Hillary Clinton served as the 67th State Minister of the United States, under President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2013, overseeing the department that runs Barack Obama's Foreign Policy.
He was preceded at the office by Condoleezza Rice, and was replaced by John Kerry. He is also the only former First Lady of the United States who is a member of the United States Cabinet.
Video Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State
Nomination and confirmation
Within a week after November 4, 2008, presidential elections, President-elect Obama and Clinton discussed over the phone the possibility of him serving as US Secretary of State in his government. Clinton later recounted, "He said I want you to be my state secretary, and I said, 'Oh, no, you do not.' I said, 'Oh, please, there are many other people who can do this.' "Clinton initially changed Obama, but he persisted. Several Democratic senators welcomed his idea of ​​leaving, after allying with Obama during the campaign, and believing that Clinton had risked party divisions by keeping his nomination so long.
Obama and Clinton held a meeting on the issue on 11 November. When that possibility became public on November 14th, it happened as a surprising and dramatic move, especially considering the long, sometimes fierce battle of two had been waged during the primaries of the Democratic presidential election in 2008. Obama specifically criticized the credibility of Clinton's foreign policy during the contest, and the initial idea he points to has been so unexpected that he has told one of his own maids, "Not in a million years." However, it has been reported that Obama has been thinking of the idea as far as the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Despite the aggressiveness of the campaign and the inherent animosity between the two campaign staff, as with many major battles, political differences between candidates have never been so great, the two rivals reportedly respected each other to each other, and he has campaigned for him in the general election.
Clinton's considerations were seen as Obama who wanted to gather a "rival team" in his government, ÃÆ' la Abraham Lincoln. The notion of competing successful collaborators also found application in other fields, such as George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in relation to Operation Overlord during World War II and Indra Nooyi defending his rival to CEO at Pepsico. At the same time, that choice gave Obama a confident image.
Clinton is in conflict whether he wants to take a position or stay in the Senate, and suffer for his decision. While the Senate leadership has discussed the possibility of leadership positions or other promotions corresponding to it even before the cabinet positions become probable, nothing concrete is offered. The prospect of a Senate Majority Leader looked bleak. The different complications are Bill Clinton; he told Obama: "There's one last thing that matters, my husband, you've seen what it looks like, it's going to be a circus if I take this job", referring to the volatile effects Bill Clinton had made during the preliminary election. In addition, there are particular concerns whether the financial and other involvement of post-president Bill Clinton's activities will violate the rules of conflict of interest to serve cabinet members. There is considerable media speculation about what effect positions take on his political career and possible future presidential aspirations. Clinton hesitated over the offer, but because he then got in touch, "But, you know, we keep talking." I finally start thinking, look, if I win and I call him I'll want him to say yes And you know, I am quite old-fashioned, and only who I am.So in the end, when your president asks you to serve, you say yes, if you can. "United States Protocol Chief Capricia Penavic Marshall, who has known Clinton since the days of First Lady confirms the same reason: "When asked to serve, he did it, and the president asked."
On Nov. 21, reports indicate that Clinton has accepted the position. On December 1, President-elect Obama officially announced that Clinton would be a candidate for the Secretary of State. Clinton said he was reluctant to leave the Senate, but the new position represents "a difficult and exciting adventure". As part of the nomination, Bill Clinton agreed to accept a number of conditions and restrictions on ongoing activities and fundraising efforts for the Clinton Presidential Center and the Clinton Global Initiative.
The appointment required a revision of Saxbe, which was ratified and signed into law in December 2008 before the confirmation hearing began. The confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee began on January 13, 2009, a week before Obama's inauguration. Clinton stated during a confirmation hearing that he believed that "the best way to advance American interests in reducing global threats and seize global opportunities is to design and implement global solutions" and "We must use so-called 'intelligent forces', full of tools which we have - diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural - choose the right tool or combination of tools for every situation.With intelligent power, diplomacy will be the pioneer of our foreign policy.
