BANGKOK - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Thailand for a meeting of Southeast Asian nations, expressed concern on Wednesday that North Korea was transferring nuclear technology to Myanmar, which she said could destabilize the region.

"It's a threat to other of our allies," Mrs. Clinton said during a town hall meeting here, "and it's a threat to further destabilization of the region." A day earlier, she said that expanded military ties between the countries would "pose a direct threat" to Myanmar’s neighbors. She singled out Thailand, the host of the regional security meeting, as being vulnerable to the reclusive and heavily armed dictatorship in Myanmar.

Suspicions about North Korea's relationship with Myanmar deepened recently when a North Korea freighter appeared to be steaming toward Myanmar. American officials, believing the ship might be carrying weapons or other illicit cargo, tracked it until it reversed course.

North Korea is already suspected of supplying Myanmar with small-caliber weapons and ammunition, but some intelligence analysts contend that North Korea is also helping Myanmar pursue a nuclear weapons program. They cite as possible evidence newly published photos of what some analysts say is a network of giant tunnels outside Myanmar's jungle capital, Naypyidaw, built with help from North Korean engineers.

"North Korea has been a notorious proliferator of nuclear technology," Mrs. Clinton said on Wednesday.

Even without these links, Myanmar and North Korea are likely to dominate the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, which begins Wednesday on the resort island of Phuket.

Mrs. Clinton plans to meet with the foreign ministers of several countries to strengthen support for the latest United Nations resolution against North Korea, adopted after that country's nuclear and missile tests.

Although the United States is putting most of its emphasis on enforcing the sanctions in that resolution, it has begun discussing possible incentives that the countries could offer North Korea, if its government agreed to abandon its nuclear ambitions and return to the bargaining table.

Officials declined to say what might be on the table, though they said it would be a mix of familiar and new elements. In the past, the United States and other countries have offered North Korea shipments of fuel.

"There are obviously a list of incentives, offers that could be made if the North Koreans evidence any willingness to take a different path," Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference here, after arriving from New Delhi. "As of this moment in time, we haven't seen that evidence."

The administration's decision to broach the possibility of incentives, officials said, will make it easier to persuade countries like China, which have previously resisted sanctions against North Korea, to agree to put into effect the tougher measures in the United Nations resolution.

North Korea is expected to send a delegate to the Asean conference, but Mrs. Clinton did not plan to meet that delegate. American officials said there was always the possibility of a chance encounter of a North Korean diplomat and one of Mrs. Clinton's lieutenants on the sidelines.

Mrs. Clinton also has no plans to meet with a representative from Myanmar, formerly Burma. On Tuesday, she spoke in unusually detailed terms in discussing the country's human rights record and its treatment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial, accused of violating her house arrest by sheltering an American man who swam across a lake to her bungalow last May.

"We are deeply concerned by the reports of continuing human rights abuses within Burma," she said, "and particularly by actions that are attributed to the Burmese military, concerning the mistreatment and abuse of young girls."

The Obama administration has been reviewing American policy toward Myanmar since February, when Mrs. Clinton declared that the existing sanctions against its military-run government had been ineffective.

But the United States will not announce a new policy at this meeting, American officials said, largely because repeated delays in the trial of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi have made it difficult for the administration to develop a response. Mrs. Clinton repeated her demand that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi be treated fairly, and dismissed the charges against her as "baseless and totally unacceptable."

"Our position is that we are willing to have a more productive partnership with Burma if they take steps that are self-evident," she said.

She called on the government to release political prisoners and to "end the violence" against its own people, including ethnic minorities. In recent weeks, the military has carried out a fierce offensive against the Karen minority, driving refugees across the border into Thailand.

Chinese and American officials have pressed Myanmar to adhere to the anti-proliferation measures in the sanctions against North Korea, which it has pledged to do. Analysts say there is evidence, in the aborted voyage of the North Korean freighter, that the leaders got the message.

Without a new American policy to announce, however, the United States and Asian nations are unlikely to break much ground in trying to bring the generals who govern Myanmar back into the fold.

Appearing with Mrs. Clinton, one of Thailand's deputy prime ministers, Korbsak Sabhavasu, said, "I think we basically almost just about share the same thoughts and ideas on how to solve this problem."




By Mark Landler, The New York Times, July 21, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Thailand for a security summit, calls on nations to enforce sanctions against North Korea. The U.S. is expected to sign a nonaggression pact at the talks.

Reporting from Washington and Phuket, Thailand Paul Richter -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed concern Tuesday about suspected military ties between North Korea and Myanmar's ruling generals, saying they had the potential to destabilize the entire region.

Clinton arrived in Thailand and met with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva before a regional security summit on the island of Phuket.

But U.S. officials are bringing along a list of other security issues.

They have voiced growing concern recently over suspected military links between North Korea's reclusive communist government and the rulers of Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. Some in Washington suspect that the Pyongyang government may be selling Myanmar nuclear weapons systems as well as conventional arms.

In recent weeks, North Korea sent a freighter, the Kang Nam I, with a suspected arms cargo, to Southeast Asia. Myanmar was a suspected destination. The U.S. Navy shadowed the ship, and U.S. officials pressed other countries to deny it entry under a recently passed U.N. Security Council resolution.

Eventually, the vessel turned around and headed home.

Clinton denounced Myanmar authorities for human rights violations, especially those toward young women and girls and demanded fair treatment for dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We know that there are also growing concerns about military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take very seriously," Clinton said. "It would be destabilizing for the region. It would pose a direct threat to Burma's neighbors. And it is something, as a treaty ally of Thailand, that we are taking very seriously."

At the ASEAN meeting, Clinton is expected to urge fellow officials to help enforce the United Nations resolution adopted in response to North Korea's missile and nuclear tests. It authorizes countries to challenge North Korean ships they believe to be carrying banned goods.

