Briefing Skipper: Clinton to Europe, Mitchell back to DC, Haiti, Venezuela, Futenma
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of Monday’s briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini before heading off to Montreal to prep for the Haiti donors conference. (The Amanda Knox ...
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of Monday’s briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini before heading off to Montreal to prep for the Haiti donors conference. (The Amanda Knox case did not come up) Tuesday she’ll move on to London and Paris. The conference on Afghanistan is in London on the 28th and she’ll meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner when she gets to France.
- Special Envoy George Mitchell is on the way back from the Middle East. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo.
- The USS Rampage was sent to Lebanese waters to assist with search and rescue related to the Ethiopian jetliner that crashed near there. "And consistent with our strong relationship with Lebanon [sic], the U.S. will continue to do all it can to support the government in the face of this tragedy," Crowley said.
- The State Department is supporting Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s decision to delay parliamentary elections. "The fact that it takes a little bit more time gives us time to make sure the security will be appropriate for that and that the electoral bodies can make sure that it is a(n) effective election," Crowley said.
- .There are now 59 confirmed American deaths in the Haiti earthquake tragedy. 4 were related to the U.S. government, State Department official Victoria DeLong and 3 dependents of government employees not named. 11,500 Americans and 363 Haitian orphans have been evacuated.
- Venezuela’s shut down of 5 television stations is a matter of "concern," said Crowley. "Clearly, we think that a free and independent media is a vital element of any democracy." No plans to take this issue to a "higher level."
- There is no change in the U.S. position on relocating the Marine Corps air base in Futenma on Okinawa, Crowley said, despite that the new mayor of the town of Nago, where the base is slated to move, is promising to stifle the initiative.
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
More from Foreign Policy
Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America
The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.
The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense
If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.
Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War
Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.
How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests
And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.
Sign up for Morning Brief
Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter with what’s coming up around the world today. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