On January 15, the Committee voted 16-1 to approve of Clinton. Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana is the only person who disagrees on the committee. At the moment, Clinton's unfavorable/unprofitable public rankings have reached 65%, the highest point in his public career since the Lewinsky scandal during his tenure as First Lady, and 71% of the public approved the nomination to the cabinet.
Even before taking office, Clinton worked with Bush administration officials in assessing national security issues. The night before the inauguration of the new president, a contingency plan against a plot supposedly by Somali extremists against Obama and the inauguration is being discussed. Clinton argues that a typical security response can not be sustained: "Will the Secret Service drive him out of the podium so that Americans see the disappearing president in the middle of an inaugural speech?" I do not think so. " (The threat was not there.)
On January 21, 2009, Clinton was confirmed in the full Senate with a 94-2 vote. Vitter and Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina voted against the confirmation.
Clinton took the oath of Secretary of State on the same day. Just before being sworn in as Secretary of State, Clinton resigned from his effective Senate seat just hours before his oath as Foreign Secretary. He became the first former First Lady to serve in the United States Cabinet. He also became the first Secretary of State who had previously been an elected official since Edmund Muskie's less than a year of duty in 1980, with Christian Herter during Eisenhower's reign being the last before that. In elected by Obama's official rival, he became the fourth man in a hundred years before to join the cabinet of someone they championed for their party presidential nomination of the election year (Jack Kemp fought and was later elected by George HW Bush to HUD Secretary in 1988, George W. Romney by Richard Nixon for the HUD Secretary in 1968, and Philander Knox by William Howard Taft for the Secretary of State in 1908 preceding him, Obama chose Tom Vilsack for the Secretary of Agriculture following him a few weeks later to be the next such person).
(On January 29, 2009, the constitutionality of his Saxbe slavery was challenged in court by Judicial Watch; on 30 October 2009, the court overturned the case.)
Maps Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State
Staff
During Obama's presidential transition, Clinton described his transition as "difficult... in some ways, because [he] never dreamed of it." Later, and in the early days of his tenure, there was a lot of work within the department among those in Hillaryland, his advisory circle and his staff aide, and others he had worked with in the past, with not much work like that want them. Obama gave Clinton more freedom to choose his staff than he did to other cabinet members.
Former Clinton campaign manager, Maggie Williams, handles staff recruitment process. The old counsel for both Clintons Cheryl Mills served as Secretary Counselor and Chief of Staff. James B. Steinberg was appointed Deputy Secretary of State. Jacob "Jack" Lew, after Director Bill Clinton of the Office of Management and Budget, was appointed Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, a new position. This is an unusual step intended by Hillary Clinton to push forward the emphasis on higher budget allocations from Congress and facing internal work. Anne-Marie Slaughter was appointed as the Director of Policy Planning with a view towards long-term policy towards Asia. Huma Abedin, Clinton's longtime personal assistant, is the Deputy Chief of Staff for the secretary and remains a key member of Clinton's operations.
Just as he did early in his Senate career, Clinton remained low during the early months and worked hard to familiarize himself with the institutional culture and history of the department. He meets or talks with all the former secretaries who are still alive, and mainly relies on his close friendship with Madeleine Albright.
Early in his tenure, Obama and Clinton announced several high profile special envoys to troubled places in the world, including former Majority Senate Leader George Mitchell as Middle East envoy and Richard Holbrooke as envoys to South Asia and Afghanistan. On January 27, 2009, Clinton's Minister of Foreign Affairs appointed Todd Stern as the Department's Special Envoy on Climate Change.
In May 2009, Clinton and the Obama administration intend to nominate Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, as Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), but in August 2009 his candidacy was reportedly convicted by the White House. for unknown reasons. This led to Clinton, while visiting USAID, to publicly criticize the lengthy process of examination for the appointment of the administration which referred to it as "nightmare" and "frustration beyond words." In November 2009, unconventional choices were nominated instead, Rajiv Shah, Young Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics. Clinton said, "He has a record of delivering good results in the private and public sectors, forging partnerships around the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and developing innovative solutions in global health, agriculture, and financial services for the poor.
