constantly moving the goalposts. Sniffing about the hostile reaction to this absurd bellicose posturing by yet another american war criminal, Bush toady Admiral Fallon is on board with future aggression toward Iran despite efforts to paint him otherwise and basically dismisses the Iraqi nightmare as old news, so get over it.

This is what passes for american statesmanship these days. Just like at the phony Annapolis to-do the US is desperately trying to maintain it's relevance in an area of the world that isn't dancing to it's belligerent tune. People there are fed up with incessant threats to flatten Iran and insistent Israeli primacy, with it's cruel treatment of the Palestinians and it's not so secret nuclear capabilities. Pretending not to be the aggressors in the region isn't fooling anyone.