U.S. officials also want ASEAN countries to take part in financial sanctions under the U.N. resolution, aimed at halting transactions underwriting weapons trade, which have proved especially troubling in the past in regard to the North Koreans.

Clinton left the door open to improved relations with Myanmar if it changed its policies. Burmese historian and political analyst Thant Myint-U, grandson of former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant, said that taking the time to review policy and consult regional governments could result in a more effective U.S. approach.

"After two decades of surviving Western condemnation, I think Burma's generals are fairly numb to outside criticism. New sanctions will only deepen their isolation," Thant said in an interview.

"People think engagement means caving in. It actually means peeling away the isolation on which the status quo depends and creating new facts on the ground, rather than making speeches from thousands of miles away and hoping for miracles."





By Charles McDermid and Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2009

PHUKET, Thailand, July 22 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that President Obama agreed to give her "an enormous amount of authority . . . really everything I asked for" before she agreed to take the job of chief U.S. diplomat.

Clinton made the remarks during an expansive one-hour interview with Thai television in Bangkok before she flew to this resort island for a regional security forum. The interview with two energetic questioners took place before a live audience in a former king's palace built in 1909.

Clinton said she was "very surprised" when her former rival for the Democratic nomination asked her to become secretary of state. "He said, 'Look, I really need you and I believe that we can have a great relationship.' And we do. It's been everything I could have hoped for," Clinton said.

She added that her first response when Obama called her was to give him a list of names of people she thought "would be so much better. . . . But as you have seen watching on TV, he is very persuasive."

Speculation has risen in official Washington that Clinton has lost some of her luster and the State Department has been sidelined, with much of the foreign-policy power residing in the White House. But Clinton dismissed that, saying the rumors were the result of her reduced travel schedule after she broke her elbow in June.

"What happened is I broke my elbow. Very sad. I tripped and fell, but luckily I didn't hit my head. I hit my elbow and it broke in two," Clinton said. She then had to cancel plans to do a solo European trip and to join the president on another trip to Russia.

"I'm not with the president on the trip and all of sudden everyone said 'Ooooh . . . she's disappeared.' I'm thinking, gosh, I'm here, actually here."

Clinton said that from her own experience living in the White House as first lady, she understands that the president is always going to be the top policy-maker. "The president is the president. You know, I tried to be the president but I was not successful," she said to loud applause. "But I know -- the president is the president."

The questioners pressed Clinton on her run for the presidency and whether she still entertained the notion of running again.

"That's not anything I'm at all thinking about," she replied.

She was asked if she had ever given up hope, and she said: "I don't know, but I doubt very much that anything like that will ever be part of my life."

Is it wait and see? "No, no, no, no."

Finally, one questioner pressed, "Never say never," and Clinton seemed to shut the door.

"Well, I am saying no because I have a very committed attitude to the job I have and so that's not at all on my radar screen."

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, July 22, 2009

NEW DELHI - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the surge in U.S. and allied deaths in Afghanistan this month is "regrettable and tragic," and that the Obama administration believes it has no choice but to continue the fight.

Four more Americans were killed in Afghanistan on Monday, making July the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began in October 2001.

At a news conference after consulting with Indian officials on a range of topics, Clinton was asked about the rising death toll and whether she takes responsibility for a failure to persuade allies and coalition partners to give the war effort more support.

"It is deeply regrettable and tragic that we have had the loss of life by our Marines and soldiers in the last weeks as they have aggressively pursued the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, and we are very concerned about the kidnapping of our American soldier," she replied, referring to Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23. A day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online, the Pentagon said Sunday that he had been captured.

Clinton said the U.S. government is doing all it can to obtain his safe release.

"But I think it's unfair to link the tragic loss of Americans in the battle against the Taliban and their associated terrorist allies with a failure by our allies," she said, noting that Britain has suffered a large number of casualties in recent weeks in Afghanistan.

"Other of our allies are engaged in combat, not only in the south but holding the line in the north, and I think that the commitment" by international allies "to support this offensive against the Taliban is commendable. Now we are bearing the brunt of the battle because we put more troops into it. But we are very grateful for the contributions and the sacrifice of so many who have come to the aid of Afghanistan." She said that includes Afghan security forces who also have taken heavy losses.

"This is a very difficult battle but it is one that we feel must be waged, and we have a strategy that the president has approved, and we are implementing it," she added.

The U.S. has about 56,000 troops in Afghanistan and the number is due to rise to about 68,000 this fall.

By ROBERT BURNS, The Associated Press, July 20, 2009

In a 'very tough call,' Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warns Roberto Micheletti against letting post-coup talks falter after a stalemate over the weekend.

Reporting from Washington and Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- The Obama administration has sharply increased pressure on the de facto government running Honduras after last month's military coup, hoping to break a stalemate in negotiations with ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned Roberto Micheletti, named president of the country after the June 28 coup, to warn him against letting the talks falter, said Clinton's chief spokesman, P.J. Crowley.

Crowley suggested that the talks still hold hope and that Micheletti's government may be willing to back off that condition. He said negotiations "might have produced more progress than is at first evident."

Clinton's call represented her first contact with Micheletti and signaled a deepening American involvement in the crisis. In the first days after June 28, when Zelaya was toppled and expelled from the country, the Obama administration urged other Latin American officials to take the lead on the issue. Later, it backed mediation involving Arias.

But the administration increasingly has found itself in the middle of the drama, and is staking its prestige on its ability to restore peace.

U.S. officials, including Thomas Shannon, the chief U.S. diplomat for Latin America, and Hugo Llorens, the U.S. ambassador to Honduras, spent the weekend in conversations with Arias, representatives of the two sides and other regional leaders, Crowley said.

He said that Clinton made it clear that the United States was ready to use its enormous leverage over Honduras if Micheletti's government does not comply.