Despite some early press predictions, the Clinton department's general staff has avoided the kind of leaks and disputes that plagued the presidential campaign in 2008. One possible line of internal tension was solved in early 2011 when State Department spokesman PJ Crowley resigned after making comments personal information about the incarceration, Chelsea Manning and his treatment by the Department of Defense. In another change, Jacob Lew went in late 2010 to join the White House as Office of Management and Budget and was replaced as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources by Thomas R. Nides (Lew would eventually become White House Chief of Staff and then election of the Minister of Finance US for Obama's second term), and Steinberg left in mid-2011 and was replaced as Deputy Secretary by career diplomat William J. Burns.
Initial themes and structural initiatives
During the transition, Clinton tried to build a stronger State Department. He began to push for a larger international affairs budget and an expanded role in the global economic problems. He mentioned the need for increased US diplomatic presence, especially in Iraq where the US Department of Defense has conducted a diplomatic mission. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed with him, and also advocated a larger State Department budget. Indeed, both, and their respective departments, will have a productive relationship, unlike the often-full relationship between State and Defense and their secretaries seen in the previous administration.
In the proposed Obama administration of the United States federal budget 2010 February 2009, there was a proposed 9.5 percent budget increase for the Foreign Affairs Department and other international programs, from $ 47.2 billion in fiscal 2009 to $ 51.7 billion in fiscal 2010 By the time of Clinton's testimony in May 2009 before the US Senate Senate on Human Rights on State, Overseas Operations and Related Programs, the amount has been restated after the round of general federal budget cuts, and the proposed fiscal year 2010 budget for the Department of Foreign Affairs and USAID is $ 48.6 billion, a 7% increase. That's the amount of increase you get.
Clinton also brings a message of departmental reform to that position, especially in relation to the overseas aid program as something that deserves the same status and level of supervision as a diplomatic initiative.
Clinton spent his first days as Secretary of State calling dozens of world leaders. He said the world was eager to see the new American foreign policy and that, "There are big breaths going on around the world, we have a lot of damage to fix." He pointed out that not every past policy would be rejected, and specifically said it is important that the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program continue. Clinton again emphasized his views during his first speech to State Department employees when he said, "There are three legs to the bench of American foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development and we are responsible for two of the three legs, and we will clarify, when we move forward, diplomacy and development is an important tool in achieving the long-term goals of the United States and I will do everything I can, work with you, to make it very clear that strong diplomacy and effective development are the best long-term tool to secure America's future. "Clinton also immediately visited the United States Agency for International Development, where he met with employees and said they would get additional funding and attention during the new government.
He remains uninterested when diplomatic needs or Obama's involvement requires him, but maintains an influential relationship with the president and foreign policy decisions. His first 100 days found him traveling more than 70,000 miles (110,000 km), no difficulty adapting to being a subordinate of Obama's team player, and gaining skills as an executive. Nevertheless, he remains an international celebrity with a much higher profile than most of the Secretary of State. His background as an elected official gave his views on the needs and fears of elected officials from other countries.
In the summer of 2009, there was much analysis and speculation in the media about what role and level of influence Clinton had in the Obama administration, with the resulting ratings. An important July mid-July address to the Council on Foreign Relations reaffirmed its role; he said, "We should not be afraid or unwilling to get involved.Our focus on diplomacy and development is not an alternative to our national security warehouse."
