A revealing BBC interview this morning with Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN. Rice offers a masterclass on diplomatic sophistry. The fallacy of "begging the question," or circular reasoning, runs throughout. According to a standard philosophy textbook, begging the question is "to put forth as the solution to a problem merely a restatement of the problem itself." Why is it not favorable for the Palestinians to approach the UN? Because it's counterproductive.
Rice does suggest negotiations as a solution - which have produced no positive results in 40 years (the interviewer says 20). And why will negotiations work? Because they're favorable.
Rice is too sharp and her (the administration's) answers too evasive for her to not know on some level that almost every sentence she utters in this interview is in some way inaccurate, disingenuous, or a lie.
