GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Hillary Clinton’s offhand announcement, at the tail end of a Town Hall meeting in Washington, Thursday 26 January, that she’ll leave her post as Secretary of State when the president has time to name a replacement came as a big surprise to many while others wondered why it is news, since it’s not the first time she’s said it. Media reaction was at first muted as startled journalists dealth Clinton’s abrupt cutoff of speculation about whether she would stay on if President Obama is re-elected. And then the kudos began to appear. Clinton says she would like to find out just how tired she is after 20 years in politics and government.
Links to other sites: Atlantic Newswire, CBS News, Chicago Sun-Times, Shriver in the Guardian, Politico, US State Department transcript of Town Hall meeting
Hillary Clinton, human rights address, UN in Geneva, 6 December 2011
Update 06:00, transcript available GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have surprised more than one person in her audience at the United Nations Palais in Geneva Tuesday evening when her speech on human rights focused, not on the hot topic of Syria, but on a group whose rights rarely get this level of government attention: the gay community, worldwide.
She outlined steps the US is taking to redress wrongs against what she referred to as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community: LGBT persons.
The Department of State, she said, is launching the Secretary’s Global Equality Fund, contributing more than $3 million to the “public-private partnership initiative to advance the human rights of LGBT people”.
The State Department will seek partnership commitments from donor governments, corporations, and foundations.
She also noted that the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) will use the Global Equality Fund to support:
- programmes that document violations of the human rights of LGBT individuals, provide legal assistance
- advocates to provide emergency assistance to NGOs and human rights defenders who face threats from governments or societies
- “public dialogue” that enhances public awareness, such as inclusive civic education and cultural activities
The new initiatives complement existing programmes, the State Department says in a fact sheet issued Tuesday evening. Since 2010, it has provided emergency assistance to over 40 LGBT advocates in 11 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, for example.
Clinton gets standing ovation from the crowd
Clinton receives a standing ovation from the packed room
Clinton, dressed simply in a dark violet-blue suit, arrived on time and delivered her speech in a brightly lit and fully packed Assembly Hall.
She looked quite small in the large room, but her firm voice and 30 minute speech, given without pause or hesitation, held her audience.
She was given a standing ovation at the end of her speech.
Clinton’s address was given at the UN to commemorate Human Rights Day 2011 (10 December).
Her initial tribute to the history of human rights and the UN led her into a long introduction where she kept the focus of her talk a surprise. She described an “invisible minority”, harassed, beaten and killed around the world, “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our times”: the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
She described this as a “sensitive issue for many people”, an issue on her agenda, a difficult but urgent matter that must be addressed.
Gay and human rights are the same, Clinton tells packed room in Geneva
Gay rights and human rights are the same, Clinton told the crowd, even if the Universal Declaration of 1948 didn’t specifically mention the LGBT community: being an LGTB person doesn’t make you less human.
Clinton plans to meet with Syrian opposition representatives in Geneva
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, is about to come to town, but not just for a conference and a chat with the press: her Tuesday-Wednesday stopover includes major appearances at three Geneva international organization events.
The US State department has announced she will also be meeting with seven exiled opponents of Syria’s Bashar Assad regime, who are coming from various areas in Europe. It is the second such meeting, following one in August.
Clinton is in Bonn Monday 5 December for the International Conference for Afghanistan, the first high-level meeting on the future of the country that is hosted by Afghanistan itself.
Tuesday she flies first to Lithuania, then to Geneva where she will deliver remarks commemorating International Human Rights Day, which is 10 December. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s office notes that “It has been a year like no other for human rights. Human rights activism has never been more topical or more vital. And through the transforming power of social media, ordinary people have become human rights activists.”
One country where social media have not been able to penetrate government forces as easily is Syria. The US has taken an increasingly strong stance on Syria amid reported human rights abuses.
Syria Monday ignored a deadline set by the Arab League to allow observers in as it echoed a UN Human Rights Council declaration last week that condemned “gross and systematic” violations by Syrian forces.
