Secretary & the City: Hillary in Abu Dhabi
Posted: January 10, 2011 Filed under: Hillary Clinton: Her Campaign for All of Us, Middle East, Women's Rights | Tags: Abu Dhabi, Arizona shooting, East Jerusalem, Globetrotting with Hillary, Kalam Nawaem, Wikileaks 23 CommentsA brief Hillary update… H/T stacyx at secretaryclinton.wordpress.com for the photos of Hillary at the ladies’ talk show Kalam Nawaem.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton poses with the presenters of the Arabic ladies' talk show "Kalam Nawaem"
From the Gray Lady’s reporting on Hillary’s arrival in Abu Dhabi on Sunday for a several-day visit to the Persian Gulf region with multiple stops:
Mrs. Clinton acknowledged that this trip, which includes stops in Dubai, Oman and Qatar, will be devoted at least in part to making amends for these embarrassing disclosures. She spent much of her last trip to Central Asia apologizing for the leaks to aggrieved world leaders.
“I think I will be answering concerns about WikiLeaks until the end of my life, not just the end of my tenure as secretary of state,” she said, joking that she has asked her staff to make jackets like those worn by touring rock bands, with a picture of the globe and the title “The Apology Tour.”
Saudi talk show host Hiba Jamal (L) takes a picture of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) with Lebanese presenter Rania Barghut after recording a special episode. (KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images)
From Greta Van Susteran:
Per ABC VIP pool, clinton speaking at a town hall meeting in Abu Dhabi.
“Look we have extremists in my country. A wonderful, incredibly brave young woman congress member, congresswoman giffords was just shot in our country. We have the same kinds of problems. So rather than standing off from each other, we should work to try to prevent the extremists anywhere from being able to commit violence.“
Hillary takes the high road. It’s how she rolls. She understands we’re all in this together.
Reuters has also picked up on Hillary’s remarks on the AZ shooter and has more details:
Clinton, speaking on Monday in the United Arab Emirates, made the comment in response to a question about the September 11, 2001 attacks, carried out by al Qaeda.
A student at a town hall-style meeting asked why U.S. opinion often blames the entire Arab world for 9/11. Clinton said this was due to misperceptions and the media impact of political violence.
More from further down in the Reuters report:
Clinton, who said she hopes her current trip to the Gulf will help to strengthen U.S. and Arab mutual understanding, said both societies should work to offset the sometimes overly loud voices on the political fringes.
“The extremists and their voices, the crazy voices that sometimes get on the TV, that’s not who we are, that’s not who you are, and what we have to do is get through that and make it clear that that doesn’t represent either American or Arab ideas or opinions,” she said.
This echoes Hillary’s condemnation of the Qu’ran-burning BS back in September, in which she said the religious bigotry driving that behavior:
“doesn’t, in any way, represent America or Americans or American Government or American religious or political leadership. And we are, as you’ve seen in the last few days, speaking out.” –HRC, today at the CFR
There is something so wonderfully assertive and definitive about the way Hillary says it.
Here’s another Hillary headline that grabbed my attention straight away. As reported by the AFP, from correspondents in Abu Dhabi (via the Herald Sun) — “Hillary Clinton slams Jerusalem hotel demolition“:
“We are very concerned about initiation of demolition of the Shepherd’s Hotel in east Jerusalem,” Mrs Clinton said after arriving in Abu Dhabi for talks on the stalled Middle East peace process as well as on Iran and Iraq.
“This disturbing development undermines peace efforts to achieve two state-solution,” the chief US diplomat said in a statement.
“In particular, this move contradicts the logic of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties on the status of Jerusalem.
Stacyx is my go-to blogger for analysis on Hillary and foreign policy, especially Israel and Palestine, which is an explosive debate much of the time–my rule of thumb on it is to say less so I can listen and learn more. Stacy, who I am sure many readers are familiar with, is one voice I listen to because she is always up to speed on the latest and has a thoughtful point of view and thorough understanding of many of the intricate dynamics involved. Here’s her take on Hillary’s statement:
I wish she would use stronger language. The EU’s Catherine Ashton issued a much more forceful statement several hours ago. These demolitions are more than “disturbing” or “concerning.” They are illegal under international law, unnecessary and an outright provocation. That said, until the Democrats step up to the plate and stand behind this administration on this issue, I understand why she may be unwilling to be more adamant and forceful about this.
I agree, but I’d go even further to say that until Obama himself finds a spine (or a core), Hillary’s hands are largely tied on this (much like Liz Warren’s). Once again, I find myself thinking that while I am glad that Obama offered Hillary the role of Secretary of State and grateful that she accepted, I look increasingly forward to the day that she starts her own foundation work for women and girls.
Speaking of which, last but most importantly… The State Department put a Travel Diary post up on DipNote yesterday, highlighting some of Hillary’s remarks while briefing the traveling press en route to Abu Dhabi:
From the DipNote Travel Diary: Hillary departing and waving goodbye. It doesn't look recent, but I may be mistaken.