In July 2009, Clinton announced a new State Department initiative, Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, to set specific goals for the Department's overseas diplomatic mission abroad. The most ambitious of the Clinton department reforms, modeled after the Quadrennial Defense Department Review of Defense, known by Clinton from his days on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The first such review came out in December 2010. Titled Lead Through Civil Power , its 220 pages center on the idea of ​​raising "civil power" as a cost-effective way of responding to international challenges and taming the crisis.. It is also seeking an increase in US ambassadors in coordinating the work of all US agencies assigned abroad. Clinton said of the underlying message, "Leading with civilians saves lives and money." He also decided to make Congress approved QDDR as a necessary part of the State Department planning process, saying, "I decided that this report would not only gather dust, like so many others." Another theme of this report is the goal of empowering the population of women in developing countries around the world; QDDR mentions women and girls about 133 times. This section reflects the incorporation into QDDR from Hillary Doctrine, which stipulates that women's rights and violence against women around the world should be regarded as a matter of national security to the United States. In addition, by trying to institutionalize its objectives in this field, Clinton - along with Anne-Marie Slaughter and Melanne Verveer, who also worked hard on this effort - hopes that his initiative and concern for women's empowerment will last beyond Clinton. in the office and break the pattern of chauvinism in the department.
In September, Clinton launched the Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative at her husband's annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting. The goal of this new initiative is to fight global hunger strategically as an important part of US foreign policy, rather than simply reacting to food shortage emergencies as they occur. The secretary said that "Food safety is not just about food but it's all about security: economic security, environmental security, even national security." Massive massif poses a threat to the stability of government, society and borders. The initiative aims to develop the agricultural economy, fight malnutrition, increase productivity, expand trade, and spur innovation in developing countries. Clinton said that women will be placed in the center of efforts, because they constitute the majority of the world's peasants. The following month, to mark World Food Day, Clinton said, "Fighting hunger and poverty through sustainable agricultural development, ensuring that enough food is available and people have the resources to buy it, is the key policy objective of the Obama administration."
During October 2009, Clinton said, "this is a great job, it's a 24/7 job" and "this work is incredible." He said he never thought if he made the same foreign policy decisions as president, and did not intend to run for the job again. While some friends and former advisors think he mainly said that to focus on his current role and that he might change his mind about running for president in the future, others feel that he is completely satisfied with the direction his career and life have taken and no longer has presidential ambitions.
By the end of 2009 there were 25 women ambassadors sent by other countries to Washington; this is the highest number ever. This is dubbed "Hillary effect" by some observers: "Hillary Clinton is very visible" as the state secretary, said Amelia Matos Sumbana, Ambassador of Mozambique to the United States, "she made it easier for presidents to choose a woman for Washington." Additional facts, only, is that the other two US Secretaries are women, but Clinton's international fame of his days as First Lady of the United States makes its impact on this the greatest of the group.
Clinton is also included in the State Department budget for the first time detailing programs that are particularly concerned with the welfare of women and girls around the world. In fiscal year 2012, the department's budget request for the work is $ 1.2 billion, of which $ 832 million is for a global health program. In addition, he started the Women's Public Service Project, a joint venture between the State Department and the Seven Sisters college. The aim is to attract more women into public services, so within four decades the number of equal men and women will work in the field.
One specific cause Hillary echoed almost from the beginning of her tenure was adoption of cooking stoves in developing countries, to encourage cleaner and more environmentally friendly food preparations and reduce the danger of smoke for women. In September 2010, he announced a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to provide about 100 million furnaces worldwide within the next ten years, and in the subsequent journey he urged foreign leaders to adopt policies that encourage their use.
In February 2010 testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on State Allocation, Overseas Operations, and Related Programs, Clinton Secretary complained about the slow rate of confirmation of Obama's Senate nomination for diplomatic positions, a number of which were delayed for political reasons and have been imposed owned by each Republican senator. Clinton said the problem damaged America's image abroad: "It's getting harder to explain it to countries, especially important countries, why we do not have the right position for them to interact."
In 2009, and again in 2010 and 2011, Clinton declared that he was committed to serving his term as secretary, but would not commit to serving a second term if Obama was re-elected.
He then uses US allies and what he calls "power-raising" to help keep Libyan rebels united as they eventually overthrow the Gaddafi regime.