The administration has so far withheld $18.5 million in aid to Honduras, but it could also stop an additional $180 million in development aid. The United States also has huge leverage through trade because 70% of Honduras' exports go to the United States.

In another sign of the growing international pressure on the interim government, the European Union announced it was cutting off $90 million in aid. The move is another warning of international isolation for the Micheletti government, which has not been recognized by any other nation.

Zelaya has threatened to return to his country, with or without a political agreement. The talks are currently suspended for three days to give Arias time to work on a new proposal.

Zelaya had been pursuing a nonbinding referendum to amend the constitution. The referendum had been ruled illegal. He was ousted by a Honduran elite concerned that he was trying to change the constitution to allow for his reelection. Honduran presidents are limited to a single term.

Llorens, who has been working behind the scenes to restore Zelaya to power, met Thursday with business leaders, most of whom supported the coup. Llorens warned that the Micheletti government would never be recognized and that Honduras risks further sanctions if a solution is not found, a participant said.

"He urged us not to block an agreement," said one entrepreneur who attended the meeting and agreed to discuss it on condition that his name not be used. "His tone was very firm."

But the businessmen responded that Zelaya cannot be trusted. Possible sanctions could include canceling visas for Hondurans, which would be harsh punishment for wealthy Hondurans who prize their ability to travel to the U.S.

Far from seeking compromise, however, Honduras' de facto rulers were digging in their heels Monday. Enrique Ortez, who served briefly as the new government's foreign minister, said Llorens could be declared persona non grata.

Micheletti spoke Monday at a gathering in the presidential palace of about 150 people representing business and community groups. Adolfo Facuse, one of Honduras' wealthiest businessmen, pledged to help pay the government's bills if Honduras loses money because of sanctions.

Micheletti confirmed he had spoken to Clinton and said he told her to send a trusted envoy to Honduras to get a "real" picture of what is happening.

"We've tried to explain what went on here before June 28," he said, "and everyone just wants to hear what happened on June 28."




By Paul Richter and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2009

BANGKOK, July 21 -- The Obama administration is increasingly concerned that nuclear-armed North Korea is building mysterious military ties with Burma, another opaque country with a history of oppression, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.

"We know that there are also growing concerns about military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take seriously," Clinton told reporters after talks in the Thai capital. "It would be destabilizing for the region. It would pose a direct threat to Burma's neighbors."

U.S. officials traveling with Clinton, who is in Thailand to attend a regional security forum, said the worries about Burma and North Korea extend to possible nuclear cooperation. North Korea has a long history of illicit missile sales and proliferation, including secretly helping to build a nuclear reactor in Syria that was destroyed in 2007 by Israeli jets.

The evidence of growing Burmese-North Korean cooperation since formal ties were restored in 2007 is extensive, but officials said the full scope of the military relationship is unclear.

The nuclear connection is even murkier, but intelligence agencies have tracked the suspicious procurement of high-precision equipment from Europe, as well as the arrival in Burma of North Korean officials associated with the company connected to the Syrian reactor, said David Albright, director of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.

"Something may be going on, but no one has any proof. It is a mix of suspicions and concerns," Albright said, adding that close examination of satellite imagery of suspected nuclear sites has turned up no evidence. But he said that the purchases of high-precision equipment were especially troubling because the equipment did not make sense for use in missiles and it was shipped to educational entities that had connections to Burmese nuclear experts.

Japanese officials last month arrested three people in connection with attempting to illegally export dual-use equipment to Burma via Malaysia, under the direction of a company involved in the illicit procurement for North Korean military programs.

Moreover, Albright said, European and U.S. intelligence agencies have identified people associated with Namchongang Trading, a North Korean company also known as NCG, as working in Burma. NCG reportedly provided the critical link between Pyongyang and Damascus, acquiring key materials from vendors in China and probably Europe and secretly transferring them to a desert construction site near the Syrian town of Kibar.

The State Department cited NCG last month for being "involved in the purchase of aluminum tubes and other equipment specifically suitable for a uranium enrichment program since the late 1990s."

U.S. officials have observed other troubling connections. The Navy tracked Kang Nam 1, a rusty North Korean freighter, last month after the government in Pyongyang tested a nuclear weapon. Although U.S. officials were never certain that the ship was headed to Burma, it returned to North Korea after the United States, China and other countries pressured Burma to respect a U.N. resolution barring most North Korean weapons exports.

Photographs that have emerged in recent weeks also show an extensive series of 600 to 800 tunnel complexes and other underground facilities built in Burma with North Korean technical assistance near its new capital, Naypyidaw. North Korean officials can be spotted in the photos, which were taken between 2003 and 2006 and posted on the Web site of YaleGlobal Online by journalist Bertil Lintner, an expert on Burma.

Burma has uranium deposits, but as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is required to allow inspections of any nuclear facilities. Russia agreed in 2007 to help build a 10-megawatt light-water reactor in Burma, but little appears to have come of the project.

At the news conference, Clinton also strongly criticized the Burmese government for its well-documented use of gang rape as a military tactic, organized by Burmese officers, against ethnic minorities. A new offensive against the Karen ethnic group has sent more than 4,000 refugees fleeing across the border into Thailand in recent weeks.

"We are deeply concerned by reports of continuing human rights abuses within Burma, particularly by actions that are attributed to the Burmese military concerning the mistreatment and abuse of young girls," Clinton said.

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, July 22, 2009

Annual Forums Will Bring Together Cabinet Members of Both Countries

NEW DELHI, July 20 -- The United States and India on Monday established a high-level forum designed to further strengthen a relationship that has dramatically improved in recent years. The two governments also announced relatively modest agreements that could foster potential sales of sophisticated U.S. arms and civil nuclear reactors.

