“We face an increasing threat from a well-organized network, drug-trafficking threat that is, in some cases, morphing into, or making common cause with, what we would consider an insurgency.” —Hillary Clinton, comparing the violence that’s cost 28,000 lives in Mexico since December 2006 to Colombia’s struggle against a leftist insurgency, financed by drug money, that controlled up to 40 percent of the country. Clinton’s comments mark a departure for the Obama administration. Although it typically praises authorities’ efforts in Mexico, top U.S. officials are now noting that the Mexican government does not always act on intel shared by the U.S., fueling rumors about corruption. Well, it’s been nice knowing you, Hillary Clinton. It was sweet how you tried to fix health care that one time.

Thanks New York.

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

9:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with the Assistant Secretaries, at the Department of State.

10:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, at the White House.

11:10 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with President Obama, at the White House.
(MEDIA TO BE DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

11:50 a.m. Secretary Clinton joins President Obama’s meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at the White House.

1:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton officiates at the Swearing-In Ceremony for Ambassador to Greece Dan Smith, at the Department of State.

7:30 p.m. Secretary Clinton hosts the Department of State’s annual Iftar, at the Department of State.

ISRAELI Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said his party and its allies would oppose Palestinian demands for a building freeze.

Mr Lieberman (left), chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu party, told Israeli Army Radio yesterday that building should resume as soon as the 10-month moratorium declared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expires on September 26.

He said his party would stop any government move to accept the Palestinian demands: ”Yisrael Beitenu has enough power in the government and in parliament to make sure that no such proposal succeeds.”

Mr Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week there was no change in plans to end the freeze.

Thanks The Age.

As President Obama sinks in the polls, Democrats and liberal pundits inevitably are searching for a scapegoat. The most likely victim appears to be gaffe-prone Vice President Joe Biden, who has become the focus of speculation that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just might replace him on the 2012 Democratic ticket.

Former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, his state’s first African-American governor, touched off the controversy. Writing at Politico.com last week, Mr. Wilder argued that Mr. Biden’s tenure has been undistinguished and chock full of “too many YouTube moments.” He charged that Mr. Biden “has continued to undermine what little confidence the public may have had in him.”

By way of contrast, Mr. Wilder says that Hillary Clinton has excelled in her role. “Clinton has been nothing but a team player who has earned good marks since being asked to serve as secretary of state.” Having Mrs. Clinton join the 2012 ticket, he said, would revive the Democratic Party and reestablish the party’s working-class voters who found her appealing during the 2012 primaries against Mr. Obama.

Pundits jumped on Mr. Wilder’s comments and expressed near-universal approval. On his syndicated national show, Chris Matthews of MSNBC assembled a panel to discuss the Wilder intervention. Howard Fineman of Newsweek, a longtime Hillary watcher, said Mrs. Clinton would accept a place on the 2012 ticket “in a second.” John Heilemann, a reporter New York magazine, said the major obstacle would be to “figure out a way for Biden to slide aside happily” and suggested that Mr. Biden replace Mrs. Clinton as Secretary of State.

Along the way, Mr. Heilemann outlined why President Obama just might want to have a steadier hand at his side for his re-election campaign: “The Republican attack on Obama is going to revolve around ‘too liberal,’ but also ‘too incompetent.’ . . . They’re going to say, ‘Look, you hired this guy. He was too young for this job. He didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t have the experience, and look what’s happened.’”

Hmmm. Sounds a lot like the campaign Mrs. Clinton ran against Barack Obama in 2008, complete with that infamous commercial asking voters who they wanted in the White House when a 3 a.m. crisis call came in.

Thanks Wall Street Journal.

On Friday Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the peaceful resolution of competing sovereignty claims to the South China Sea is a U.S. “national interest.” “The U.S. supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants for resolving the various territorial disputes without coercion,” she said in Hanoi during a regional security conference, the Asean Regional Forum. “We oppose the use or threat of force by any claimant.”

