Heard Around the Hillary-Sphere: Mini News Round-Up

A couple of U.S. foreign policy stories caught my eye this evening. Here are some quick-links:

~Secretary Clinton and her UAE counterpart issued the following statement today:

The United States and the United Arab Emirates have a strong partnership and share a common vision for a secure, stable, and prosperous Middle East. During our meeting today in Washington, we had an opportunity to follow-up on our January 28 discussion in London, and discussed a wide array of regional issues.

We re-affirmed our commitment to comprehensive peace, and to the common objective of achieving a two state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace and security. We agreed on the need for the parties to resume negotiations as soon as possible. In addition, we discussed the challenges posed by Iran’s increasingly disturbing and destabilizing actions, its failure to fulfill its international obligations, and the importance of working with the international community to address these issues. We also discussed how the U.S. and the UAE could continue their close cooperation to help stabilize and support Yemen.

We discussed the important leadership role the UAE has taken with respect to providing key financial, political, and security support to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the UAE’s generosity towards Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake, and the UAE’s progressive policies aimed at empowering women.

We look forward to continued close cooperation on all of these key issues and on the continued strengthening and deepening of the U.S.-UAE bilateral rel

~Relations with Cuba:While the Obama administration made a few very, very small baby steps towards trying to update U.S. policy towards Cuba in a way that makes it somewhat similar to our relations with other problematic [communist/totalitarian] regimes (*cough* China *cough*), there’s been a snafu. This story about the USAID contractor who was arrested in Cuba is perhaps raising some unpleasant questions about how exactly to best “support” the Cuban people.

~Hillary Clinton is being sued by the family of a police officer who died in a motorcycle accident as part of a motorcade during the presidential election season. While my heart goes out to the grieving family members, this story illustrates why people hate lawyers. And I’m saying that as a lawyer. The idea that Hillary Clinton (or her campaign) is somehow responsible for his death strikes me as a bit of a stretch. Granted, I don’t have access to all the information, but this sounds like one of those “lets cast a wide net and see who we can get.”

~Think Progress argues that the Obama administration’s Iran policy is working and that Secretary Clinton’s recent tough talk is all part of the plan. Somebody ought to let the neoconservatives know that because they are already putting on their war paint. In fact, just today Anne Applebaum wrote an opinion piece advising the administration to essentially prepare for all-out war with Iran because even if we don’t attack them, someone else will (Israel). I tried to step back and be somewhat objective (given I don’t support attacking Iran) in order to find the logic in her argument but no matter how many times I read the article, I simply couldn’t fathom her reasoning from a strategic standpoint. Robert Dreyfuss from ‘The Nation’ provides a rebuttal to Applebaum’s column here.

~Attempts are being made to revive the stalled peace process in the Middle East:

…Diplomats said Tuesday that the Obama administration and Russia are trying to convene a meeting of the so-called Quartet group of peacemakers — the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — in mid-March in Moscow.

A tentative date of March 19 has been discussed but is not yet confirmed, the diplomats said. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the timing has not been finalized.

The meeting would bring together Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton along with other European officials, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now the Quartet’s special representative.

It was not immediately clear whether Israeli or Palestinian representatives would be invited or whether Arab officials would attend.

The meeting will seek to build on the work of the special U.S. envoy for Middle East peace, George Mitchell, who has been shuttling back and forth to the region with only limited success in improving the atmosphere for a resumption in peace talks.

Clinton spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “about the prospect of getting together in the very near future as part of the Quartet to focus on the Middle East,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. He did not provide details or offer a potential time or venue for the meeting…

~And pardon my cynicism with respect to this next topic but apparently, crime pays. According to this article the ethically-challenged private defense contractor formerly known as Blackwater (now known by the stupid moniker Xe), is the proverbial bad penny that keeps showing up- now they may get another lucrative contract in Afghanistan. The more things DON’T change, the more things stay the same. I’m just sayin’.

~And finally, China. Ahhh, China. Remember when they got so very, very, very upset when Secretary Clinton dared to suggest that they engaged in internet censorship. Well, now they are stepping up their censorship:

China has tightened controls on internet use, requiring anyone who wants to set up a website to meet regulators and produce ID documents.

The technology ministry said the measures were designed to tackle online pornography, but internet activists see it as increased government censorship.

[snip]

But the technology ministry said would-be website operators would now have to submit identity cards and photos of themselves, as well as meeting regulators before their sites could be registered…

As I said above, this sort of thing makes our policy towards Cuba seem, well, hypocritical. China is a repressive Communist regime- granted, an economically powerful one- but I think it’s getting harder to justify U.S. laws which prohibit purchasing Cuban cigars (among other things), travel to Cuba and even full diplomatic relations, while tolerating and even in some instances enabling (via private U.S. companies like Google, Yahoo, etc.) China’s repressive, undemocratic policies.

~Bill Clinton was interviewed by Ryan Seacrest about a whole range of topics including Haiti and daughter Chelsea’s wedding.

~If you didn’t catch Secretary Clinton’s NATO speech from last evening, I posted it here.

I hope everyone’s week is going well. Here in New England we’re waiting for two snow storms this week, or at least that’s what the tarot card readers meteorologists are saying.

Nope, Notch, you're not in the way at all

ps. As I write this, Notch is helping out by sitting directly between the keyboard and the computer screen, daring me to move her.

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