The "strategic dialogue," unveiled on the final day of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's three-day tour of India, will be one of only about a half-dozen such relationships the United States has with other countries.

The annual sessions will be co-chaired by Clinton and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and will bring together cabinet secretaries of both countries for formal discussions.

Clinton, at a news conference with Krishna, stressed that the talks are designed to inspire broad partnerships beyond the government level, bringing Americans into closer contact with one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

"We do not, however, intend for this to be a dialogue between ministers or even between governments, but between our nations and our peoples, our scientists and business leaders, our civil society activists and academics, charitable foundations, farmers, educators, doctors, entrepreneurs," Clinton told reporters.

Underscoring that point, Clinton stretched the bounds of traditional diplomacy during her visit. She met with business leaders in the commercial capital of Mumbai, talked to poor female weavers, toured an environmentally friendly "green" building, visited a farm to learn about new crop techniques and discussed Indian education issues at a university forum.

On Monday, she delved into more-official contacts, meeting with Krishna; Manmohan Singh, the prime minister; Sonia Gandhi, the head of the ruling Congress party; and L.K. Advani, the leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Clinton announced that she had conveyed an invitation to Singh from President Obama to visit Washington on Nov. 24 for what would be the first state visit of the new administration. Singh accepted, U.S. officials said.

The other agreements announced Monday were of less import, essentially marking incremental steps toward realizing potential military and nuclear sales.

India agreed to accept congressionally mandated monitoring of the use of sensitive military equipment, which will allow U.S. companies to compete for the sale of 126 fighter jets worth about $10 billion. India also identified two sites for potential U.S.-made nuclear reactors, also worth $10 billion, though the Indian government must still pass a controversial law limiting liability for U.S. companies before they can compete.

Clinton and Krishna also signed a technology agreement that will permit the use of U.S. parts on Indian satellite launch vehicles and established a $30 million fund for joint science and technology projects.

The United States and India had chilly relations during the Cold War, but a thaw began during the presidency of Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush built on that foundation by inking a landmark civil nuclear agreement with India, and now the Obama administration has made it clear it wants to further deepen ties.

One U.S. official involved in this week's talks said that until recently the two countries "managed problems." It was such an unsatisfactory relationship that very few senior U.S. officials wanted to meet with their Indian counterparts. But Bush's nuclear deal, which allows India to buy civil nuclear equipment even though it did not sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, cleared away a long-standing sore point between the two nations.

Meanwhile, Singh's party won a commanding victory in May, allowing it to shed left-leaning coalition partners suspicious of Washington. The U.S. official said that now the heads of various agencies are fighting over who can join the U.S.-India dialogue. "There's a sense that we can accomplish something," he said.

Still, stark differences between the two countries on such issues as a global agreement to limit greenhouse gases were apparent during Clinton's trip.

Clinton is an Indiaphile, clearly fascinated by the country, its people and its food. Speaking to about 700 students at Delhi University on Monday, she said it would be a mistake to allow stereotypes portrayed in popular culture to influence relations between the two countries.

"People watching a Bollywood movie in some other part of Asia think everyone in India is beautiful and they have dramatic lives and have happy endings," Clinton said to laugher. "And if you were to watch American TV and our movies, you'd think that we don't wear clothes and we spend a lot of time fighting with each other."

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, July 21, 2009

GURGAON, India, July 19 The stage was set for a demonstration of how India and the United States could work together to reduce the impact of climate change: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton touring an environmentally friendly "green" office building on the outskirts of the sprawling capital of New Delhi.

But the clash between developed and developing countries over climate change intruded on the high-profile photo opportunity midway through Clinton's three-day tour of India. Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh complained about U.S. pressure to cut a worldwide deal, and Clinton countered that the Obama administration's push for a binding agreement would not sacrifice India's economic growth.

As dozens of cameras recorded the scene, Ramesh declared that India would not commit to a deal that would require it to meet targets to reduce emissions. "It is not true that India is running away from mitigation," he said. But "India's position, let me be clear, is that we are simply not in the position to take legally binding emissions targets."

"No one wants to in any way stall or undermine the economic growth that is necessary to lift millions more out of poverty," Clinton responded. "We also believe that there is a way to eradicate poverty and develop sustainability that will lower significantly the carbon footprint."

Both sides appeared to be playing to the Indian audience, with Ramesh taking the opportunity to reinforce India's bottom line.

Before the visit, U.S. officials were acutely aware that the Indian government has faced criticism at home for making what they considered relatively modest concessions on reducing greenhouse emissions at a meeting of major economies this month. A leaked e-mail from former Indian negotiator Surya Sethi to other negotiators -- in which he asserted the decision would make India poorer -- generated a firestorm here.

Clinton was prepared to argue that countering climate change could actually lift India's economy, not undermine it. U.S. officials also believe, as one put it, that "developing countries are willing to do more than they are willing to agree to."

Todd D. Stern, the administration's special envoy for climate change, has accompanied Clinton on her tour of India. Though U.S. officials said that Stern's visit had been coordinated with Indian officials, the Indian establishment's nervousness was reflected in one newspaper's headline on Saturday: "Climate Man's Visit Shocks India."

The visit to the "green" building -- the brick-and-sandstone headquarters of the hotel division of Indian tobacco giant ITC Ltd. -- began amicably. The building appears undistinguished from the outside, but Alwyn Noronha, an ITC executive vice president, explained to Clinton that the building has a 30 percent smaller carbon footprint than a similar-size building, cutting energy use in half through innovations such as an L-shaped design that allows a maximum use of natural light.

Clinton likened the squat, plain-looking building -- which was constructed with U.S. assistance -- to a new version of the Taj Mahal, grandly declaring it was "a monument to the future."

After the tour was over, the American and Indian delegations settled into a conference room for a closed-door chat. Ramesh opened with a blunt statement that took four minutes to read.

