Public Schedule for February 7, 2012
Public Schedule
Washington, DCFebruary 7, 2012
SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
9:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton joins Deputy Secretary Burns’ meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)9:45 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, at the Department of State.
(POOLED CAMERA SPRAY PRECEDING BILATERAL MEETING)12:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)
This is the New Hampshire jacket. I don’t know if I am feeling nostalgia or anticipation.
Wasn’t she in Bulgaria like yesterday? She is truly amazing. And looks a little tired, if truth be told.
Wow! Israel actually sent their head diplomat to talk to our head diplomat. How ’bout that. Usually the only representative they send is from their Defense Dept., not exactly a diplomatic, let’s-talk-this-out kind of official. Then again, Foreign Minister Liberman is reported to not be a very diplomatic fellow himself.
OR they send the Prime Minister or the President (who is particularly smitten with her).
I think smitten is the perfect word for it.
We’ll see what comes out of these talks with Liberman. I think that Israel and the US are very concerned about Iran.
It isn’t just the US and Israel, though, and that is something that I wish were getting more play in the media. Europe and Saudi Arabia, while not necessarily pushing for military action like many here have been for years, are also very unnerved by the actions Iran has taken. It’s not just America and Israel this time and consensus – even partial consensus – is a good thing.
I watched a little clip of the president’s interview he held before the superbowl and he said we had to convince Iran that nuclear weapons weren’t in it’s best intrest. Tell lme how do you convince them of that when Pak, and Israel are allowed to have them and Israel has struck inside their country before? Its all so complicated.
I’m no scholar on the topic, but I’d say get tough with them. With our European and Asian allies’ help, put their economy in a choke hold and don’t let go until they drop the idea of a nuclear weapon as their fast track to increased international status. Allow development for peaceful purposes as long as the IAEA is allowed to know what’s going on and do inspections. Site Pakistan as an example of why proliferation is a bad thing (This piece would appeal to the rest of the world, but probably not to Iran sadly.) Any regional instability and everyone starts worrying about who has their hand on the launch button. The Middle East defines regional instability. At the same time, you take our most advanced missile interception capabilities, modify them for use on a ship, and then park the USS Don’t Mess With Us in the naval base closest to Iran. Get in touch with our covert contacts and either try to find someone in the upper echelons of the leadership that is a good and reasonable person and work with them through back channels or see what the dissidents are up to.
At the same time we’d also need to have a talk with our good friend Israel about the James Bond-style assassinations they pull off and we get blamed for. They would have to cool it on those while we tried what I outlined above, but the bottom line is that nations have to act in their own interests. If Israel felt the threat was to great, they would strike, but it should be known that it was them who went in, not us. In short, they’d need to own their actions.
It is complicated but I think, given the world’s overall weak economic situation right now, putting enough pressure on Iran’s economic assets and even their currency itself might eventually lead to something. It is a painful stately though. It’s terrible for the the population while we wait for their leadership to yield a little. Also, without access to objective media it could make us look very bad to them, but it seems the most logical course of action and there are enough Iranians who have fled the country to Europe and North America that could make our case to the people in some way, most likely through social media.
(It’s also worth noting that, officially anyway, Israel has not admitted to having any nuclear weapons and is not subject to IAEA oversight. In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu wrote an exposé for The Sunday Times on the Israeli nuclear program for which he was imprisoned for divulging state secrets, but his statements were never confirmed by Israeli authorities.)