Posts in "Hillary Clinton"

Brian Beyer's picture
By Brian Beyer at 1:16PM
Feb 6, 2011

New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Cross posted at Interest of the State.

The Obama Administration has already caved in on its earlier calls for immediate reform from the Mubarak Regime. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, said of the appointment of Omar Suleiman as vice president and other political developments that “We have to send a consistent message supporting the orderly transition that has begun.”The transition sure is “orderly” as it is being passed from Mubarak to his inner circle. If the will of the people was actually respected, the transition would not be nearly as smooth or orderly as those closest with Mubarak would fight tooth and nail to give up their power to someone outside of the NDP and Mubarak’s inner circle.

Suleiman, the first-ever vice president under Mubarak, is a member of the club of thugs. Suleiman was the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID) from 1993-2011. The EGID is one of the most feared intelligence agencies in the world, and Suleiman was ranked as the most important intelligence chief in the Middle East. Suleiman was instrumental in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program in Egypt. It is actually quite frightening how much dirty work Suleiman has done for America. As part of the rendition program, Suleiman was responsible for extracting a false confession from Ibn Sheikh al-Libi about the nonexistent connections between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. His “confession” would later become a key piece of evidence used by the Bush Administration to thrust America into war with Iraq.


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Roy Antoun's picture
By Roy Antoun at 3:25PM
Feb 15, 2010

Iran a "Military Dictatorship"?

Hillary Clinton and IranAccording to a recent New York Times article, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared the Islamic Republic of Iran to be a “military dictatorship.” She said that “we will always defend ourselves, and we will always defend our friends and allies, and we will certainly defend countries who are in the Gulf who face the greatest immediate nearby threat from Iran.”  But one must question why the United States has “allies” in a war that is being fought against a non-conventional army, or why the US feels the need to intervene in the Middle East at all (if oil is the issue, all government needs to do is lower taxes and allow the private sector to compete on creating a new, renewable energy source).

Furthermore, the United States is now proposing a new United Nations Security Council Resolution “that names specific companies and the wide web of assets…to increase the cost for those who do business with Iran so much that they would cut off ties.” Not only is the United States interfering in global free markets, but it is only giving Iran another reason to hate the West. Rather than compromising with Iran, the policies our government is pursuing will strengthen hatreds which already exists and even create enemies where we had none before. 

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Roy Antoun's picture
By Roy Antoun at 6:27PM
Jan 29, 2010

Prodding a Stick at an Angry Pit Bull

US-Iran Foreign PolicySecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released a statement today in Paris that if China did not place sanctions on Iran with the United States, it would “face economic insecurity and diplomatic isolation.” China, a major importer of crude oil from Iran, has invested in the country’s oil and gas sector and preferred to negotiate with Iran instead. The danger for the United States in this particular scenario lies within China’s ability to veto the sanction on Iran within the United Nations. However, the real question is asking what truly defines American national interest. 

For a country that is severely in debt to China, one would question why the United States is threatening the Asian power with “economic insecurity” to begin with. Furthermore, we see an unhealthy dependency between two state governments that owe one another money. With this comes the danger of governments hoarding private sector dollars. No matter how capitalistic economists may argue China is, both China and the US have functioned almost similarly in that government directs the flow of money through a central banking system, whether it is The People’s Bank of China or the Federal Reserve. And through that directing, governments now have the ability to threaten one another on behalf of what they claim is the greater good.

Not only is economic dependency dangerous, but so is prodding a stick at an angry pit bull.


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Jihan Huq's picture
By Jihan Huq at 11:09PM
Jan 5, 2010

Clinton: Yemen War A Global Threat

hill2Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said the ongoing war in Yemen poses a grave threat to the entire world.  Clinton also mentioned that the various civil wars in Yemen "seem to get worse and worse with more players involved," adding that it is now the time for the entire international community to lay out many "expectations" to the Yemeni government.

Yemen has recently been a been a much more scrutinized target since the Lap Bomber incident in Decemeber of 2009. Yemen insists that it can handle the threat imposed by Al Qaida, while at the same time is relying on the U.S government for major assistance on weaponry and training.

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Nick Leavens's picture
By Nick Leavens at 4:33AM
Dec 8, 2009

Does Rising Violence in Pakistan mean more U.S. Involvement?

I posted only half a day ago that the United States appeared to be getting ready to ramp up its potential presence in Pakistan, as Hillary Clinton expressed concern over Pakistani sovereignty.  Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has affirmed the assertion today while making a visit to the neighboring country of Afghanistan.  Will 30,000 additional US troops ordered just days ago to the area be spread out and into Pakistan in the near future?

A bomb exploded near an intelligence office in central Pakistan on Tuesday, authorities said, damaging the building and killing at least 12 people amid a surge of extremist violence that has prompted the U.S. to offer additional aid in the country's battle against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The attack came as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington was ready to work more closely with Pakistan as soon as Islamabad expressed willingness.

"The more they get attacked internally .. the more open they may be" to help from the United States," Gates said during a trip to Afghanistan. "But we are prepared to expand that relationship at any pace they are prepared to accept."

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Nick Leavens's picture
By Nick Leavens at 1:03PM
Dec 7, 2009

Clinton discusses threats to Pakistan's sovereignty

It appears that our Secretary of State is preparing Americans, in a very sly way, for potential military involvement in Pakistan:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Pakistanis have experienced a change in attitudes about fighting terrorism as they see a growing threat to their own nation.

Clinton tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that Pakistan's civilian and military leadership have had a significant change in attitudes about fighting terrorists.

She says that change has come as Pakistan's leaders have seen terrorist groups join forces and threaten Pakistan's sovereignty. [my emphasis]

When's the last time you heard a Cabinet member discuss threats to U.S. sovereignty?

The entire 20 minute video, including an interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, can be viewed here.

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Matt Cockerill's picture
By Matt Cockerill at 8:01PM
Nov 2, 2009

Nighly Roundup 11/02/09

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Drew Smith's picture
By Andrew Smith at 7:57AM
Nov 1, 2009

Why I Now Feel Especially Sorry for Pakistan

As if it's not bad enough that we're stomping all over Pakistan's sovereignty, now we're sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to criticize their government and their tax policies. Clinton advocates taxing "everything that moves." Because that OBVIOUSLY works so very well in the United States. She also whines about how their military can't seem to find Al Qaeda, which is ironic considering how long it has taken for US to find them.

It adds a certain amount of truth to this video...
 

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Preston Mui's picture
By Preston Mui at 11:54AM
Aug 5, 2009

Foreign Policy Hypocrisy, Africa Edition

Hillary Clinton is in Kenya to address several issues, including the Keynan government's seeming unwillingness to prosecute war criminals:

Some of the headlines greeting Mrs. Clinton on her first morning in Kenya focused on American pressure to set up a special tribunal to try the perpetrators of election-driven bloodshed early last year that left more than 1,000 people dead.

Kenya’s judicial system, however, has done little to pursue suspects in the post-election violence and is often accused of perpetuating the nation’s culture of impunity.

Many people fear that the Kenyan government will take no action.


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