"There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," Ramesh told Clinton. He asserted that "detailed modeling" showed "unambiguous" results -- that developing country emissions would remain well below the averages of developed countries even with high growth rates.

At the meeting, Clinton responded that she "completely" understood India's argument about per capita emissions, according to the notes of a U.S. reporter permitted to observe the discussion. "On one level, it's a fair argument," she said, but she argued that the per capita argument "loses force" as developing countries rapidly become the biggest emitters.

Ramesh replied that India's position on per capita emissions is "not a debating strategy" because it is enshrined in international agreements. "We look upon you suspiciously because you have not fulfilled what [developed countries] pledged to fulfill," he jabbed, calling it a "crisis of credibility."

The tone of the nearly one-hour meeting appeared to become less strained as Clinton acknowledged some of Ramesh's points and repeatedly stressed the United States was not trying to limit India's growth.

'We want an international agreement," Ramesh said, but whether one can be reached at a major climate summit scheduled for December in Copenhagen will depend on being creative, leveraging international technology and especially "international capital is going to be key."

Clinton emerged from the session to declare that the discussion was "very fruitful" and that she saw the potential for narrowing differences between the two countries on the contentious issue. "We have many more areas of agreement than perhaps had been appreciated," she told reporters.

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, July 20, 2009

NEW DELHI - Americans as naked gladiators?

Indians as blissful beauties?

Those were the images - exaggerated a bit for dramatic effect - that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton evoked Monday in a question-and-answer session with university students who probed her thinking on a range of topics - some personal.

It was a classic Clinton moment, engaging in what she calls public diplomacy to argue that Americans have more in common with people around the globe than is often suggested. She blamed the media - not just the news but also entertainment - for distortions.

"If Hollywood and Bollywood were how we all lived our lives, that would surprise me," she said with a tone of understatement. "And yet it's often the way our cultures are conveyed, isn't it?

"People watching a Bollywood movie in some other part of Asia think everybody in India is beautiful and they have dramatic lives and happy endings. And if you were to watch American TV and our movies you'd think that we don't wear clothes and we spend all our time fighting with each other."

The crowd roared.

Another student asked Clinton how she has managed to reconcile her policy views with those of President Barack Obama in areas in which they disagreed during last year's race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The student mentioned no examples, but one of the more widely publicized differences between the candidates was Obama's eagerness to hold talks with Iran.

"I think the campaign magnified the differences more than they actually are," she replied. "That's what happens in campaigns. I'm sure you've noticed that. You draw differences and try to make them seem extremely large in order to convince people to vote for you rather than the other person."

She went on to say she was "pleasantly surprised" when, shortly after the election, Obama asked her to become his chief diplomat.

"We talked a lot about what do we want to do and how we could set the goals and achieve our objectives," she said, acknowledging there were "maybe some differences of degree, but not necessarily difference of kind" between herself and the president.

One of the notable features of the Obama-Clinton relationship six months into his presidency is the absence, at least publicly, of divisions that many had predicted would develop between two strong personalities who so recently were fierce political rivals. Clinton told the student that she is proud to be a member of an administration that shares her goal of "positive change" in U.S. foreign relations.

The discussion got a little more personal when a student asked Clinton whether she feels that her gender kept her from winning the White House.

"As for myself, I feel very grateful that I've had the experiences that I've had," said the former first lady and former U.S. senator.

"I don't look back. I am always somebody who gets up and looks forward. But I am fueled by my commitment to making sure that we eradicate all the remaining vestiges of discrimination toward women."

Clinton opened the session with a speech praising the possibilities for closer U.S.-Indian ties. And she got personal about it.

"I have long been an admirer of India," she said. "I feel very much at home here. I eat way too much of the food at every chance I get. I have to go on a diet when I get back home — back to carrots and celery."

By ROBERT BURNS, The Associated Press, July 20, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is denying she's unhappy with her say in foreign affairs in the Obama administration.

In a nationally broadcast interview that aired Monday morning, Clinton told ABC: "I broke my elbow, not my larynx."

There has been speculation that Clinton was chafing over perceived competition in the national security area from Vice President Joe Biden, national security adviser James Jones and special envoys Geoge Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke.

But in the ABC interview, Clinton said flatly: "I couldn't be more satisfied with the amount of time I spend with the president."

Clinton has been hemmed in a bit because of the broken elbow, which she injured in a fall last month while on her way into the White House.

The Associated Press, July 20, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. stance of essentially playing down North Korea's nuclear tests is intentional.

In an ABC interview broadcast Monday from India, Clinton said, "We weren't going to give the North Koreans the satisfaction they were looking for, which was to elevate them to center stage."

She was referring to Washington's low-profile response to the most recent series of nuclear tests by Pyongyang on the Fourth of July.

Clinton said that "what we've seen is this constant demand for attention." She added that "maybe it's the mother in me, the experience I've had with small childeren and teen-agers and people who are demanding attention: Don't give it to them."

The Associated Press, July 20, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says former Philippines President Corazon Aquino "helped bring democracy back" to her country after years of authoritarian rule.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday no decision had been taken to ease some sanctions against Sudan, one day after a senior U.S. official suggested this step might help the peace process.

General Scott Gration, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told lawmakers on Thursday he did not know of any intelligence to justify Sudan remaining on a list of "state sponsors of terrorism," a designation accompanied by sanctions and restrictions on aid.

Asked whether the administration was considering such as move, Clinton replied: "We have made no decision to lift the listing on the terrorist list of Sudan."

She referred to an "intensive" review being done by the Obama administration on its policy toward Sudan. "But no decisions have been made," she stressed in a joint news conference with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister.

Gration, in his testimony to lawmakers, said U.S. sanctions against Sudan were counterproductive to efforts to bring peace to the country, recommending that Washington eventually "unwind" some sanctions against Khartoum.

