As already mentioned in an earlier post, Secretary Clinton spent a good deal of her weekend on the phone, first with Asian allies over the situation between North and South Korea, and later with allies all over the world in connection with with anticipated, now actual, Wikileaks release of embassy cables.
Among the reports, and I can no longer locate the story, was a proposed meeting of the Secretary of State and the Japanese, South Korean, and Chinese Foreign Ministers in DC this week. If that meeting is on I see no news of it, and, according to the press release below, it would have to occur on Monday since Mme. Secretary will be traveling again on Tuesday. She is, however, scheduled for a bilateral with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu. That, we have to guess, will probably be scheduled for Monday for the same reason.
(AFP) –
ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu starts a four-day visit to the United States Saturday for talks on bilateral ties and regional issues, the foreign ministry said Friday.
Davutoglu was to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, national security advisor Tom Donilon and the head of the Senate foreign relations committee, Senator John Kerry, the statement said.
A press release this evening reports the following travel plans.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Travel to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain
Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public AffairsWashington, DCNovember 28, 2010
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain November 30 – December 3. In Kazakhstan, she will attend the Summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as head of the U.S. delegation. Prior to the Summit, she will host an event for local and international non-governmental organizations, underscoring the importance of a vibrant civil society. She will also meet with Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev and Foreign Minister Saudabayev to discuss various aspects of the U.S.-Kazakhstan strategic partnership.
In the Kyrgyz Republic, Secretary Clinton will meet with President Otunbayeva and other government officials. She will review political developments in the wake of Kyrgyzstan’s historic election, and discuss a range of issues of mutual concern.
In Uzbekistan, Secretary Clinton will meet with President Karimov to discuss a wide range of matters in our bilateral relationship and in regional affairs.
In Bahrain, Secretary Clinton will deliver the keynote address on the role of the United States in regional security at The Manama Dialogue 2010, an annual forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in cooperation with the Kingdom of Bahrain.
With her other hand, Mme. Secretary will be juggling the Wikileaks fallout, which, from what I have seen so far, is surprisingly bland. Angela Merkel not creative? To my knowledge, she has not claimed to be Martha Stewart. Putin an alpha dog? Yes, he has probably said that himself. Of course there is more. Much much more. The SOS will deal with it as she wings her way through this next tour.
God Bless you, Mme. Secretary. Godspeed. Have a safe trip!
The most interesting thing to come out of this so far is that the saudis and more arab nations in the middle east want the us to take out Iran.
**NOTED** They are exactly in line with Israel! Who knew?
Persians and Arabs have ancient beef. I think this might be, for those Arab state, a case of the extremely well armed enemy of their enemy being their friend.
Probably.
From what has been released so far, I think the most “damaging” at this point for the US, and Hillary in particular, is the report that she ordered US diplomats and intelligence assets at the UN mission to “collect information”/”spy” on Ban Ki-Moon and other UN diplomats. Though espionage is nothing new in the gamesmanship among powerful states, it is nonetheless embarrassing to be found out (or get caught). I’ve seen reports from Al-Jazeera and BBC, and so far much of the emphasis has been on the Persian Gulf states’ kings pressuring the US to bomb Iran, and US & South Korean diplomats discussing a possible Korean unification scenario (post-Kim Jong-Il, presumably). CNN reports that Ahmadinejad downplayed the leaks as nothing but psy-war. BBC’s Kim Ghattas noted how Hillary had been emphasizing Internet freedom in her speeches, and now finding out that the same freedom has just made her job more difficult.
I was worried about this one until NBC reported this morning that there is an identical one signed by Condi. Routine boilerplate stuff it seems.
I hope she doesn’t loose any admirers over this.
Not a chance.