Clinton 7 December will address a UNHCR ministerial event commemorating the 60th and 50th anniversaries of the Refugee and Statelessness conventions. It is the largest-ever event at this level to focus on refugee and statelessness issues, says UNHCR, with ministers from more than 70 nations. The meeting will be hosted by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. Former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Laureate Martti Ahtisaari is the keynote speaker.
Secretary Clinton will “also deliver the US national statement at the Biological and Toxin Weapons (BWC) Review Conference [in The Netherlands], where we hope to revitalize international efforts against biological threats,” the US Mission said Monday evening in a press release.
She ends her trip with an address to a ministerial conference on Internet freedom, in The Hague.
The visits follow several high-profile US remarks at UN organization meetings in Geneva in recent days, including those by Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Michael Punke on China’s Transitional Review of the Protocol of Accession to the WTO: “China seems to be embracing state capitalism more strongly each year, rather than continuing to move toward the economic reform goals that originally drove its pursuit of WTO membership. This is a troubling development, and the United States urges the Chinese government to reconsider the path it is on.”
Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi has appealed to US President Barack Obama in a letter to end what he called “an unjust war”, but the White House is shrugging off the appeal, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying at a press briefing that Qaddafi “knows what he has to do”.
The deputy foreign minister of the Qaddafi regime told reporters in Tripoli that British planes had attacked a major oilfield Wednesday, killing civilians and workers, but the Guardian says the information has not been confirmed by the British Defence Ministry. The reported hits follow complaints from rebel that Nato was not giving them adequate support to take over the oilfield.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, Reuters, White House briefing,
Libyan crisis brings foreign minister to UNHRC meeting
US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe speaking with the press 25 February 2011 during the Special Session of the Human Rights Council on Libya. (photo, US Mission, Eric Bridiers)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both attending the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva starting Monday and a plenary session of the Conference of Disarmament. Russian media reported Sunday that the Americans and Russians were discussing the possibility of a bilateral meeting between the two on the sidelines of these sessions.
The two met in Munich in early February to exchange the Instruments of Ratification that put the new Start treaty into place.
The situation in the Middle East and in Libya in particular are expected to be the focus of any bilateral meeting, which Itar-Tass reports was initiated by the Americans.
Lavrov will address the UNHRC, the first time a Russian foreign minister will address the council. Itar-Tass reports that “Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, when commenting on Lavrov’s upcoming trip, said, ‘While in Geneva, Lavrov will hold talks at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.’” He is reportedly scheduled to meet Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey Tuesday.
The UNHRC last week recommended to the UN General Assembly that Libya be stripped of its membership in the Geneva-based body, for gross abuse of human rights.
Links to other sites: Itar-Tass, Ria Novosti, The Voice of Russia, US Mission in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US President Barack Obama is sending Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, to a special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Monday 28 February, to study options for dealing with Libya’s violent response to protesters. Libya is a member of the council, and others on the council have called for its expulsion.
“She’ll hold consultations with her counterparts on events throughout the region and continue to ensure that we join with the international community to speak with one voice to the government and the people of Libya,” Obama said in a speech at the White House Wednesday 23 February.
Links to other sites: AP/AOL news, Bloomberg, US Mission in Geneva
Geneva NGO representatives at the US Mission in Geneva listen to Hillary Clinton
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The group of 25 representatives from Geneva’s NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) cheered as Hillary Clinton took her first question from them 16 February.
The video conference question-answer session was part of a new US initiative by US Secretary of State Clinton called “strategic dialogue with civil society”.
The first session was held with 50 US diplomatic posts from around the world, including Geneva, participating long-distance, while about 1,000 people participated in Washington.
NGOs and US diplomats consider how to best work together in Geneva
Clinton said she hoped that regular contact between civil society groups and US officials will help to build “habits of cooperation”,
increase understanding to produce practical results, share insights and make it easier to identify common problems and interests.
“Our work together on women’s rights, corruption, religious freedom and other issues is just as important as anything we do with governments,” Clinton said.
