The US launched a "virtual embassy" for Tehran in a bid to reach out to ordinary Iranians isolated by strict censorship -- but it was promptly blocked by the Islamic regime.
Showing posts with label US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
US says opposition must build ‘free, tolerant’ Syria
The United States has called for a new regime of tolerance and freedom in Syria as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad battled fighters infiltrating the country to join the growing rebel army trying to overthrow him.
Speaking after meeting members of the opposition Syrian National Council in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Syrians must not only remove Assad but also advance towards the rule of law.
“A democratic transition includes more than removing the Assad regime,” Clinton said. “It means setting Syria on the path of the rule of law and protecting the universal rights of all citizens, regardless of sect or ethnicity or gender.”
What began nearly nine months ago as a peaceful protest against Assad, inspired by the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt, is creeping closer to civil war as armed opposition groups organize and move into some city districts.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Clinton offers Myanmar first rewards for political reform
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Myanmar the first rewards for reform today, saying the United States would back more aid for the reclusive country and consider returning an ambassador after an absence of some two decades.
Clinton said she had “candid, productive” conversations with President Thein Sein and other Myanmar ministers, and told them Washington stood ready to support further reforms as the country seeks to emerge from decades of authoritarian military rule.
Clinton meets Aung San Suu Kyi on Myanmar visit
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is meeting with opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee) on a historic visit to Myanmar.
Security goes barefoot with Clinton in Myanmar
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours Shwedegon Pagoda in Yangon December 1, 2011. Clinton offered Myanmar the first rewards for reform on Thursday, saying the United States would back more aid for the reclusive country and consider returning an ambassador after an absence of some two decades
US security went barefoot today as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton toured one of Myanmar’s most revered shrines, a towering golden pagoda that is the symbol of a country seeking fresh rapprochement with the West.
Clinton arrived at the Shwedagon Pagoda shortly after arriving in Myanmar’s main commercial city, Yangon, and took off her shoes to follow respectful Buddhist tradition at a site rich with religious and patriotic significance for the country also known as Burma.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Bill and Hillary Clinton 'so happy' as they see their daughter Chelsea marry in front of 500 guests
Happy family: (left to right) Marc Mezvinsky with Hillary Clinton, his bride Chelsea and father-in-law Bill Clinton after the couple's wedding
Chelsea Clinton has finally become a married woman, saying her vows in an idyllic gazebo decked with white roses under the late afternoon summer sun.
The groom was ‘a bundle of nerves’ and the father of the bride ‘so emotional’ he considered just getting his daughter down the aisle was ‘a major accomplishment’. As for the bride, she had, she told friends jokingly, rather hoped for a small wedding.
But it’s hard to be low-key when your big day is hailed as America’s ‘Royal wedding’, and last-minute preparations include shutting down a chunk of federal airspace, with the secret service making sure access roads to the venue are secure.
Flower bower: The couple had an interdenominational service as Marc is Jewish and Chelsea is a practising Methodist
Perfect day: Chelsea and Marc's big day is said to have cost around £3.2million while her Vera Wang dress came in at around £20,000
It's all for our girl: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary arrive for the rehearsal dinner at the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, New York
Line up: Limousines wait outside a hotel in Rhinebeck before yesterday's service
Protection: A team of security patrol the Rhinebeck streets ahead of the ceremony which took place at 5pm
Glittering: Guests wait for a bus to depart from the Delamater Inn to go to the wedding
Glammed up: A wedding guest makes her way through to one of the buses in Rhinebeck which was ferrying the exclusive congregation to Chelsea's wedding
Sweet music: A small chamber orchestra can be seen to the left of the gazebo where Chelsea got married yesterday
The congregation: Friends and family of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky, some with white parasols to shade them from the afternoon sun, gather in front of the white rose-decked gazebo where the couple said their wedding vows
Chelsea, 30, married childhood friend, financier Marc Mezvinsky, 32, in a ceremony that took place at 5pm local time in Astor Courts, the former home of millionaire businessman John Jacob Astor IV, set in 50 acres of land overlooking the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, New York state.