Beijing quickly reacted. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi characterized Clinton’s comments as “an attack on China,” and in a sense he was right. China has claimed virtually all that body of water as its own. By doing so, Beijing has said it has sovereignty over the continental shelves of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam. Most of China’s claims there are baseless, and some are ludicrous. That is perhaps why the Chinese have resorted to force to grab islands and islets from other claimants. China seized the western Paracels from Vietnam in 1974 and Mischief Reef from the Philippines in 1995.

Beijing opted for the softer approach by signing a multi-nation code of conduct in 2002. It was seen as largely succeeding in its recent efforts to gain control by preventing other claimants from banding together. China had shrewdly maintained a policy of participating in only bilateral negotiations so that it could use its heft to maximum advantage.

Yet it was nonetheless meeting resistance from nations in the region–especially Vietnam–and so it changed tack recently. When Jeffrey Bader, the top Asia official at the National Security Council, and James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state, traveled to Beijing in March, Chinese officials for the first time said the South China Sea was one of their country’s “core interests” and that they would brook no American interference there.

Beijing has tried to paint Clinton’s words as the U.S. inserting itself into the region, but that could not be further from the truth. Up until now, Washington has been largely oblivious to Chinese attempts to make the South China Sea a “Chinese lake.” It ignored Beijing’s seizure of territory and even did little to protect ExxonMobil ( XOM – news – people ) when China, in 2008, tried to intimidate the company from entering into an exploration deal with PetroVietnam, the state energy company, in the South China Sea. In adjacent areas it has done virtually nothing to prevent China’s navy from harassing Japanese warships, as it did most recently in April, and to stop Chinese submarines from regularly violating Japanese waters, which they have been doing for most of this decade.

In short, America looked like it was acceding to Chinese demands for control over the South China Sea. Beijing had overplayed its hand in recent months, however, and nations in the region were looking to oppose the Chinese. Nonetheless, all of them were seeking safety in numbers, with none wanting to aggravate Beijing by leading from the front.

Thanks Forbes.

Dare I make a prediction?

Well, of course I’ll dare – to predict that on Thursday morning, Nov. 4, after final results are in and the House of Representatives goes back to a Republican majority:

Look for further Big News.

Hillary Clinton announces her resignation as secretary of state.

And – within one week – national news is dominated with reports of the opening of HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT campaign headquarters in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Texas and California – to begin with.

How Bill Clinton’s inner circle wielded vast power to discredit and destroy his former objects of desire: “Their Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine”

This campaign will not only emphasize that it is now about time (long since!) that the White House stop being dominated only by presidents from the nation’s minority gender. She will also enlist her (now well-behaved) spouse to explain in detail how much of his untouched-by-major-recession presidency was effectively advised by the first lady.

Consider the polls which show that Mrs. Clinton’s popularity is considerably better Mr. Obama’s.

Consider Mrs. Clinton’s virtual silence during the furious debate over Obamacare as well as close Hillary ally James Carville, and how he absolutely blasted the Obamaites for mishandling the unprecedentedly massive BP Gulf-of-Mexico-befouling gigantic oil spill.

Carville also released a poll result reporting that 55 percent of the U.S. believes Obama to be a socialist.

Anyone believing that Hillary will not run against the-president-who-appointed-her-to-the-top-post-in-his-Cabinet has forgotten how many states in their primaries voted for her and against Obama – including a number that are electoral-vote heavies.

All this should lead to a Democratic National Convention that is as fascinating as that one when renominated President Jimmy Carter pursued Sen. Ted Kennedy all over the stage in a disastrously unsuccessful attempt to appear together with Teddy.

That is, unless President Obama decides that one term is enough for him.

Thanks World Net Daily.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent trip to Islamabad was met with a range of reactions, mainly that of suspicion, despite the many gifts she brought with her.

The two-day trip was aimed at bettering U.S. relations with Islamabad and to further fortify Pakistan’s cooperation in the war in Afghanistan. However, in an effort to show the relationship went beyond that, Clinton came with a number of humanitarian and economic offerings to help some of the country’s problems. This included a promise of $500 million in economic aid for such projects such as clean drinking water and the building of hydroelectric dams and hospitals. The secretary of state also launched a trade agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan that has taken some 45 years to come into fruition.