The Geneva group included NGOs that work in several fields, including human rights, environmental protection and conservation. They met with US diplomats, including ambassadors Betty E King and Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe.
One participant noted afterwards that several NGOs were positive about US efforts to have the Human Rights Council “establish the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has ordered a halt to proposed changes to a passport application form that were announced 22 December, according to AP 8 January.
The US State Department’s Consular Report of a Birth Abroad, which is required for first-time passport applications and by foreign-born minors, would no longer have referred to “Mother” and “Father” in a nod to the increasing numbers of same-sex parents. The form was to refer to Parent 1 and Parent 2 in changes that would take effect 1 February.
Gay rights advocates had hailed the move, saying that it recognized that “hundreds of thousands of kids are being raised in this country by same-sex parents”, according to Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign in remarks to the Washington Post. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council lambasted the move 7 January, saying it reflected the “topsy-turvy world of left-wing political correctness”.
The appreciation of China’s currency against the US dollar will not affect current trade imbalances much, China’s Vice-Minister for Trade Jiang Yaoping said in remarks in Beijing 5 January. The Yuan’s current perceived weakness is cited by many in Washington as the cause of the whopping US trade deficit with China, estimated to be $190 billion in 2010. There are increasing calls in the USA to apply punitive measures to force China to appreciate its currency more quickly.
From China’s perspective, any appreciation of its currency against the US dollar represents a massive loss in the value of its foreign currency reserves, $2.6 trillion of which are in US currency, the largest of any country. The Yuan has appreciated 3.2 percent since June, according to the Wall Street Journal. China’s reserves are worth $83b less over that time period.
Officials from China and the USA have been meeting in Washington to prepare for Chinese President Hu Jintao’s state visit there starting 19 January.
Links to other sites: Al-Jazeera, Bloomberg
Russia's Lavrov, US's Clinton kick-started the new Start Treaty talks in March 2009 in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -The US Senate has ratified a treatycovering US-Russian nuclear arms and handed the Obama adminstration one of the few foreign policy triumphs in almost two years. The vote 22 December was 71-26 and included 13 Republican senators who joined the entire Democratic caucus.
The treaty governs strategic nuclear weapons between the former Cold War foes and reduces each side to 1,550 nuclear warheads as well as providing verification procedures.
The new treaty replaces one that expired in December 2009 and is the result of a series of talks sparked by a March 2009 Geneva meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Hillary Clinton. The talks in Geneva in December 2009 were shrouded in secrecy, prompting much media speculation about the likelihood they would indeed result in a treaty.
The ratification of the Start treaty has been portrayed as being much more important in its symbolism than its actual content, say some observers, because it sends a strong signal to other countries that the USA can be relied on. The two countries still have 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s point man for US policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has died, aged 69. Obama called him “simply one of the giants of American foreign policy”. Holbrooke served every Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson, helped to write the leaked Defense Department report on the Vietnam War that came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, and brokered the end to the war in ex-Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Holbrooke was rushed to hospital 10 December from the State Department, where he was meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and operated on for a torn aorta. After two major operations, Holbrooke remained in critical condition. His deputy, Frank Ruggiero, will temporarily stand in for him, the State Department said.
Links to other sites: Foreign Affairs, Guardian, LA Times, New York Times
The US government has said it will no longer pursue efforts to persuade the Israeli government to freeze settlements in the occupied territories in order to resume stalled peace talks with the Palestinians. The USA promised Israel 20 Stealth fighter jets worth $3 billion and US vetoes on anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council in exchange for a 90-day settlement freeze. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was unable to persuade his coalition cabinet to accept the deal.
Palestinian negotiators had demanded a freeze on building settlements in the occupied West Bank as well as in East Jerusalem, which would become the capital of an independent Palestine, as a pre-requisite for continuing talks that were begun in September 2010.
It is not immediately clear what the Obama administration will propose next. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are arriving in Washington for talks and will attend the Saban Forum in Washington, DC where US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to give a speech 10 December.