During his tenure, Clinton has looked toward "intelligent power" as a strategy to assert US leadership and values, combining military forces with US capacity in the fields of global economy, development aid, and technology. At the end of 2011 he said, "All forces have limits, In a much more multipolar and multipolar world we can not wave a wand and say to China or Brazil or India, 'Stop growing, Stop using your economy to assert power'... It is up to us to find out how we position ourselves to be as effective as possible at different times in the face of various threats and opportunities. "
Clinton also greatly expanded the use of social media by the Department of Foreign Affairs, including Facebook and Twitter, both to convey his message and to help empower people vis ÃÆ' through their rulers. Clinton said, "We are in the age of participation, and the challenge... is to figure out how to be responsive, to help catalyze, release, channel the types of participatory participation that exist." He has tried to institutionalize this change, by making social media a focus for overseas official and up to ambassador level. (Another Clinton Initiative runs just outside his office and is at risk of disappearing after he leaves office.) By the end of 2011, the department has 288 Facebook accounts and 192 Twitter feeds. The change was enough for his daughter, Chelsea Clinton to refer to the secretary as "TechnoMom".
Issues and regional travel: 2009
In February 2009, Clinton made his first trip as secretary to Asia, visiting Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, and China on what he described as a "listening tour" that "is meant to really find the way forward." She continued to travel in the first months of her office, often getting a very enthusiastic response by involving the locals.
In early March 2009, Clinton made his first journey as an Israeli secretary. During this time, Clinton announced that the US government would send two officials to the Syrian capital to explore Washington's relationship with Damascus. On March 5, Clinton attended a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. At this meeting, Clinton proposed including Iran at a conference on Afghanistan. Clinton said the proposed conference could be held on March 31 in the Netherlands. On March 6, photo-op with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov intends to demonstrate that the US and Russia are pressing a "reset" button on their relationship, in an attempt to restore tense relationships, to a slightly chaotic due to mistranslation. (The word the Americans choose, "peregruzka", means "overloaded" or "overcharged", rather than "reset".) The episode is known as a Russian reset.
During March 2009, Clinton won over Vice President Joe Biden on the internal debate to send an additional 20,000 troops to Afghanistan.
In June 2009, Clinton underwent an operation to correct a right elbow fracture caused by a fall in the Foreign Ministry's basement. His painful injury and healing made him lose two overseas trips. Nevertheless, during President Obama's trip without him to Russia, Clinton is named as co-coordinator, along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, from the newly created US-Russian Presidential Commission to discuss nuclear, economic, and energy and environmental policies related to two countries.
Clinton returned to diplomatic venues and responded to the ongoing Honduras 2009 constitutional crisis, in which the fourth vote plot referendum of Honduras has led to the 2009 Honduras coup, and which became the worst political crisis in Latin America in some countries. year. In early July, he sat with the ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who approved a US-backed proposal to begin talks with de facto government Roberto Micheletti. Then, in September, Zelaya returned to the country, and Costa Rican President Arias, who had been a mediator on the issue, and Clinton expressed hope that Zelaya's return could break the deadlock with the Micheletti government. In particular, Clinton said, "Now President Zelaya will again be better to return him to his position in the appropriate circumstances - resuming elections that are currently scheduled for November, have a peaceful transition from the presidential authority and get Honduras back for a constitutional and democratic order. "In late October, Clinton took a leading role in convincing Micheletti to accept a deal - what he called a" historic deal "- in which Zelaya will return to power before elections in which the two figures are not running. Micheletti said Clinton had insisted on this point: "I kept trying to explain our position to him, but everything he said was, 'Restitution, restoration, restitution.'" The deal failed, despite efforts by the State Department to revive, and Clinton and the United States finally supported the 2009 Honduran election winner, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, with Clinton characterizing the elections as "free and fair" and Lobo as holding a strong commitment to democracy and constitutional law.