Shortly afterwards her proud parents released a statement saying: 'Today, we watched with great pride and overwhelming emotion as Chelsea and Marc wed in a beautiful ceremony at Astor Courts, surrounded by family and their close friends.
'We could not have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate the beginning of their life together, and we are so happy to welcome Marc into our family. On behalf of the newlyweds, we want to give special thanks to the people of Rhinebeck for welcoming us and to everyone for their well-wishes on this special day.'
When it came down to it, the ‘hoopla’, as Chelsea described it, that comes with being the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, was worth it.
President Obama had reportedly offered the White House as a venue, while actor Ted Danson, a family friend, suggested his home on Martha’s Vineyard. But the couple opted for a small town 90 miles north of Manhattan and the relative seclusion of the Astor estate.
Residents inconvenienced by the circus surrounding the wedding were given a bottle of wine from Clinton Vineyards – coincidentally the name of the wine producer that neighbours the Astor estate.
The bottle came with a handwritten note of apology from the couple’s wedding planner and offered a telephone number to call if there were any problems.
The night before, wellwishers lined the streets of Rhinebeck as the wedding party enjoyed a rehearsal dinner at the local Beekman Arms Inn. But though they smiled and waved, Chelsea and Marc’s parents were silent about the details of yesterday’s ceremony, which is estimated to have cost £3.2million.
With a guest list of 500, it could hardly be described as intimate but, according to one source, ‘Chelsea actually has a very small circle of friends.
Of course she understood that, her parents being who they are, she didn’t have much choice but to have a big do.
So her one stipulation was that she and Marc had to have at least met everybody who was invited.’
Who received an invitation has been the subject of much speculation, but Steven Spielberg, producer Steve Bing, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey were expected to attend.
Tony Blair was believed to have been invited, but was unable to go.
Chelsea has been a vegan for more than ten years and instructed society caterer Olivier Cheng to provide vegetarian and vegan dishes for the wedding feast.
Her £7,000, five-tier wedding cake was gluten-free. But the meat-eaters among her guests would have been relieved to see that organic beef was also on the menu.
The scale of the wedding has been made clear by the small army of workmen employed over the past week to construct pavilions and marquees at a cost of £400,000.
Tables and crockery are believed to have added another £75,000 to the bill.
But though Chelsea’s dress – thought to be designed by Vera Wang – reportedly cost between £16,000 and £20,000 and she was expected to wear £160,000 worth of jewellery (as well as her £600,000 engagement ring), her own style, according to one friend, is, ‘low-key and modest’.
She is currently studying for a masters degree at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.
And though she may be a far cry from the awkward, curly-haired 12-year-old who stood with her parents on the steps of the White House in 1992 when Bill was first elected President, Chelsea has no desire to follow her parents – mum Hillary is the US Secretary of State – into public office.
The couple met as teenagers and their friendship gradually turned into romance. According to a friend of the couple: ‘Chelsea adores Marc and her parents do, too’.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Clinton Denounces North Korean Belligerence, Myanmar Oppression
"A key element of our strategy is to strengthen regional and global institutions," Hillary Clinton said
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced North Korean aggression and urged Myanmar to make its first elections in two decades more democratic.
“Here in Asia, an isolated and belligerent North Korea has embarked on a campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior,” Clinton told the 27-member Asean Security Forum in Hanoi today. “Peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean Peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behavior.”
The remarks, made in the presence of North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun, came two days after Clinton announced new U.S. sanctions against the regime for sinking a South Korean warship in March. North Korea yesterday attacked her actions and maintained that it didn’t torpedo the corvette Cheonan.
Clinton also used her speech to put pressure on Myanmar, an Asean member that she referred to by its former name of Burma.
