Open Thread: Hillary’s Historic Visit to Myanmar
Posted: December 1, 2011 Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Myanmar, open thread | Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Hillary Clinton, Myanmar, Nobel Prize, U. S. Secretary of State 24 Comments
Hillary arriving in Myanmar yesterday
Today’s Guardian UK reports on Hillary’s first in-person meeting with Nobel Prize winning activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy campaigner and Nobel prize winner, had dinner with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Thursday night in a diplomatic residence in the port city of Rangoon.
The extraordinary meeting came at the end of Clinton’s first full day of her historic trip to the isolated south Asian state, the first by a top-ranking American official for more than 50 years.
[….]
Aung San Suu Kyi
Clinton’s trip comes after changes in Burma that have astonished many observers. Aung San Suu Kyi has been freed after more than 20 years of house arrest and prison, and tentative moves have been made to reduce censorship and create new laws permitting limited political demonstrations.
Last year saw parliamentary elections which, despite being rigged to give the pro-regime party a huge majority, were nonetheless welcomed by observers.
Though the military dominates most institutions and much of the economy, many senior figures believe Burma, currently under US and European Union sanctions, needs to reintegrate the international community, analysts say.
Here’s a video about the visit, uploaded to You Tube by Reuters early this morning:
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Hillary looks gorgeous in fuscia!
There is a great picture here of Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi: SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Public Schedule for December 1, 2011 « Still4Hill
That’s a great shot of Hillary, Minx. And look how she mirrors, Aung San Suu Kyi. A gesture of respect. She’s a true pro.
So true Peggy Sue. Her foreign policy acumen is demonstrated in these subtle gestures. And how powerful is that pic to freedom fighters all over the world. It says that there still are powerful people that recognize your efforts. Keep the fight alive.
Tell me again why this country didn’t pick her in 2008?
Leader.
Hillary 2012
Two great and beautiful women who do us all proud.
Rock, We are a very stupid people.
That was in the Guardian story I linked to, but WordPress wouldn’t accept it.
BB…must be those damn squirrels again…
This is the sort of diplomatic outreach that Hillary Clinton absolutely shines at–she’s tough but accessible in a human way. And people respond to that, regardless of who or what they are.
And yes, BB: fushia is a great color on Hillary. But she looks so fatigued to me. I still have no idea how the woman survives the schedule she keeps. Even though I don’t agree with this endless war policy, she’s been a hell of a Secretary of State. I can’t imagine anyone holding a candle to her.
You go, Sister!
Over at Feministe: Siri: Total Misogynist. — Feministe
So Jill tried this out herself, on her iphone…
My son confirmed this in Philly, Minx. He ran out and invested in the iphone [can’t get it to work with his car, transmission is badly garbled]. But he showed me the list of local escorts with the prompt ‘prostitute.’
Revealing!
Siri understands what a dick is but not a pussy? Who is editing the code over there at Apple?
Asshats.
Hillary 2012
Apple claims its just a “glitch.”
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/apple-siris-pro-life-tendencies-are-a-glitch.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
That’s no glitch, IMHO. Apple Sucks and So did Steve Jobs.
“Glitch” my left toenail. There’s a pattern to it. When the location tracking was found on iphones, that was a “glitch” and was “fixed.” Recently, when the whole CarrierIQ rootkit keylogger was found on most Android phones, there was a great silence from Apple. Now that it’s turned up on iphones, it’s very coincidentally something they’ve just stopped doing. (And it doesn’t matter anyway because “it’s not on by default.” Hello? It’s a goddamn rootkit. Those can be turned on remotely.)
And now this. “Just a glitch.” S-u-re. A glitch that happens to match every sexist variant you can think of. For all kinds of unrelated things: viagra, abortion, breast implants, female genitalia.
What jerks.
Yeah Rock….ask about dick you get escort service…ask about pussy you get a pet store.
YAY ! I have electricity, cable and internet service again!!! They’re blaming the squirrels.
Hey, that is a great idea…blaming squirrels!
Forget the old stand by, my dog ate it.
I am glad you are back to normal Dak.
The evening reads is going to be a bit late tonight…Daughter is cheering for the girls basketball game and we are too!
We have tons of squirrels. 🙂 Glad for the underground cables.
That was so brilliant that I had to delurk. My friend back in the 80’s finally recognized that she was gay and it ended in an acrimonious divorce from her husband, who sought to undermine her at every step, including harassment, calls to her employer, stalking etc (even though there was a restraining order against him because of previous domestic abuse convictions – yeah, funny, domestic abuse convictions – an oxymoron). She subsequently entered into a relationship that has lasted since the mid 80’s and both of those wonderful women have raised a daughter (from her first marriage) and a son that are wonderful human beings. Both children have gone on to be leaders in their respective fields, and neither of them were ever in trouble. I had a prof in uni back in the late 60’s – good looking, but really kept our noses to the grindstone (for our own sake, so he said, and he was right). Anyway, he had been with the same partner for over twenty years, and they wanted to adopt, but were precluded by law from even being married. His one regret was that he and his partner had never been allowed to be married and to raise children. A better parent you could not have found. I’m so happy that children of same sex partnerships are finally speaking out against the febrile, disgusting rhetoric of the fundamentalist mobs infesting the body politic today. Back to lurking.
Whilst I’m delurking – Happy birthday BB and 100 many more. We need people like you folks to stay around for a long time – gives us hope.
WRT to SIRI, typical considering that the developers are all dude centric youngsters and the chiefs are all dude centric oldsters. I refuse to have a cell phone, or an I-phone or whatever else wondrous electronic something they devise. Disclaimer, I was in the business when cell phones were first introduced and even then I could see the not so savory applications, hence my refusal even though as a retiree I get a discount. It’s subliminal propaganda and data mining – has been since day one. One other thought, the technology was never truly tested for health implications for humans or any other creatures long term.
What a fine young man. My daughter and her partner have an adorable almost 2 year old son. They are the most loving and attentive parents I’ve ever seen, Maybe one day soon people will realize the sexuality of a person just doesn’t matter and my grandson won’t have to make speeches defending his Mothers.
Congratulation ralphb on your grandson and his parents, and mostly for his grandpa. You are very special especially in today’s climate. I had a problem with the grandparents of my children, not because I was gay, but because I refused to marry their son and deliberately got pregnant with no intention of marrying him, so we have progressed. Baby steps, but worthwhile. Every baby step leads to a massive breakthrough – at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself. You are one helluva human being. keep on being a great and loving father and grandpa.
Congratulations on your grandson, Ralph. I saw this video when it was going around and was too very impressed to see such a great public speaker. It was so obvious the love and support his parents gave him when he said, “and if I was your son, you’d be proud of me too” as if he was so used to that feeling and wore his parents’ pride so easily. I must admit I was jealous as I would rather have been raised by wolves.
And not to be cynical, but the best comment I saw was someone who said, gay parents need not be perfect, nor do they need to raise perfect children. They need to be just good enough like the rest of us. I liked that.
Thanks very much. Maybe I’m just missing a gene for that particular prejudice but I just have never had any problems with someone else’s sexuality. I’ll be 65 in a month and don’t understand why anyone should care about it. Oh, well.