Briefing Skipper: Qatar, Syria, Sudan, Haiti, North Korea
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of Friday’s briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is still going to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but she’ll leave Saturday afternoon rather than Friday due to Bill’s emergency heart procedure. ...
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of Friday’s briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is still going to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but she’ll leave Saturday afternoon rather than Friday due to Bill’s emergency heart procedure. She’ll be back late Tuesday night. USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah is headed back to Haiti with Southcom General Doug Fraser in tow.
- Undersecretary Bill Burns will go next week to Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Azerbaijan. He’ll meet with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and others. The Syria visit isn’t directly about the expected appointment of Robert Ford to be the next U.S. ambassador to Damsascus, but, "It has to do with what a return of the ambassador to Syria represents, which is, you know, further steps in terms of our bilateral relations," Crowley said.
- Special Envoy for Sudan Scott Gration is on his way to Sudan and Chad, where he will meet with members of the SPLM, President Kiir, and the National Congress Party. The @dipnote twitter feed had announced that Gration would meet with President Omar al-Bashir, which would have been a huge deal, but later issued a correction saying they would not meet.
- No new information to announce on the detained Americans in Haiti, whose legal advisor was apparently investigated for trafficking. But Crowley hinted the Haitian government could announce something early next week.
- Crowley also commented (somewhat sarcastically) about the not-funny issue of how Haiti response funding is having effects on USAID programs around the world. "The government is not allowed to spend money it doesn’t have. I know that’s a startling fact in Washington, D.C.," Crowley said, "In the face of the earthquake 30 days ago, we have been tapping into accounts that were initially set aside for other parts of the world. This is in fact how good, solid budgeting and management works." A new request for Haiti funding should come from OMB very soon, he added.
- No truth to reports that North Korean negotiator Kim Gye Gwan will visit the U.S. next month, according to Crowley. The ball is still in their court to return to the Six Party Talks. "What we need now is for them to pull the trigger and actually, you know, come back to that process," he said.
- Crowley doesn’t think that the Iranian government’s actions Thursday signaled a defeat for the protest movement. "I’m not sure it’s fizzled out. I think what you saw yesterday was Draconian steps by the Iranian government to suppress the people of Iran and their ability to assemble freely and to voice their concerns about their own government and its actions."
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
Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?
The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.
Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World
It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.
It’s a New Great Game. Again.
Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing
The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.
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.