“The United States also remains deeply concerned about the oppression taking place in Burma, including restrictive electoral laws that further stifle the lives of the Burmese and make the possibility of free and fair elections this year unlikely,” she said, according to a State Department transcript. “We urge Burma to put in place the necessary conditions for credible elections, including releasing all political prisoners, respecting basic human rights, and ceasing attacks against ethnic minorities.”
Thursday, July 22, 2010
US to resume ties to Indonesia's special forces
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The United States announced Thursday it will resume cooperation with Indonesia's special forces after ties were severed more than a decade ago over human rights abuses allegedly committed by the commando unit.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement after meeting with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday in the capital Jakarta. Indonesia had said it wanted the United States to reconsider resuming joint training.
Indonesia's special forces have concentrated on counterinsurgency issues in recent years, but were accused of major abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in the late 1990s. East Timor has since become independent.
Several countries, including the U.S. and Australia, suspended joint military training in the wake of the allegations, though Australia resumed training in 2005.
The U.S. lifted an overall ban against training the Indonesian military in 2005, though it kept the restrictions against the Indonesian special forces — known as Kopassus.
International rights groups said members of Kopassus were linked to the disappearance of student activists in East Timor in 1997 and 1998 and were never held accountable.
In May, 13 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gates, saying they worried about whether Indonesia will punish senior officers for past abuses.
Vietnam abuzz over Chelsea Clinton's wedding
U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, left, and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem raise their glasses for a toast during a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of relations between Vietnam and the U.S. in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, July 22, 2010
Chelsea Clinton's big day may be half a world away but that hasn't tempered enthusiasm in Vietnam for her upcoming nuptials.
In Hanoi on Thursday for diplomatic meetings a little over a week before the July 31 wedding, mother-of-the-bride and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was given a wedding present — a white tablecloth — for her daughter by the Vietnamese government along with gemstone mosaic portrait of her and Chelsea during their 2000 visit to the country.
"Very nice," Clinton said when Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem presented her with the tablecloth and congratulated her on the marriage of her only child. "I'm very honored. I will be very pleased to give it to her."
Arriving at a hotel to speak to a luncheon hosted by the local American Chamber of Commerce, she was greeted by and posed glowingly for photos with a group of young American women holding a congratulatory sign reading "Mazel Tov Chelsea."
Clinton, who is on the last leg of a four-nation tour that also took her to Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Korea, was introduced by chamber president Hank Tomlinson as "the first secretary of state to visit Afghanistan, Pakistan, Korea and Vietnam while also planning her daughter's wedding."
Clinton laughed and said jokingly that traveling while "trying to help organize my daughter's wedding is proof ... that I may be lacking in common sense." She said she was very focused on her trip but also ready to "return home and enjoy a most wonderful event and experience."
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Kabul meeting to lay ground for 2014 deadline
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, speaks with the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the presidential palace in Kabul Afghanistan on Monday, July 19, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan, a day ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quresh gestures during a press conference, one day ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan, Monday, July 19, 2010, in Kabul, accompanied by Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq.
The strategy sits for now on a table in a locked-down Afghan capital: Hand over security in all 34 provinces to the government by the end of 2014 — more than three years after President Barack Obama's date for the start of an American troop drawdown.
Afghan police officers check vehicles as security measures are tightened ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 19, 2010. Some 40 foreign ministers are expected to attend the conference.
Afghan National Army soldiers walk towards their vehicles before going on a patrol at Combat Outpost Terra Nova in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, July 19,
An Afghan National Army soldier prepares a machine gun before going on a patrol outside Combat Outpost Terra Nova, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, July 19, 2010.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai meets British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Monday, July 19, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan, a day ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan.
By Tuesday, it will be adopted at a one-day international conference, giving war-weary Americans and Europeans a date for when their involvement in Afghanistan may begin to come to an end. It will also give President Hamid Karzai a chance to show whether his struggling government is making progress toward running the country.