Links to other sites: JerusalemPost, LA Times, Washington Post
Update 14:30 / France’s foreign minister says he has been assured by his Iranian counterpart the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman whose death sentence by stoning was suspended by authorities, will not be hanged as widely reported earlier today, according to Reuters. Ashtiani’s case has continued to draw international attention. Reports coming out of Iran, notably from German-based International Committee against Stoning, have suggested that the Tabriz prison has been given a green light to hang her Wednesday 3 November. Ashtianti’s supporters insist she was wrongfully accused of adultery as well of involvement in her husband’s murder, and several foreign governments have frequently expressed concern over the case. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refused to take media questions over the case when he attended a UN meeting in the US in September.
The White House in the US issued a statement Tuesday 2 November:
“We condemn in the strongest terms the Government of Iran’s apparent plans to move forward in executing Ms. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. The lack of transparency and due process in Ms. Ashtiani’s case, and the subsequent actions taken against her lawyer and family, are unacceptable. Her case demonstrates the Government of Iran’s fundamental disregard for human rights, including those of women. We call on the Government of Iran to stop this execution, and provide Ms. Ashtiani with the due process and fair treatment she deserves.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has followed the case closely, issued a separate statement saying she is “deeply troubled” by the latest reports. “Ms Ashtiani’s case has not proceeded with the transparency and due process guaranteed under Iranian law, and we are concerned about reports of coerced confessions and other mistreatment. The United States joins the international community in calling for Iran to immediately halt any plans for Ms Ashtiani’s execution and to handle her case with utmost transparency.”
Iran, which regularly lambasts the US for its human rights record, is considered by Amnesty International to be second only to China in the number of executions it carries out annually, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US.
Links to other sites: US State Department, The Globe & Mail, Reuters in New York Times, Xinhua
Tom Little (R), optometrist and team leader with the International Assistance Mission (IAM), watches as an unidentified doctor examines a patient in an Afghan clinic - photograph released by David L. Evans
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The Geneva-registered, faith-based organization International Assistance Mission (IAM), is working with authorities in Afghanistan to shed light on the attack that took the lives of 10 of its members in Badakhshan last week.
The victims, six American doctors including three women, one Briton, a German and two Afghans, had been working in Nuristan province and were returning to Kabul when they were murdered.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility saying the victims were “spies,” were proselytizing and were killed only after they tried to escape. Two Afghans survived the carnage, no word yet on their whereabouts.
The IAM is a Geneva-registered, non-profit Christian organization that does not proselytize, and that was not proselytizing as Taliban has claimed, said IAM Director Dirk Frans in Kabul.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton also dismissed the claim that the workers were spreading Christianity. “The Taliban stopped them on a remote road on their journey from Nuristan, led them into a forest, robbed them, and killed them,” she said.
Reassures its European neighbour, too
It’s only three days old, but the new British coalition government under David Cameron’s Conservative leadership is losing no time reassuring US President Barack Obama that it supports his policies in Iran and Afghanistan. William Hague, the new foreign minister, meets Friday 14 May with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, and he has told the Times in the UK that he will reassure the US about Britain’s support. The coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, warned during election campaigns of a “subservient” relationship with the US.
Cameron reportedly asked Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel for advice on how to best manage a coalition government, sending waves of reassurance that he will not seek to toughen Britain’s stance vis-a-vis the European Union.
Links to other sites: BBC, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Times, UK
The diplomatic Middle East Quartet, which met in Moscow Friday 19 March, has issued a strongly worded reaction to Israel’s recent announcement it intends to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. The group of four (the UN, US, Russia and the EU) are calling for Israel to remove settlement homes within 24 months. and for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate an agreement in the same time period that provides for an independent Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace. “The quartet condemns the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem, “UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said unequivocally.
The New York Times had earlier reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared anxious to lower the temperature after Israel came in for heavy criticism over the housing. “We all condemned the announcement, and we all are expecting both parties to move toward the proximity talks and to help create an atmosphere in which those talks can be constructive,” Clinton said before the Quartet’s statement.