She told the Pakistanis: “We know that there is some questioning, even suspicion, about what the United States is doing today and I can only respond by saying that very clearly we have a commitment that is much broader and deeper than it has ever been.”
Her comments were bolstered by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who said “…we are focusing all projects, all sectors that would make a qualitative difference in lives of ordinary Pakistanis, so they understand that this relationship is beyond security, this is a relationship that improves our purchasing power, our quality of life, and then the different message is understood.”

Read story: Tension with Pakistan on display as Clinton visits

On the ground, however, such acts of kindness were not appreciated. On the second day of Clinton’s visit the front cover of Pakistan’s The Nation had a piece that read: “We are told she has come with a $500 million aid package and apparently the aid will go into power, agriculture, health and dams also – but as we all know for the Americans there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ – and already our country is bleeding because of the alliance with the US so we are going to be bled some more with this aid package.”

America had a great following here more than 50 years ago. The skepticism seen now is a result of past conflicts and changes in American foreign policy over the years. The bitterness is also, in part, a remnant from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, when America discarded Pakistan after seeking its help to defeat the Russians. This has been fueled further since the start of the war in Afghanistan, when America was once again back, enjoying the support of Gen. Musharraf. Pakistanis feel that they are constantly used and then abandoned by the U.S.

Ibtassim Abassi, a journalism student, said Clinton “is here for her own problems, not for Pakistan, they use Pakistan to reduce their own problems.” His contention was that the main objective of her trip was to win the war in Afghanistan.

To Abed Hussain, the aid was not enough and he felt that his government was being manipulated. “The help they are extending is very inadequate, very insufficient, that is not sufficient for us to remove poverty or unemployment… our leadership is not so courageous and not so brave … I don’t think they are able to get the benefits of the visit of Hillary Clinton.”

Sentiment on the street was similar among most of the people with whom we spoke: It was unrealistic to expect a change in public opinion so soon as a result of these new initiatives brought in by Clinton.

This new strategy may take a while to sink in; perhaps the motives of America may be convincing if the projects are demonstrated to be a success. The conflicts and differences of opinion over the last few decades still appear to be fresh in the Pakistanis’ minds and overshadow any gesture offered.

Thanks MSNBC.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she discussed with her Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari “at great length” the status of the formation of the Iraqi government, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

Following her meeting with Zebari, Clinton told reporters that they discussed “the critical need for Iraq’s political leaders to continue the hard work necessary to form a proportionate and inclusive government that represents the voices of Iraq’s diverse communities and can deliver on the promise of democracy.” She affirmed that “more is needed from everyone involved.” Clinton stressed “the United States expresses no preference for the outcome in the government formation, but we share a sense of urgency” in order to resolve this matter, adding “we are concerned by the delay.” “So we urge the leaders of Iraq to reach an agreement and to put their personal interests behind the national interest,” she noted.

“Therefore anything the United States can do we stand ready to do, in order to encourage the government formation as soon as possible,” she remarked.

For his part, Zebari told reporters there has been “some delays” in the forming of an Iraqi government but that “eventually I think a government will emerge.” He affirmed that “we are doing our best in fact to do that, in order to avoid any constitutional governmental vacuum.” “I think the people are aware of the urgency. We as Iraqis also feel a sense of urgency,” he stressed.

“We are confident we will overcome. And we will form our next government,” he added.

Thanks Saba Net.

SECRETARY OF STATE Hillary Rodham Clinton spent the holiday weekend on what might be described as a makeup tour. In Central Europe and in the Caucasus, she visited countries that the Obama administration has been accused of ignoring or undervaluing as it has sought to “reset” relations with Russia. Along the way, she delivered a speech on a cause — democracy promotion — that the administration, and Ms. Clinton herself, have also appeared to play down.