“So in countries that I’m visiting I will be obviously meeting with leaders to continue the security dialogues that we are engaged in to talk through some of the challenges we face, but also reaching out very publicly to civil society and a lot of the activists and the NGOs that have been on the front lines working for change and a particular emphasis — it will not surprise you — on women and girls. So we’ll be working in every one of the countries on that kind of dual track.”
You can read the full transcript of the Secretary’s briefing here.
Good luck to Madam Secretary on all the important work she is doing in the Gulf! We can always count on Hillary to keep women and girls front and center around the world. Her emphasis on them is a constant, and that lifts my spirit in these difficult times and helps to get me reinvested in the good fight whenever I feel drained by all the unfairness in life. Hillary is our very own Rosie-the-Riveter, reminding women of strength AND substance that We Can Do It:
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Brazil on January 1, 2011, to attend the inauguration of President-Elect Dilma Rousseff. (Cliick photo to read the DipNote Travel Diary)
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Another one of my favorite Hillary bloggers — Still4Hill — put up an update on Haiti yesterday. If you have a moment, take a look:
http://still4hill.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/haiti-one-year-later/
Video, transcript, and fact sheets at the link.
From the state.gov homepage:
This was live-streamed on DipNote and the State Dept. site this morning I think. When I find the footage of the replay, I’ll link it here for anyone who is interested.
Just added it to my vodpod library. Here it is:
http://vodpod.com/watch/5307825-conversations-with-america-haiti-in-2011-the-way-forward
Here’s the youtube of Worthington and Adams on Haiti too, so you can watch from this page — it’s about 45 minutes long —
She’s such a great example of women working together in the interest of other women. Every time she goes some where, she makes a point of doing something that furthers the interest of women. It’s so uplifting. Wish we had some one that did that for us domestically. Maybe Michelle Obama will expand her childhood obesity work to include the larger rights of children and women.
Why, oh why, is this woman not president? It boggles the mind that the opportunity was so radically missed.
Oy vey!
Well, at least this way the world gets her too.
It’s definitely our loss that America passed her up for POTUS, not hers. I don’t think there’s much opportunity for us to course-correct on that one. I wouldn’t even want to run for president again if I were her. I’d personally love to see her get back to her advocacy roots untethered by any other party’s or Administration’s agenda. Sooner than later. First she needs to complete all her goals as SOS of course, but then onto greener pastures.
I too think she’ll eventually set up a foundation–like Bill–but it will be focused on women and children.
Talk about crazy extremist… this just gets weirder and weirder…. according to this, Loughner had some kind of bizarre shrine inside a backyard tent:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/10/2011-01-10_chilling_shrine_in_madmans_yard.html
And his parents didn’t notice it?
Now that photo of Rousseff and Clinton put a big smile on my face.
It pays to click and continue after the fold, Lol!
I love Hillary’s attitude on WikiLeaks (grounded and calm), in the mist of what others are going on about killing and hunting down Assange and Wikileaks staff (or anyone that follows or likes or looks) like many politicos.
Hillary is America’s greatest asset as and the goodness of the American people.
Mine too!
I didn’t hear what she said, but I did hear some folks deriding Hill because of the comment she made about the assasination attempt. Apparently she identified it as a ideological initiative and they thought she should have noted that they guy was off his beam.
That’s the right wing meme. It’s not the aura of gun worship and violent rhetoric that creates an environment or easy access to assault weapons that causes this kind of violence, it’s just the act of one lone crazy wolf. Nothing to see here. Nope, not at all. Don’t put it in context. Keep it over there, isolated, crazy, insane.
@ joanelle, 3:49
The rightwing don’t like whenever Hillary uses her diplomatic tact to point out that we have our share of problems and aren’t perfect.
They didn’t like when she pointed out we had elections problems here in the US in 2000 either.
yes, the gal I heard it from is a far right leaning individual – by the way who just said a few days ago that she would have voted for Hill in the election had she “won” the primary vote.
I don’t know about the sincerity of the individual you’re speaking of, naturally… but I seem to remember back in ’08, Ann Coulter also said she’d vote for Hillary over Barack or McCain or something weird like that, didn’t she?
Me too Wonk, me too!
If you’re a Hillary fan btw, click on the two talk show pictures for a larger view. They really are wonderful–the energy in those pictures, the glow on both Hillary’s and the women’s faces, all of it speaks volumes.
This is CBS video (about one minute long) of Hillary’s comments on the AZ shooting. The embedding is disabled so you’ll have to click over to youtube:
Brief clip of Hillary in Abu Dhabi speaking at the Masdar Institute, about a minute long —
http://vodpod.com/watch/5306751-hillarys-remarks-at-masdar-institute-in-abu-dhabi