Open Annapolis thread

The hard-workin staff here at danieldrezner.com will be hard at work on offline activities today. Readers are strong encouraged to post comments about today’s meeting in Annapolis. Not much of substance will be accomplished, so readers are also encouraged to develop drinking game rules for wathing the summitry. A few provisional rules: Take a sip ...

By Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

November 27, 2007, 1:06 PM

The hard-workin staff here at danieldrezner.com will be hard at work on offline activities today. Readers are strong encouraged to post comments about today's meeting in Annapolis. Not much of substance will be accomplished, so readers are also encouraged to develop drinking game rules for wathing the summitry. A few provisional rules: Take a sip whenever: 1) Amedia commentator compares this summit to Bill Clinton's late second-term effort at iddle East diplomacy. 2) A commentator says Bush is bound and determined to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor on this issue. 3) You see a reaction shot of the Israeli delegation during a speech by an Arab diplomat. Only drink if a member of the delegation is frowning; Take a shot whenever: 1) There's a really significant handshake that sends the flash photographers into orgiastic delight; 2) A U.S. official or commentator says, "Failure is not an option" [Side note: this is one of those phrases that's so inane that I'd like abolished from foreign policy discourse. Bush officials have repeated this mantra so often over the past five years that I wonder if there's some foreign policy equivalent of Bull Durham that I missed where one learns important policy clich?s.]; 3) In the same speech, someone quotes from both the Old Testament and the KoranDown your entire drink whenever: 1) Someone is caught having a private conversation near an open mike (with this crowd, a distinct possibility); 2) The Syrians and/or Israelis signal that they're ready to compromise on the Golan Heights; 3) A genuine breakthrough is achieved.

The hard-workin staff here at danieldrezner.com will be hard at work on offline activities today. Readers are strong encouraged to post comments about today’s meeting in Annapolis. Not much of substance will be accomplished, so readers are also encouraged to develop drinking game rules for wathing the summitry. A few provisional rules:

Take a sip whenever:

1) Amedia commentator compares this summit to Bill Clinton’s late second-term effort at iddle East diplomacy. 2) A commentator says Bush is bound and determined to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor on this issue. 3) You see a reaction shot of the Israeli delegation during a speech by an Arab diplomat. Only drink if a member of the delegation is frowning;

Take a shot whenever:

1) There’s a really significant handshake that sends the flash photographers into orgiastic delight; 2) A U.S. official or commentator says, “Failure is not an option” [Side note: this is one of those phrases that’s so inane that I’d like abolished from foreign policy discourse. Bush officials have repeated this mantra so often over the past five years that I wonder if there’s some foreign policy equivalent of Bull Durham that I missed where one learns important policy clich?s.]; 3) In the same speech, someone quotes from both the Old Testament and the Koran

Down your entire drink whenever:

1) Someone is caught having a private conversation near an open mike (with this crowd, a distinct possibility); 2) The Syrians and/or Israelis signal that they’re ready to compromise on the Golan Heights; 3) A genuine breakthrough is achieved.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

Tag: U.S. Foreign Policy