During her weekend swing through the former Soviet region Hillary Clinton pushed almost all of the buttons that, just a couple of years ago, would have had the Kremlin seeing red and sputtering with rage.

But the Russian reaction this time? Astoundingly calm, even muted.

Barely a year after presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev began a controversial “reset” of the volatile relationship between the two former superpowers, experts say that Russian leaders see Obama as the best possible US partner for Moscow and they don’t want to say anything that could undermine him.

“We understand that the Obama administration has to save face [in the former Soviet Union] and head off its domestic critics on the right,” says Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee. “Under the previous administration, the US took positions that are hard to back away from. But it’s mostly just words.”

Missile defense in Poland?

The Bush era plan to establish a missile defense system in Poland angered the Kremlin, and even after Obama shelved it last year the Russians were still voicing deep suspicions about US intentions. But Ms. Clinton signed a deal on Saturday to station S-3 interceptor missiles on Polish soil starting in 2015, and there was barely a peep out of Moscow.

Indeed, Mr. Medvedev sent a warm Independence Day greeting to Obama that made no mention of the missile defense scheme at all.

“Constructive and good-neighborly relations between Russia and the USA” serves our mutual interests, he said. “In such circumstances, any attempts to belittle the importance of the agreements we reach or hinder our consistent efforts as partners have no future and are doomed to fail.”

NATO expansion?

Expansion of NATO into the ex-Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia appears increasingly unlikely after the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia and the sharp pro-Moscow turn in Ukraine’s leadership. Yet Clinton made a point of telling both Ukrainians and Georgians during her five-nation tour that “the door to NATO remains open.”

But according to Mr. Klimov, “Clinton knows times have changed, and there’s a totally different situation in the world now… She has a difficult task to perform, and why should we make it harder for her?”

In Georgia, Clinton slammed Medvedev’s assertion that the former Soviet Union constitutes a “zone of privileged interests” in which Russia has a right to maintain its hegemony.

“The United States is steadfast in its commitment to Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she said. “The United States does not recognize spheres of influence.”

She praised the Kremlin’s arch-foe, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose supporters won a thumping victory in regional elections last month, and slammed what she called Russia’s “invasion and ongoing occupation” of the Moscow-backed breakaway statelets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

That comment, at least, brought a mild rebuke from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who told journalists Tuesday that “while some think South Ossetia is occupied, others think it is liberated.”

Kremlin shows restraint

Experts say the Kremlin has been a model of restraint in the face of all this because it believes the Obama administration is going through the motions of reiterating Bush-era rhetorical positions, while going ahead full-steam to improve relations with Moscow.

“In every capital she visited, Clinton herself repeated that the US is committed to the reset of ties with Russia,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading Moscow-based foreign policy journal.

“In Moscow they see the Clinton visit [to Russia's fringes] as a way of responding to domestic conservative criticism, to show that Obama doesn’t have a Russia-only policy,” he says. “So these words of Clinton’s are met with understanding here. Russian leaders believe Obama is the best possible counterpart to have in Washington, and they don’t want to do anything to undermine him.”

Thanks Christian Science Moniter.

AJC welcomed the announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of a $15 million contribution to assist with the preservation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

“We warmly thank Secretary Clinton for announcing this generous contribution, which will ensure the upkeep of the Auschwitz site,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “If the memory and the lessons of the Holocaust are to be transmitted to future generations, it is vital that resources are available to maintain those sites where the Nazis carried out their slaughter.”

A number of buildings and other key features of the Auschwitz site are in poor condition and require repair. Announcing the U.S. contribution, Secretary Clinton said the funds “will help preserve the camp so that future generations can see for themselves why the world must never again allow a place of such hatred to scar the soul of humankind.”

Thanks PR News Wire.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nancy Pelosi claiming up-front seats at the James Taylor/Carole King show at Verizon Center on Wednesday night. The House speaker’s face was flashed on the Jumbotron; the secretary of state left before the encore. Other power Dems in the vicinity: Ed Markey and Barbara Mikulski.

Thanks Washington Post.