The conference comes at a time of growing anxiety in the U.S. and Europe about the course of the war — concerns underscored by Taliban attacks on Monday that killed six Afghan police and two American soldiers. A major security operation virtually shut down Kabul for the conference in which some 60 nations will focus on the postwar transition.
The country's intelligence agency arrested a number of insurgents Monday night who were camped out at a house in Kabul and presumably planning an attack on the city, said a police official who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to comment on intelligence agency operations.
Officials with the intelligence agency declined to comment, saying they would make a formal statement in coming days.
Afghan officials want the U.S. and other international donors to give them a greater say in spending the billions of dollars in aid and reconstruction funds that have flowed into the country since the war began in 2001 — often with only limited results and amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement that have bolstered the Taliban in the eyes of many ordinary Afghans.
Talk of lofty development goals will take place against the backdrop of rising casualties, especially in the Taliban strongholds of the south and east.
Mindful that public patience is running out, the delegates will endorse the goal of gradually turning over security to Afghan forces by the time Karzai leaves office at the end of 2014, according to a draft communique obtained by The Associated Press.
The Afghan government and the international community are expected to agree on a plan to decide which of the 34 provinces would be ready for Afghan control and when. The communique however makes no mention of international troop levels during the transition period.
If NATO follows the model used in Iraq, the coalition will likely keep substantial numbers of troops in Afghanistan through much of the transition to help train Afghan forces and to intervene if the Afghans cannot control security and prevent the Taliban from mounting a comeback in provinces cleared of major insurgent forces.
Although Obama said in December that U.S. troops would begin coming home in July 2011, he did not say how many troops would leave then. Critics complained that the date signaled to the Taliban that all they had to do was hold out until the Americans and their allies were gone.
Vice President Joe Biden told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the number of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan "could be as few as a couple of thousand," but was once quoted as saying next July's drawdown would mean "a lot of people moving out."
In London, a senior British diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because final details of the communique have not yet been finalized, said the conference would likely agree that the process of handing over control to Afghan forces would begin early next year.
The diplomat said a NATO conference in Lisbon in October would decide which areas would be handed over immediately. A conference working paper on security says that during the transition, NATO troops may "remain in the lead in specific districts" of provinces nominally under Afghan control.
Ahead of the conference, representatives of Britain and Afghanistan's neighbor, Pakistan, said some troops may have to remain past 2014 to help train Afghan forces.
"We recognize that there'll be further work to do in terms of training and improving the quality of those forces beyond that, which is why we've said that training forces may be available after that date but we have made it very clear that that will not be combat forces," British Defense Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, expressed skepticism that the Afghans will be ready to take over security by 2014, saying "in my personal assessment, it might take longer."
"But again it depends on how quickly they are able to train their armed forces, their civilian law enforcement agencies, to take on the responsibility of security and protection of the ordinary Afghan citizen," said Qureshi, whose government has longtime ties to insurgents. He said Pakistan was ready to help the Afghans achieve stability "because we feel that a stable, peaceful, prosperous Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest."
Underscoring the security challenge, bombs killed six Afghan policemen in the biggest southern city of Kandahar and two American troops in the south, Afghan and U.S. officials said. The American deaths brought to 42 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this month.
To demonstrate their commitment to good governance, Afghan officials have been working feverishly in recent weeks to prepare action plans with benchmarks for agriculture, reintegrating insurgents back into society and economic and social development.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is leading the U.S. delegation, told reporters the Kabul conference "is going to show more Afghan ownership and leadership, which is something we've been pushing." She said the U.S. is "pressing the Afghan government at all levels to be more accountable, to go after corruption," but that the U.S. also had a responsibility to improve management of its programs.
The Afghans have long complained that the U.S. and other donors have squandered aid money through hiring overpriced international contractors and pursuing development projects that the country does not need or cannot afford to maintain.
Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, 77 percent of the $29 billion in international aid spent in Afghanistan has been disbursed on projects with little or no input from Afghan government officials, according to the Afghan Ministry of Finance's 2009 donor financial review.
At a January meeting in London, donor nations agreed to have half of development aid delivered through the Afghan government to 50 percent in two years.
On Tuesday, Karzai will ask the international community to restate this commitment and to align at least 80 percent of development and governance assistance over the next two years to a list of more than 20 national priority programs being introduced at the conference. In return, Karzai's government will promise to improve its financial management system, improve collection of taxes and customs revenues and fight corruption.
Clinton: US, world stand with Afghanistan-Clinton seeks more from Pakistan in terror fight
Clinton (L) confirmed that US planned to formally designate Pakistan's Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday vowed the United States and its allies will stand by Afghanistan even as fears are growing about the course of the nearly 9-year-old war and the Obama administration plans to begin withdrawing American troops from the country next year.
Clinton (L) called for "additional measures" by Pakistan to combat militant groups on its soil
Clinton (C) arrived in Islamabad Sunday en route to a donor conference in Kabul
The aid focused on water and energy needs of Pakistan
Clinton acknowledged deepening opposition to international involvement in the conflict amid the rising death toll of foreign troops in the country. But she told an international conference on Afghanistan's future that the "world is with Afghanistan" and that the planned drawdown of U.S. forces was not a sign of flagging commitment.
"The July 2011 date captures both our sense of urgency and the strength of our resolve," she said of U.S. plans to accelerate the process of turning over security to Afghanistan's police and military. "The transition process is too important to push off indefinitely."
"But this date is the start of a new phase, not the end of our involvement," Clinton told the conference, which is being attended by senior officials from about 70 countries. "We have no intention of abandoning our long-term mission of achieving a stable, secure, peaceful Afghanistan."
Mounting concerns about the war and rampant corruption in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government have prompted many in the U.S. and allied countries to raise serious questions about the wisdom of carrying on the fight.
Clinton allowed that "the road ahead will not be easy," particularly given those concerns, which could threaten funding for military operations.
"Citizens of many nations represented here, including my own, wonder whether success is even possible — and if so, whether we all have the commitment to achieve it. We will answer these questions with our actions," she said, pledging to step up U.S. civilian assistance to help rehabilitate and reconstruct the war-shattered nation.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday announced major aid projects for Pakistan as she sought tougher action from Islamabad to combat militants ahead of a key donor meeting in Afghanistan.
Clinton is bidding to build on a shaky alliance with Pakistan, whose mountainous western border shields Taliban militants fighting the insurgency next door, as well as groups responsible for attacks in the United States.
The aid focused on water and energy needs of Pakistan is part of US efforts to deepen engagement with the Asian nuclear power and overcome rife anti-Americanism after years of perceived neglect of bilateral relations.
Washington believes Pakistan is integral to any result in the Afghan war and has long voiced concern that Pakistan's powerbrokers were supporting Taliban insurgents, despite crackdowns by the military in some border areas.
Clinton met Pakistan's prime minister and president on Sunday and in a media interview acknowledged greater joint efforts on terrorism, but called for "additional measures" from Islamabad to combat militants on its soil.
"There are still additional steps that we are asking and expecting the Pakistanis to take," she told the BBC.
"... there is no doubt in anyone?s mind that should an attack against the United States be traced to be Pakistani it would have a very devastating impact on our relationship," she added.
A Pakistani-American arrested over the botched car bombing in New York's Times Square in May allegedly received explosives training from experts linked to the Pakistani militant group the Tehrik-e-Taliban.
The group operates from the tribal zones of Pakistan, considered by Washington to be the global headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in Al-Qaeda, as well as a base camp for the Afghan Taliban.
Clinton confirmed that Washington planned to formally designate Pakistan's Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation.
The network, which is battling coalition troops in Afghanistan and is thought to have close links with Pakistan's intelligence services, is one of the toughest foes faced by foreign forces in Afghanistan.