The retired Air Force general's mandate is to try to sustain a 2005 peace accord that ended a two-decade civil war between Sudan's north and south and to help restore stability to the western Darfur region after years of fighting between government and rebel forces.

Asked about Gration's comments, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Sudan -- placed on the terrorism list in 1993 -- had in recent years improved its counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States.

He said this and other issues were part of the policy review of Sudan, which officials say is likely to be completed in a few weeks.

There is much debate across the Obama administration about how to deal with Sudan's government and about what is happening in the western region of Darfur, which the Bush White House had labeled as genocide.

Pressed on the Obama administration's views, Crowley avoided labeling what was happening in Darfur now as genocide and said the focus was "not on definitions."

"You know, the president (Obama) has said that what occurred in Darfur, what has taken place in Darfur, has been genocide, and we remain deeply concerned about that," he added.

"In any kind of evaluation -- and we're going through an evaluation right now -- we take stock of what has happened, we take stock of what is happening and, most importantly, we look forward. There are a number of critical, critical issues inherent in the relationship between the United States and Sudan," Crowley said.

By Sue Pleming, Reuters, July 31, 2009

MUMBAI, India - India's booming economy has turned some business executives into rock stars. So it was perhaps not surprising that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - a celebrity in her own right - would stop first in India's commercial capital for a power breakfast with bankers and billionaires.

Mrs. Clinton was to go to New Delhi on Sunday for meetings and ceremonies the next day with government leaders. But she began her visit to India, the first by a top official from the Obama administration, by discussing climate change, education and health care with private-sector potentates.

Flanked by Mukesh Ambani (estimated net worth: $19.5 billion) and Ratan Tata (estimated net worth: $1 billion), Mrs. Clinton heard ideas from seven other guests about how Indian companies could provide health care, education and banking services to India's desperately poor.

"You're so right, Ratan," Mrs. Clinton said to Mr. Tata when he explained how his Tata Group was delivering nutrients to children and young mothers through daily staples like milk. "If we could get the nutritional status of children to improve, it would solve so many problems."

The purpose of her visit, Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference on Saturday, was to "broaden and deepen" dialogue between the United States and India. Given the potential for friction in the issues that face the two countries - climate change, trade and the insurgency in Pakistan - Mrs. Clinton's visit with business leaders was more than a sidelight.

The United States is clearly hoping that Indian business will help bridge potential gaps between the two countries.

Mr. Ambani, for example, proposed that Indians and Americans work together to develop "clean technologies" that would reduce carbon emissions. The Indian government is resisting the Obama administration's push for a global treaty that would mandate cuts in carbon emissions, arguing that developing economies deserve to grow without compulsory constraints.

"Rather than argue about who has a right to pollute," Mr. Ambani said, "we will move forward to create institutions."

As the richest man in India, Mr. Ambani is influential. But he may soon face his own problems with the United States. His conglomerate, Reliance Industries, operates refineries that sell fuel to Iran. That could make him vulnerable to sanctions against Iran being proposed in Congress.

The choice of Mumbai as Mrs. Clinton's first port of call was steeped in symbolism for another reason: It offered her a platform to speak out against the coordinated terrorist attacks here last November that killed 173 people and wounded more than 300.

Mrs. Clinton told an Indian broadcaster, Times Now, that she stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, one of two hotels that had been attacked, partly as a "rebuke" of the terrorists.

Last week, she encouraged India to support Pakistan's effort to stem a radical insurgency in Pakistan, a request that may unsettle some Indians. India and the United States blamed a Pakistan-based militant group for the Mumbai attacks, and India has long complained that Pakistan is not serious enough in cracking down on militants.

Mrs. Clinton met with the hotel's general manager, who lost his wife and child in the attack, as well as other employees, before signing a condolence book.

"Just as India supported America on 9/11, these events are seared in our memory," she said at the news conference, adding that terrorism is "global, it is ruthless, it is nihilistic, and it must be stopped."

Mrs. Clinton delivered her message on an outdoor terrace at the hotel that had been littered with bloodied bodies during the siege. Just before the news conference, the Indian police urged her not to speak there for security reasons, but she resisted.

The rest of her day was devoted to two longtime interests: women's issues and education.

She visited a shop run by the Self Employed Women's Association, a cooperative of 1 million women who make and sell embroidery and other products using microfinance methods. In 1995, Mrs. Clinton visited the group as the first lady; she has stayed in touch since then.

Inevitably, some of these encounters are more successful than others. In the category of less successful was a panel discussion on education at a Jesuit college, at which Mrs. Clinton appeared with Aamir Khan, a prominent Indian film star who campaigns for better teaching.

While Mrs. Clinton offered an earnest discussion of teaching standards in Arkansas, Mr. Khan appeared to condone dropping out of school to pursue entertainment careers.

Mrs. Clinton appeared unfazed, closing with a quote from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who, she noted, "of course learned so much from Gandhi."




By Mark Landler, The New York Times, July 18, 2009

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss foreign minister is due to meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 31, just days before a deadline to reach a settlement in a damaging U.S. tax case against UBS.

Micheline Calmy-Rey told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper in an interview she would probably meet Clinton on July 31, adding she hoped that strong Swiss ties with the United States should help seal a deal for UBS soon.

"UBS employs more people in the United States than in Switzerland. Given these interests of the United States, I hope that a solution will be possible soon," she told the paper.

"Our relations are very good. That is also useful in the case of UBS," she said, pointing to Switzerland's recent mediation in the Turkish-Armenia conflict and its representation of U.S. interests in Cuba and Iran.

A foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that a meeting between Calmy-Rey and Clinton was planned for July 31 and said it would focus on "current bilateral topics and international cooperation."