Links to other sites: Guardian, UK, Jerusalem Post, Moscow Times, New York Times
Hillary Clinton, Geneva, March 2009
Update 16:12 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State and Sergey Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, have said after meeting in Moscow that the two countries are very close to an agreement on the Start talks. Clinton was in Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.
The announcement by the pair comes just after the publication of a lengthy interview of Clinton by New Times, a Russian magazine, where she says the US and Russia are “close” to an agreement on reducing their arsenals of nuclear weapons. “I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to complete this agreement soon.”
Clinton and Lavrov agreed in Geneva in March 2009 to seek a new Start treaty by the end of 2009, and while both sides said in December that good progress had been made, the year-end goal was not achieved. Few details of the talks have escaped the total news blackout which both sides have respected.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Brussels, Belgium Friday, where she has traveled to explain the new US policy on Afghanistan to European leaders. She is expected to seek support from fellow Nato members. She told reporters on her plane en route to Brussels that in intensive talks with other foreign ministers this week she received strong words of support. Clinton says she expects announcements to be made in the next few days of additional troops sent by other governments, although she concedes that for some, the timing is politically delicate.
Links to other sites: BBC, New York Times, Reuters/Yahoo, Times, UK
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday 10 November that the three US hikers detained by Iran after they strayed across the border from Iraq last July face charges of illegally entering the country. Other charges may be filed. The US has called for the three to be released, and insists that they were wrongly detained. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Germany Monday 9 November, “We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever.” AFP , AP (video)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 74, has said he will not seek re-election in the elections he called for January 2010. He said his decision was not “a manipulation or a manoeuvre” in a speech from his headquarters in Ramallah, on the West Bank 5 November. He said he had had enough after years of frustration. Abbas succeeded long-time president Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Addressing the Israeli public directly, he said: “Peace is more important than any achievement for a political party. Peace is more important than any government coalition. For many years, my opinion and vision have been that peace was still possible and I have sincerely worked to achieve this goal“.
The decision is seen as a blow to the US administration’s attempts to restart the Middle East peace process, coming just days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the region, which she judged to be a success. Palestinians were outraged when she said Israel’s offer to slow down illegal settlements in the West Bank was “unprecedented”. Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
correction 11:45 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government is officially mum on whether or not the event will take place, but the US State Department and the Kremlin in Russia have both announced that they are sending top officials to a ceremony in Zurich Saturday 10 October where Armenia and Turkey will formally establish diplomatic and bilateral relations. The signing of two Protocols will end a standoff that has at times flared into serious tensions, which has existed since Turkey recognized Armenia’s independence in 1991 without then establishing diplomatic relations.
Switzerland has served as mediator in the long process of talks that has finally brought the two together.
A senior US State Department official at a press briefing Thursday 8 October said that while the Swiss have not officially announced the meeting, which is opposed by some groups in both Turkey and Armenia, “They have invited the parties, and the parties have agreed to come, including Secretary [Hillary] Clinton.” The foreign ministers of France and Russia are also expected, he says.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Nairobi, Kenya 3 August on the first leg of an African tour that underscores the importance the Obama administration attaches to engaging with Africa, a policy begun under the previous administration. It comes just three weeks after President Obama’s speech in Accra, Ghana. In addition to Kenya, Clinton will visit South Africa, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde. All Africa, US Department of State
Washington, DC (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in Washington, DC Friday 31 July for their second working visit since March 2009 when the two met in Geneva, Switzerland. The two had little to say to the press following the meeting, followed with more than usual interest because of the announcement earlier in the day that the two governments had reached an Agreement in Principle for an out of court settlement in the UBS bank court case.
According to the Swiss foreign affairs office, the talks covered mainly “the situations in the southern Caucasus, the Near East and the Middle East. Secretary of State Clinton took the opportunity to thank Switzerland for representing the USA in countries such as Iran as well as for Switzerland’s commitment to many internationally important issues, in particular in its role as a mediator.”
UBS case mentioned, not discussed
The Agreement in Principle in the UBS case was mentioned, but was not discussed, with the two saying that teams from the two governments will be working out details of the agreement in the coming week.