A senior US official speaking on condition of anonymity said closer ties with Pakistan's powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were helping in the struggle against the militant Haqqani network.
"The amount of engagement we have with General Kayani... is unprecedented. We feel that we're making some slow but steady forward movement (on Haqqani)," the official said.
Clinton was due to meet Kayani for closed-door discussions later Monday before travelling to Kabul for a key international conference focused on charting a course for the war-torn country's future involving less dependency on its Western backers.
Pakistan and the United States had been allies throughout the Cold War years as both played a key role in arming Islamist insurgents who ousted Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989.
Ties then cooled until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
On Monday, Clinton hailed progress in relations.
"We have moved beyond a stand-off where we are engaged in a most important dialogue... I'm pleased and impressed to see the leadership of Pakistan tackling some hard problems," she said.
Pakistan has been hard hit by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence, with attacks killing more than 3,500 people across the country since government troops besieged a radical mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in the eastern city of Sargodha Sunday evening, wounding at least 12 people, officials said.
Opening Monday talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Clinton said she hoped the aid projects would "lay the foundations for an enduring partnership" with Pakistan.
They include two energy dams, various drinking water and irrigation projects, as well as the building of health centres and schemes to improve agriculture and private sector income.
They are part of a five-year 7.5-billion-dollar funding approved by the US Congress last year.
Clinton also lauded a new transit trade deal signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday that officials said could boost cross-border trade from an annual 1.5 billion dollars to five billion.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Investigation concludes North Korean missile sunk the Cheonan killing 46-Clinton: North Korea Must Face Consequences-Korean Ship Sinking Controversy Could Derail Nuclear Progress-Cautious White House Reacts to Warship Sinking-NKorea Warns of War if Punished for Ship Sinking
THE EVIDENCE AGAINST THE NORTH
* Fragments recovered from the waters near the Koreas' maritime border indicate the torpedo came from communist North Korea.
* Pieces recovered at the sinking site 'perfectly match' the schematics of the torpedo included in introductory brochures provided to foreign countries by North Korea for export purposes.
* A serial number on a torpedo fragment also was consistent with markings from a North Korean torpedo that South Korea obtained years earlier.
* Investigators also confirmed that several small North Korean submarines and a mother ship supporting them left a North Korean naval base on the western coast two to three days ago prior to the attack, and returned to port two to three days after the attack.
* All submarines from neighbouring countries were either in or near their respective home bases at the time of the incident.
* Fragments recovered from the waters near the Koreas' maritime border indicate the torpedo came from communist North Korea.
* Pieces recovered at the sinking site 'perfectly match' the schematics of the torpedo included in introductory brochures provided to foreign countries by North Korea for export purposes.
* A serial number on a torpedo fragment also was consistent with markings from a North Korean torpedo that South Korea obtained years earlier.
* Investigators also confirmed that several small North Korean submarines and a mother ship supporting them left a North Korean naval base on the western coast two to three days ago prior to the attack, and returned to port two to three days after the attack.
* All submarines from neighbouring countries were either in or near their respective home bases at the time of the incident.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Clinton urges Iraq to form new government quickly-50 electoral candidate were suspended hampering election results amid factional squabbling.
Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law party won 89 seats in the Iraqi elections
Iyad Allawi's secular coalition narrowly won the March 7 vote
Iraq has suspended more than 50 electoral candidates.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged Iraqi leaders to resolve rows over the March elections and form a new government quickly, as more winning candidates risked being disqualified.
With a major US troop drawdown set for August hanging in the balance, Clinton amplified concerns among US officials over Iraq's long drawn-out effort to finalize the election results amid factional squabbling.
A judicial panel was set to rule Wednesday on the fate of nine other election-winning candidates who stand to be disqualified in a process that has thrown formation of the government into disarray.