A U.S. judge agreed earlier this month to delay a trial against top Swiss bank UBS to August 3 to allow the two governments to hammer out a settlement.

U.S. tax officials have accused UBS of hiding $20 billion of U.S. taxpayers' money in secret Swiss accounts and are seeking disclosure of 52,000 client names.

The Swiss government has threatened to seize UBS client data if necessary to stop the bank handing them over in breach of strict bank secrecy laws, but the Department of Justice has said any settlement must include the bank providing data on a significant number of its U.S. clients.

"For us this is not primarily about UBS. It is about Switzerland's sovereignty. We want our laws to be respected. It is also about our financial center and about jobs," Calmy-Rey said. "A solution in the UBS case must fall within Swiss law."

The Sonntagsblick newspaper cited former U.S. federal prosecutor Peter Hardy as saying the Internal Revenue Service would see it as a failure if it received less than 10,000 client names.

However, the paper also quoted John Coffee, law professor from Columbia University, as saying UBS will probably only have to hand over about 2,500 names, adding the U.S. government was only interested in the biggest tax cheats.

Earlier this year, the bank agreed to pay $780 million and to disclose around 250 U.S. client names when it settled a separate, but linked, criminal case in the United States.

UBS, which employs 27,000 people in the United States and manages more than $600 billion at its Wealth Management Americas division, is struggling to recover from the subprime crisis. It is due to report second-quarter results on August 4.

By Emma Thomasson, Reuters, July 19, 2009

Clinton Also Is Not Stopping in Pakistan

MUMBAI, India, July 18 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reached out to the full spectrum of Indian society Saturday, sharing petits fours with corporate titans, including a man building a $1 billion home, and later munching nuts with rural women who embroider clothing for just dollars a day.

Clinton, on her first full day of a three-day tour of India, also participated in a nationally televised town hall discussion on education with Bollywood star Aamir Khan and paid tribute to the more than 170 victims of a three-day terrorist siege here last November. In a rarity for a secretary of state, she is not due to meet with any Indian officials until the last day of her visit, when she hopes to announce agreements that could lead to military and nuclear deals.

Before leaving Washington, Clinton gave a speech in which she said the United States seeks to build a "multi-partner world," including contacts with nongovernmental groups and individuals that could make a difference. The trip to India, which she dubbed "a global power," is intended to be a manifestation of that approach.

Clinton, the most senior Obama administration official to visit India, is taking the unusual step of not stopping in Pakistan, India's antagonist and a longtime U.S. ally. Her predecessors almost always balanced a visit to New Delhi with a stop in Islamabad, but the Obama administration wants to demonstrate that the relationship with India stands on its own and is no longer tied to Pakistan. Even so, Indian reporters peppered Clinton with questions about Pakistan.

Even flying first to Mumbai, the financial center of India, rather than to the capital, New Delhi, sent a message. Clinton is spending two nights at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotels, the architectural landmark of Moorish, Oriental and Florentine accents that was one of the targets of the devastating terrorist attack, in what she told an Indian television network was intended as "a rebuke to the terrorists."

Shrugging off security concerns from Mumbai police, Clinton gave a news conference on an outside poolside terrace that was once scattered with bodies. Parts of the hotel are still under reconstruction; Clinton met with the business leaders in a banquet area that had been recently reopened.

Clinton also held a private ceremony with about a dozen staff members from the Taj and another hotel that was attacked, the Oberoi Trident. One of the attendees was Taj General Manager Karambir Kang, who lost his wife and two children during the attack.

"Americans share a solidarity with this city and nation," Clinton wrote in the hotel's memorial book. "Both our people have experienced the senseless and searing effects of violent extremism."

Clinton, making her first overseas trip since she broke her right elbow last month, was lively and animated all day, even during the education event, in which she sounded more like a secretary of education. Clinton tossed off statistics, such as the amount of money teachers spend on school supplies, as several of her top aides dozed in the audience.

The nine business leaders were almost evenly divided between women and men. They included Mukesh Ambani, the head of Reliance Industries, one of the world's richest men; he is building a 27-story, 400,000-square-foot house here. Clinton and the business executives animatedly discussed education, health care, micro credit and cooperation between Indian and American universities.

At one point, Ambani called for setting up joint institutions between the United States and India to develop clean technology. He noted that, with help, India could emerge at the forefront as rapidly as it embraced mobile phones.

"What we have is exactly what happened in the telecommunication revolution," he said. "Because of technology, we are able to leapfrog India to 500 million cellphones in nine years."

Clinton was so delighted with the analogy that she repeated it twice at public events during the day.

The meeting with the rural women, affiliated with the 1.1 million-member Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), was a reunion of sorts for Clinton. She became aware of the group during a trip to India as first lady in 1995. Guuribden Brahman, one of the women Clinton met 14 years ago, presented her with a deep red, hand-embroidered runner, an 80-year-old family heirloom. Brahman had received it from her mother for her wedding trousseau.

SEWA organizes poor weavers, farmers and craftsmen throughout South Asia, persuading them to save as little as a dime a month, which is pooled together to build up capital to provide micro loans for looms and other equipment. Clinton lauded the organization, saying, "We simply will not make progress in our world if we leave women behind."

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, July 19, 2009

GURGAON, India (Reuters) - An Indian official on Sunday complained about U.S. pressure on India to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged from their talks upbeat about a solution.

"There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," Jairam Ramesh, India's minister of state for environment, told Clinton in their talks.

"And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours," he added in a statement he made to Clinton in private, repeated to journalists and then handed out to the media.

The comments took some of the shine off an event that Clinton staged at a "green" building outside New Delhi to show the potential of energy-saving technologies.

The red brick building, built by India's ITC tobacco and hotels conglomerate, maximizes natural light and its glass lets in light but not heat, which respectively reduce the need for artificial light and air-conditioning.

