Generally, I think Hillary's off to a great start as the Secretary of State. This has been very surprising -- I think her leadership has the Administration off to a good start in terms of foreign policy, whereas they are stumbling and bumbling on economic policy.I thought going to Asia as her first trip, and prioritizing relationships with those countries, was brilliant, and I also like the vibe she's giving off in her public appearances -- accomodating/diplomatic but also strong and assured.
(I also loved the "who really knows how to define love?" quote that Jon Stewart highlighted on The Daily Show from her Asia trip).
HOWEVER, The National, which is evidently an English-language newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, has an op-ed today by Tony Karon which argues that Hillary -- and the Obama Administration more broadly -- is strictly adhering to the Bush diplomatic line when it comes to the Arab-Israeli peace process. In particulary, they are flat-out refusing to engage Hamas diplomatically, and Karon argues that this (particularly in combination with Benjamin Netanyahu becoming Israel's new prime minister) is going to make it extremely difficult to re-energize the peace process:
"It was therefore alarming to hear Mrs Clinton delivering another echo of Condi Rice, apparently oblivious to the failure of [Rice's] Hamas strategy.118. Hillary is engaging Syria diplomatically (a point acknowledged by Karon). How are Obama/Hillary distinguishing between Syria and Hamas as state sponsors of terrorism?
In a CNN interview last week, Mrs Clinton ruled out working with a Palestinian government that included Hamas as long as Hamas refused to make the declarations demanded by the Quartet: “In the absence of Hamas agreeing to the principles that have been adopted by such a broad range of international actors, I don’t see that we or they – or anyone – could deal with Hamas”, which she branded “not only a terrorist group but increasingly a client of Iran”.
Vintage Condi, that, although even Condi might have seen the perverted logic in attacking Hamas for its financial reliance on Iran after the US ensured it was cut off from most of its Arab sources of funding. But invoking Iran, in the context of the main message of Mrs Clinton’s trip, was a way of signalling that for Washington, Hamas remains haraam."
119. To what extent is Bill advising Hillary/Obama/etc. on the Middle East peace process. This was a major priority for him while in office, so I assume he must be engaged in policy-making now.
