Briefing Skipper: Khartoum, Peshawar, Karzai, Venezuela, Balkans
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: Special Envoy Scott Gration is back in Khartoum, having spent the weekend in Doha. State Department is "concerned" about the repression and chaos there, which threatens to ...
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:
- Special Envoy Scott Gration is back in Khartoum, having spent the weekend in Doha. State Department is "concerned" about the repression and chaos there, which threatens to derail the whole process. "In the end we will judge these elections based on whether they reflect the will of the Sudanese people and whether they meet international standards for elections," Crowley warned, "And we are currently seeing disturbing trends in both areas."
- Gration is working hard on a solution but at the same time, the State Department is reevaluating its expectations. "we recognize that there may well be a need for a brief delay… but we would certainly not favor a lengthy delay of any kind," Crowley explained.
- All American are accounted for with no serious injuries at the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, which was attacked by suicide bombers, credit for which was claimed by the Taliban. The U.S. is working with the Pakistani authorities on the investigation. "This tragedy underscores a common challenge our nations face to defeat violent extremists that threatens us both," Crowley said. The consulate is open for business.
- Crowley didn’t say much about Afghan President Hamid Karzai‘s latest rant, where he threatened to join the Taliban. "That particular comment is a bit of a head- scratcher," he said. For a full readout of Clinton’s call with Karzai last Friday, read this.
- State is apparently not concerned at all that Russia and Venezuela could sign a $5 billion arms pact. "What relationships governments have is up to them. What they do in those relationships is again a bilateral issue between Venezuela and Russia,": Crowley said, "We don’t care."
- Ok, clear enough. But wait, Crowley added, "Our primary concern is that, if Venezuela is going to increase its military hardware, we certainly don’t want to see this hardware migrate into other parts of the hemisphere. And we would simply remind Venezuela that it, through a number of accords, has responsibility for transparency in its acquisitions, and must make clear about the purpose of acquiring these materials."
- Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg leaves Monday evening for the Balkans, where he will go to Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. In Sarajevo, he will link up with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to deliver a joint U.S.-EU message supporting reforms there.
- Undersecretary Robert Hormats will be in China and Vietnam this week for meetings with his interlocutors there and attend the Boao Forum for Asia. "It’s the Chinese equivalent of the Davos forum," Crowley explained.
- Assistant Secretary Arturo Valenzuela was in Ecuador Monday, On Tuesday he’ll go to Bogota and after that he will participate in the World Economic Forum in Cartagena. He stops in Peru before returning home.
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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