Making her first trip to India as secretary of state, Clinton was, however, upbeat about bridging U.S.-Indian differences on how to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

"We had a very fruitful discussion today," Clinton told reporters after a one-hour discussion with Ramesh. "We have many more areas of agreement than perhaps had been appreciated."

TECHNOLOGY PACT

The United States wants big developing countries such as India and China, whose emissions are skyrocketing as their economies grow, to agree to rein them in.

Developing countries say industrial nations must curb their own pollution and provide funding to help developing nations before they are asked to set limits that could crimp their economic expansion.

Both sides appeared to be playing to the Indian domestic audience, with Clinton saying Washington did not wish to do anything that would reduce India's growth and Ramesh seeking to blunt criticism his government might concede too much.

Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, accompanied Clinton and will hold talks over the next few days with senior Indian officials.

With a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December, tackling global warming is one of the central issues on Clinton's visit to New Delhi. On Monday she will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna to discuss defense sales, nuclear power and non-proliferation.

U.S. officials expect to sign a pact to ensure that U.S. arms technology sold to India is used for its intended purposes and does not leak to third countries, a step required by U.S. law.

Such a pact would allow U.S. firms to compete for India's plan to buy 126 multi-role fighter aircraft, which would be one of the largest arms deals in the world and could be a boon to Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

The United States also hopes India will announce that it has reserved two sites for U.S. companies to build nuclear power plants, which could be worth as much as $10 billion in business for American firms.

And they want to establish a "strategic dialogue" between the two countries to be led by Clinton and Krishna, reflecting U.S. President Barack Obama's desire to strengthen ties with India.

By Arshad Mohammed, Reuters, July 19, 2009

Analysis: Secretary of State Still Finding her Way as Top Diplomat but her Political Instincts are Clearly Intact

OK, it is an artificial deadline but that hasn't stopped questions from being asked about how Hillary Rodham Clinton is doing as America's 67th secretary of state. After six months one can say in some cases it is the normal inside-the-beltway chatter, mere water cooler fodder for those who want to know who is up and who is down, especially since there is a new administration in town. However, there are those using the six month mark to ask more seriously whether Clinton has yet made any moves of consequence.

Clinton herself chose this week to take stock in what her aides billed as a major foreign policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations. She began by recalling a bit of advice given to her early on by one of her (unnamed) predecessors: "Don't try to do too much. And it seemed like a wise admonition," Clinton said, "if only it were possible."

One of the cold hard facts of Clinton's daily life is having to deal with all of the well known litany of challenges from two wars to an ongoing world-wide recession and, as she noted, "they all threaten global stability and progress."

To help manage her many problems Clinton has gone back to a familiar model because one hallmark of her State Department has been a return to diplomacy by special envoy. This marks a return to a style favored during the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton's administration and a distinctly different approach from the administration of President George W. Bush which largely shunned the use of special envoys. Virtually every major foreign policy front-burner issue has its own envoy, operating outside the normal state department bureaucratic structure. From the Middle East peace process and North Korea to Iran and Afghanistan-Pakistan Clinton has chosen to place experienced outsiders in top policy jobs. Clinton has also named envoys for climate change, women's issues and European energy problems.

Secretary Clinton has also emphasized more coordination between the diplomacy practiced by her State Department and the development efforts of the U.S. Agency for International Development which she also oversees. She speaks often of diplomacy, development and defense as the three pillars of America's national security policy. In an effort to get a better long term grasp on what is done on her watch, Clinton has instituted some new management reforms, the most ambitious of which is the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. This is taking a page from the Pentagon and is modeled on a similar process there, something she became familiar with as a senator on the Armed Services committee.

Hillary Rodham Clinton may be a diplomat now but it is no secret she is a politician at heart and, therefore, only a small surprise that in her big speech this week she took several rhetorical potshots at the recently departed Bush administration. "No doubt we lost some ground in recent years, but the damage is temporary. It's kind of like my (recently fractured) elbow-it's getting better every day." She said her aim was "a more flexible and pragmatic posture with our partners," adding "so we will not tell our partners to take it or leave it, nor will we insist that they're either with us or against us. In today's world, that's global malpractice."

If she demonstrated her political instincts are clearly intact, Clinton's rhetoric also touched on differences in policy including on the critical approach to the regime in Iran. "I believe, though, that the absence of the United States for much of the last eight years in these negotiations was a mistake. I think we outsourced our policy to Iran and, frankly, it didn't work very well. That's how I see it." For now, the Obama administration has left open the door to engagement but Clinton, who has said "the time for action is now," has also warned "The opportunity will not remain open indefinitely." How much time Mr. Obama and his secretary of state actually will give Tehran is still an open question.

Another hallmark of Clinton's early efforts include a new emphasis on issues related to climate change, to women's issues and to the inclusion of a number of rising global powers such as India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and Indonesia in America's decision making process. On her current trip to India, for example, Clinton plans to discuss a broad agenda ranging from terrorism to climate change to the perils of doing business with Iran. She will also continue her already well-established practice of meeting with women's groups and doing events related to climate change.

Meanwhile the chattering classes in Washington's political and policy circles have been busy. If Clinton is having special envoys tend to everything, what is she doing? Does the recent move of Dennis Ross from the State Department to the National Security Council mean she is not in control of Iran policy? Has she been able to find a role for herself? Most of this chatter now falls into the inconsequential category.

There is plenty of time for Clinton to assert herself which is something she must do if, at the end of the day, she is to be thought of as a strong secretary of state. And there is one more thing. Clinton is carrying out the foreign policy of her boss, President Barack Obama. Whether Washington ends up having diplomatic engagement with Tehran or ends up having to resort to force to deal with Iran's nuclear program is a decision which will not be made in Foggy Bottom.





By Charles Wolfson, CBS News, July 17, 2009