On Monday, the panel eliminated at least one winning candidate and around 50 others who failed to secure parliamentary seats, drawing anger from former premier Iyad Allawi whose secular coalition narrowly won the March 7 vote.
One of those disqualified was a winning candidate from Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, which has alleged that it is being targeted by officials and religious parties who do not want him to obtain power.
Allawi, a Shiite, whose strong backing in Sunni Arab areas led him to defeat incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, also Shiite, 91 seats to 89, according to unofficial results, said Iraqiya would challenge the disqualifications.
Clinton appeared to echo concerns about the process of verifying the election results.
"The United States respects the legal avenues that Iraq has set up for challenges to candidates and to electoral results," the chief US diplomat said in a statement.
"However, for challenges to be credible and legitimate they must also be transparent and must accord with the laws and mechanisms established for the conduct of the elections," she said.
Clinton was careful to say the United States "does not support a particular party or candidate" and instead wants a "long-term partnership" with a stable, sovereign and self-reliant Iraq, as Washington cuts its troop presence there.
"The United States calls upon Iraq?s leaders to set aside their differences, respect the courageous ballots of the Iraqi people, and to form quickly a government, that is inclusive and represents the will of all Iraqis," she said.
The US ambassador to Baghdad, Christopher Hill, on Monday voiced concerns about delays that, almost seven weeks after the election, have left Iraq apparently no closer to forming a government after a tight election race.
In a news conference in Ankara, Allawi said his party's lawyers would object to the disqualifications at the appeals court. "I am sure we will be successful," Allawi said.
But he appeared less confident that the procedures being followed were fair.
"Frankly, we are very worried... the political process is now in the hands of a group of people from the Iraqi judiciary," Allawi said. "They pass or reverse decisions to their liking."
Although Allawi defeated Maliki, both fell massively short of the 163 seats needed to form a majority in a new 325-seat parliament, ushering in so far fruitless coalition negotiations between them and smaller parties.
Ali al-Lami, the chief of a controversial Justice and Accountability committee (JAC), whose recommendations were approved by a three-member judicial panel on Monday, said two of the 52 disqualified candidates had won seats in the election.
He said the decision was based on their links to the Baath party of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein. "Tomorrow, they will pronounce on nine other winners," Lami told AFP.
However, Hamdiyah al-Husseini, a senior official from the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Iraq's election authority, told state television late Monday only one winning candidate had been disqualified.
But a spokesman for the commission, Ayad al-Kilnani, confirmed to AFP Tuesday that 52 candidates had been disqualified, and that they would have a month to appeal the decision before a seven-judge panel.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The long history of troubled ties between Haiti and the US
President Obama said he would make the relief efforts in Haiti a priority
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide accused the US of ousting him in 2004
The Clinton Administration intervened to restore President Aristide to power
Toussaint L'Ouverture became an icon for the abolitionist movement
When US President Barack Obama announced that one of the biggest relief efforts in US history would be heading for Haiti, he highlighted the close ties between the two nations.
"With just a few hundred miles of ocean between us and a long history that binds us together, Haitians are our neighbours in the Americas and here at home," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have indeed become neighbours of Americans.
Some 420,000 live in the US legally, according to census figures. Estimates of the number of Haitians in the country illegally vary wildly, from some 30,000 to 125,000.
It is a sizeable diaspora which wants to see quick and decisive action from its adopted homeland.
Desperate to see aid getting through to friends and relatives, many expatriate Haitians have welcomed President Obama's decision to send up to 10,000 troops to help rescue efforts.
Historically though, US military deployments to Haiti have been controversial to say the least, and ties have often suffered.
Shared history
Both countries were born out of a struggle against European colonisers.
The US declared independence from Britain in 1776 - the first to do so in the Western Hemisphere - followed by Haiti, which broke away from France in 1804.
But there the similarities end. While the American War of Independence was driven by a white elite unwilling to continue paying taxes to its colonial masters, the Haitian revolution was led by a freed slave, Toussaint Louverture.