Transcript of the post-meeting press briefing in Washington
Video from the US State Department
UBS New York headquarters
Update 3 17:25 Bern and Zurich, Switzerland/Miami, Florida and Washington, DC, USA (GenevaLunch) - Shares in UBS rose more than 4 percent in the minutes following the news that Switzerland and the UBS have reached an Agreement in Principle in the civil case brought by the US Treasury department against Swiss bank UBS. The case will now be settled out of court, the Swiss government says in a statement issued late Friday afternoon. (background)
The two governments have reached an agreement in principle on the major issues in the case involving UBS and the IRS tax authority, US Justice Department attorney Stuart Gibson told the judge presiding over the case Friday 31 July. Neither he nor Judge Alan Gold provided details about the agreement, and the Swiss government says that “confidentiality has been agreed for the full duration of the negotiation process.”
Some early media reports noted that the judge has postponed the evidentiary hearing, whose opening had been delayed to Monday 3 August, until a week later, 10 August, with the parties scheduled to hold a status conference 7 August. But according to the Swiss government, the court has simply asked for an update on the details of the settlement Friday 7 August, and has scheduled a conference for this purpose.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meet today in Washington, DC.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An empty desk in Geneva is receiving more than normal attention: that of the US ambassador, whose unwieldy title is US Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations. The post has been empty since January 2009 when Warren Tichenor left. Tichenor, a Texan and George W Bush appointment, may not have been a household name, but the new US ambassador could well quickly become one, thanks to sharper interest in how the US will work with other countries on several issues, many of them through international organizations based in Geneva.
This is the era of the Obama administration, with its promise of new relationships, and the period of Hillary Clinton at the helm of the US State Department, re-booting the Start talks with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Geneva in March 2009. Obama told a group of ambassadors in Washington Wednesday 29 July that “I came into office with a strong commitment to renew American diplomacy, and to start a new era of engagement with the world. This must be a moment when we engage on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect, so that we can build new partnerships for progress.”
Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe (image: Cisac, Stanford University)
One name being bandied about for the Geneva ambassador’s job is that of Obama fundraiser Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe. Le Temps wrote some weeks ago that she will be named, basing the information on “sources close” to President Obama, and IP Watch, an intellectual property industry newsletter, named her as the likely candidate in a 29 July article.
The European Union’s external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said Monday 20 July that she was suspending EU aid of €65.5 million to the impoverished Central American nation of Honduras as a result of the political stand-off there. She said the decision was “difficult” . Hillary Clinton called Honduran Interim President Roberto Micheletti from New Delhi, India and warned of “harsh consequences” if the negotiations between the de facto government and ousted president Manuel Zelaya failed to reach an accord. The measures are seen as increasing pressure on the government in Honduras.(CNN).
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland’s minister for foreign affairs, will meet with Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, in Washington, DC, 31 July. The two countries and Swiss bank UBS have been given until 3 August by a US federal court judge in Miami, Florida to find an out-of-court settlement for the IRS legal demand that the bank hand over client information on 52,000 accounts. The Washington Post carries an editorial that says the issue is emotional on both sides:
Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel prize winner, will lead talks with rival Honduran political forces in an effort to find a settlement to the crisis that has swept the Central American nation following the ouster of its president 28 June. The meetings were announced in Washington following talks between ousted president Manuel Zelaya and US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met 16 June, with the Financial Times saying it “appeared [to be] one of the most tense encounters between the sides for several years” over the issue of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. They disagreed strongly both on US insistance that growth of the settlements stop and Israel’s argument that George W Bush agreed to some expansion.
Hillary Clinton broke her elbow later in the day when she slipped and fell on it as she was heading for the White House. She was treated and released but will have surgery to mend it in coming weeks. CNN
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday 7 June on ABC television in the US that she never dreamed she would be asked by President Barack Obama to take responsibility for foreign policy and when he did ask, she initially said no. He was “was quite persistent and very persuasive,” however, and in the end she said yes. ABC, CNN
