Briefing Skipper: Burma, Iran, Syria, Zelaya, Sudan
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of today’s briefing by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley: Assistant Secretary for East Asia Kurt Campbell met today in New York with a Burmese delegation led by their science minister U Thaung ...
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. Here are the highlights of today's briefing by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley: Assistant Secretary for East Asia Kurt Campbell met today in New York with a Burmese delegation led by their science minister U Thaung and including their U.N. representative Than Swe. Campbell will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tomorrow.The Swiss ambassador in Tehran will be allowed to meet with three hikers imprisoned there, Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer, and Sarah Shourd, two days before world powers are set to meet with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Turkey. "We are grateful that the Iranian government has decided to live up to its Vienna Convention obligations," Crowley said.As for the nuclear talks, Crowley said it is now Iran's responsibility to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, in light of recent revelations of new secret facilities. "It's time for Iran to come clean. It's time for them to constructively, positively, affirmatively show and demonstrate through -- by opening up their program to meaningful international inspection, under the IAEA, and take other steps including the disclosure of information, access to individuals, so that the international community can be convinced of Iran's peaceful intentions," he said.The Thursday meeting will be led by the EU's Javier Solana and no, the Iranians have not officially confirmed they will attend.Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad met today with Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew and will make the rounds to some other agencies during his visit to Washington. He is following up on visits to Damascus by Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Feltman, NSC Senior Director Daniel Shapiro, and special envoy George Mitchell, Crowley said.Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and his supporters should stop accusing "Israel mercenaries" of poisoning them with mind-altering gas and radiation, Crowley said, adding "they need to act in a more constructive and positive manner." Crowley's comments were less colorful than those of Lewis Amselem, the U.S. representative to the Organization of American States, who said that Zelaya's return to Honduras was "irresponsible" and he should "stop acting like a movie star."Principals met in the White House today to work on the administration's Sudan policy review. But Crowley pushed back against a Washington Post story today that talked about the ongoing process. "I don't think that the story really is an accurate reflection of our policy," he said. "You know, there's, for example, no push to, you know, normalize relationship with Sudan in the absence of concrete progress on the ground."
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of today’s briefing by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley:
- Assistant Secretary for East Asia Kurt Campbell met today in New York with a Burmese delegation led by their science minister U Thaung and including their U.N. representative Than Swe. Campbell will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tomorrow.
- The Swiss ambassador in Tehran will be allowed to meet with three hikers imprisoned there, Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer, and Sarah Shourd, two days before world powers are set to meet with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Turkey. "We are grateful that the Iranian government has decided to live up to its Vienna Convention obligations," Crowley said.
- As for the nuclear talks, Crowley said it is now Iran’s responsibility to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, in light of recent revelations of new secret facilities. "It’s time for Iran to come clean. It’s time for them to constructively, positively, affirmatively show and demonstrate through — by opening up their program to meaningful international inspection, under the IAEA, and take other steps including the disclosure of information, access to individuals, so that the international community can be convinced of Iran’s peaceful intentions," he said.
- The Thursday meeting will be led by the EU’s Javier Solana and no, the Iranians have not officially confirmed they will attend.
- Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad met today with Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew and will make the rounds to some other agencies during his visit to Washington. He is following up on visits to Damascus by Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Feltman, NSC Senior Director Daniel Shapiro, and special envoy George Mitchell, Crowley said.
- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and his supporters should stop accusing "Israel mercenaries" of poisoning them with mind-altering gas and radiation, Crowley said, adding "they need to act in a more constructive and positive manner." Crowley’s comments were less colorful than those of Lewis Amselem, the U.S. representative to the Organization of American States, who said that Zelaya’s return to Honduras was "irresponsible" and he should "stop acting like a movie star."
- Principals met in the White House today to work on the administration’s Sudan policy review. But Crowley pushed back against a Washington Post story today that talked about the ongoing process. "I don’t think that the story really is an accurate reflection of our policy," he said. "You know, there’s, for example, no push to, you know, normalize relationship with Sudan in the absence of concrete progress on the ground."
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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