The existence of a nation of freed slaves to the south became an inspiration for slaves in the US, and a thorn in the side of many Southerners who relied on slavery for their economy.
During the Civil War in the 1860s, the animosity of the Confederate States towards Haiti would sour relations between the two nations for decades to come.
But Haiti's geographical proximity to the US and its strategic location in the Caribbean sparked the interest of American administrations.
Strategic interest
In the 19th Century, it was eyed as the location for a potential naval base.
US leaders also feared foreign occupation of the island at a time when European powers were trying to expand their sphere of influence.
In 1868, President Andrew Johnson suggested the annexation of the whole island of Hispaniola - present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic - to secure a US presence in the Caribbean.
His suggestion was not followed, but American warships were active in Haitian waters 17 times between 1862 - when the US finally recognised Haiti's independence - and 1915, when it occupied the country.
Assistant Secretary of State Alvey Adee summed up the US view of Haiti in 1888 when he called it "a public nuisance at our door".
Tumultuous history
In the following decades, Haiti would only become more of a headache to its big neighbour.
Between 1888 and 1915, no Haitian president completed his seven-year term.
Ten were killed or overthrown, including seven in the four years to the US invasion of 1915. Only one died of natural causes.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson took control of the Haitian National Bank by sending in marines, who removed $500,000 of its reserves "for safe-keeping" in New York.
The assassination of the Haitian president a year later finally prompted President Wilson to invade Haiti with the aim of protecting US assets and preventing the further strengthening of German influence in the region.
After failing to make the new Haitian legislature adopt a constitution which would allow foreign land ownership, the Wilson administration forced the legislature to dissolve in 1917. It would not meet again until 1929.
The US finally withdrew from Haiti in 1934 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's "Good Neighbour Policy", which stressed co-operation and trade over military force to maintain stability in the Americas.
Duvalier era
Many Haitians fled to the US during the political repression under Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.
At first, the US government welcomed the refugees, but as the numbers swelled and boatloads of Haitians arrived on the South Florida coast in the 1970s and 1980s, this attitude changed to a policy of intercepting boats at sea and returning those on board to Haiti.
After decades dominated by dictatorships and coups, democracy was restored in 1990 when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected in a popular vote.
The ousting of President Aristide by a military regime in 1991 led to a new wave of Haitians headed for the US.
Military deployments
Faced with increasing chaos just south of its shores and an ever-growing stream of refugees arriving on - and often sinking off - Florida's shores, President Bill Clinton sent a US-led intervention force to Haiti in 1994.
A last-minute deal brokered by former President Jimmy Carter allowed the troops to go ashore unopposed by the Haitian military and police.
Constitutional government was restored and Mr Aristide returned to power.
US troops left after two years - too soon, some experts argue, to ensure the stability of Haiti's democratic institutions.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide stayed in power until 1996, and was re-elected in 2000.
While he enjoyed the support of the Clinton administration during his first term of office, allegations of corruption and links to the drugs trade during President Aristide's second term made for a rocky relationship with Washington.
After an uprising against President Aristide in 2004, US forces returned to Haiti, this time to airlift him out of the country.
Mr Aristide accused the US of forcing him out - an accusation the US rejected as "absurd".
With the crisis averted, US interest in Haiti lessened. A UN-led mission took over from US troops in June 2004 and continues to be present there.
'American leadership'
The election of President Obama and the nomination of Bill Clinton to the post of UN envoy to Haiti, combined with a period of relative political stability, led to a strengthening of US-Haitian ties.
Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spent their honeymoon in Haiti, have long taken an interest in the country.
President Obama has enlisted their help, alongside that of former President George W Bush, to help drive fundraising for Haiti.
Speaking on Thursday, President Obama said that this was "one of those moments that calls out for American leadership".
This US intervention, he stressed, would be "for the sake of our common humanity".
Read more about Haiti.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
