Tracking Hillary [Updated]
By SusanUnPC on January 26, 2009 at 10:50 AM in George Mitchell, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
As you’ve already seen, Ani has written a fascinating account of Hillary’s many activities on Friday, and later I posted all the ways that you can sign up for daily updates on all of Hillary’s movements and announcement on the innumerables issues she is working on worldwide to try to repair and reinvigorate a positive attitude towards the United States worldwide.
Here are some more actions taken by Hillary in the short time — only since Thursday — when she was able to go up to the seventh floor of the State Department and take charge officially of her office as Secretary of State:
- “Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton Meets Afghan Women Lawyers.” (Ani is writing this story up in detail.)
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Obama’s Mideast envoy to hold talks in Ankara
ANKARA – US President Obama plans to dispatch his Middle East envoy to the region in an effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. George Mitchell is also expected to meet Foreign Minister Babacan in Ankara next week.
George Mitchell, the special envoy of the U.S. administration, will hold talks in Ankara next week to discuss ways to ensure a durable and sustainable cease-fire in Gaza after Israel’s deadly offensive.
“I talked with Hillary Clinton (U.S. Secretary of State) late Saturday. She said she had ordered Mitchell to visit Turkey during his regional tour and expressed the importance she gave to a meeting between myself and Mitchell,” Turkey’s foreign minister, Ali Babacan, told reporters yesterday before his departure to Brussels where he will meet European Union ministers to discuss the Gaza peace. …
This is not the first time that Secretary Clinton has worked with George Mitchell, the exceptional diplomat. There was Ireland in the late 1990s.
Also below: Beijing issued a warning to Secretary Clinton as soon as she took office:
CAPTION: Former Sen. George Mitchell, right, is applauded by then first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Prime Minister of Ireland Bertie Ahern, left, after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process in this March 17, 1999 file photo.
ALSO of note from the UK’s The Scotsman newspaper, “Obama unveils details of $825bn plan to ease crisis“:
[...]
Ties between the US, the world’s biggest economy, and China, with bulging exports and foreign exchange reserves, showed signs of strain yesterday. China’s central bank said US accusations that it was manipulating the yuan currency were misleading, a day after Beijing cautioned incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton to tread carefully. …
Hillary’s involvement with the Chinese, on all subjects, will definitely be an aspect of her top-tier and position above all other the departments and agencies of government: Her oversight and influence will touch on the policies of Treasury, Defense, Energy, Agriculture, and on and on.
And we all remember Hillary’s accusations that China was manipulating the yen. I wonder what she can do, as Secretary of State, to influence the modus operandi of the Chinese who, let’s be frank here, are doing it to squeeze the U.S. every way they can.
I just wish more Americans made more of an effort to buy U.S.-made products. It takes extra time to find those products, and sometimes they’re a bit more expensive, but they’re also usually much better products.
When I think that almost all garlic and apple juice (YES, apple juice!) is imported from China, it makes me sick. I grew up in a rural area, and vividly recall the manufacturing plants nearby that made fruit juices –I suppose almost all of those are gone these days.
What company in the U.S. can compete when China is making and exporting 80% of all apple juice sold in the U.S.? (And I hope to god that nobody drinks or gives apple juice to their children, unless you buy it from a local farmer who makes his own. That locally-made juice is so much tastier anyway.)
It’s also true of garlic and ginger. My favorite local grocery store has a very difficult time finding ginger not from China. They’ve found outlets of ginger grown in Hawaii, and sell that. Their customers, several employees have told me, ask them constantly if certain products come from China, and they told me that their customers are demanding U.S.-grown produce! Luckily, I can buy garlic grown by local farmers, and garlic is easy to grow one’s self.
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UPDATE:
This video composite of CNN’s reports on Hillary was put up yesterday:
NOTE: I’ve gotten some reports from State, and am scanning the site for more information to share asap.
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