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Ambassador brings Syrian crisis to UH-Clear Lake

Students gathered at the UH-Clear Lake Garden Room on Tuesday to hear United States Ambassador John Craig recount his experiences serving as a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service in a symposium on the Middle East. The symposium was hosted by the UH-CL Model Arab League Student Organization.

UH-CL president William A. Staples introduced Craig to approximately 120 members of the audience of mostly students. Craig’s symposium highlighted the events of the Arab Spring revolutions in the Arabian Gulf region as well as the structural, political and economic changes that impacted American interests and foreign policy in the region. A key issue addressed during the symposium was the outlook of the continuing crisis in Syria, which has been plagued by a civil war that has destabilized the country during the last few years and cost more than 130,000 lives.

“Ambassador Craig’s visit to UH-CL is a rare opportunity for students to work directly with a professional diplomat who has wide-ranging experiences in diplomacy and peace-building and a tremendous opportunity for the public who attends his Tuesday night address to the University community to gain insight into a rapidly-changing Middle East,” said associate professor of sociology and UH-CL MALSO faculty adviser Mike McMullen in a UH-CL press release.

According to Craig, the crisis in Syria serves as a “proxy war in which the United States is competing with Russia, Saudi Arabia with Iran, and militant factions with each other,” all with the objective of establishing influence throughout the region with the fall of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Craig was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman from 1998 to 2001 and led the Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs for the State Department’s Near East Bureau. In addition to serving in Oman, Craig held diplomatic posts in Egypt, Colombia, Haiti and Syria, where he served as the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy.

In 2003, Craig joined Boeing International Corporation as regional vice president for the Middle East and works as a partner for a consulting firm based in Abu Dhabi.

Craig advised the UH-CL team in the regional competition for the Bilateral U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce Model Arab League, a diplomatic and leadership competition in which universities represent Arab countries and engage in policy discussion. Craig’s expertise in the region proved of valuable assistance to the UH-CL team, which represented the Sultanate of Oman and went on to win first place in the regional competition. The team will be heading to Washington, D.C., to compete at the National University Model Arab League from March 28 to 30 at Georgetown University.

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2 Comments

  • I wonder if he will talk about the United States supporting Al Qaeda in their genocide of Christian communities of Syria as a means to overthrow Assad and achieve greater American power in the region.

  • I’ve got a novel idea. Let’s do nothing. Let the Muslims deal with their own
    problems for a change. Let’s let countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait
    with their endless ocean of money and Western-bought armaments figure it out
    instead. Surely they – being practitioners of the religion of compassion and
    peace – will step right up to the plate in our stead.

    OK, you caught me there. You knew I was kidding! You knew what I know which
    is that there is no answer to these Islamic cesspools. Whatever we do will be
    discredited and if we do nothing then Syria will become just another country in
    the endless line of Hell on Earth Islamic countries.

    We cannot save Muslims from themselves. It is like trying to save an
    alcoholic. Until they are ready to abandon their religion – a religion that
    emphasizes aggression and violence and sadism – anything we do will simply be a
    band-aid on a gaping wound.

    Let them go through their DTs on their own. Only then will they be ready for
    our friendship and help, and only then will we find a way forward together as
    friends.

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