Clinton chaired the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington, D.C. on 27-28 July 2009 and lead the Strategic Path for the United States.
In August 2009, Clinton began his longest journey, to a number of stops in Africa. On August 10, 2009, at a public event in Kinshasa, a Congolese student asked what her husband, "Clinton", was thinking about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Clinton looked annoyed at the question and replied, "Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of the state, I. So you ask me my opinion, I'll tell you my opinion. my husband. "The incident was played in editorial rooms around the world. His aides said that there might be a mistranslation, but that was not the case; but the student then apologized to him, saying that he intended to ask what was the thought of "Mr. Obama".
In October 2009, Clinton's intervention - including conjuring up conversations on two mobile phones while sitting in the limousine - overcame last minute barriers and rescued the signing of a historic Turkish-Armenian agreement that established diplomatic ties and opened the border between the country's two old enemies.
In late October 2009, Clinton traveled to Pakistan, where he had made an impressive visit in 1995 while the First Lady. His arrival followed several hours after the October 28, 2009 Peshawar bombing; In response, Hillary said of those in charge, "They know they are on the losing side of history but they are determined to take many souls with them because their movement is finally exposed to that empty and nihilistic enterprise." In addition to meeting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, he also held many public appearances. In that case, he lets students, talk show hosts, and tribal elders repeatedly complain and criticize American foreign policy and American action. Sometimes, he pushed back a more brutal way than usual for diplomats, explicitly wondering why Pakistan is no more successful in fighting Al Qaeda "if they want." Member of Parliament and government spokesman Farahnaz Ispahani said, "In the past, when America came, they would talk to the generals and go home, Clinton's willingness to meet everyone, hostile or otherwise, made a big impression - and because he was Hillary Clinton , with a real history of proximity to this country, it is very meaningful. "
On the same trip, Clinton visited the Middle East, in an effort to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
In November 2009, the Clinton Secretary led the US delegation at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. There, he said: "Our history does not end on the night when the wall collapses, it begins again... To expand freedom to more people, we can not accept that freedom belongs to no people We can not allow oppression to be defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace ideology. "
In December 2009, Clinton attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, where he pushed the recent proposal of a significant amount of significant new foreign aid to help developing countries deal with the effects of global warming, in an effort to release stalled negotiations and saved some sort of agreement at the conference. The secretary said, "We are running out of time, without an agreement, the opportunity to mobilize significant resources to help developing countries with mitigation and adaptation will be lost." The amount of aid he proposes, $ 100 billion, is in the simplest form of the Copenhagen Accord agreed upon by the Summit.
Secretary Clinton ended the year with a very high approval rating. He also narrowly excluded former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the most admired woman in America, based on Gallup's findings.
Regional Regional issues and journeys: 2010
In January 2010, Clinton Secretary shortened trips to the Asia-Pacific region to see first hand the devastating impact of the 2010 Haiti quake and to meet with Haitian President RenÃÆ'Â Ã © PrÃÆ'Â Â Val. Clinton said he would also evaluate relief efforts and help evacuate some Americans. He stressed that his visit was designed not to disrupt the ongoing effort: "It's a race against time, everyone is pushing as hard as they can." Clintons had a special interest in Haiti for decades, for their delayed honeymoon there until Bill Clinton became the United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti during the earthquake.
In a major speech on January 21, 2010, Clinton, speaking on behalf of the US, stated that "We stand for an Internet where all human beings have equal access to knowledge and ideas", while highlighting how "even in authoritarian states, networks information helps people discover new facts and make governments more accountable. "He also drew the analogy between the Iron Curtain and the free and non-free Internet. His speech, which follows the controversy surrounding Google's changing policy towards China and censorship, seems to mark a split between authoritarian capitalism and Western models of free capitalism and Internet access. Chinese officials responded loudly, saying Clinton's statement was "harmful to China-American relations" and demanded US officials "respect the truth", and some foreign policy observers thought Clinton was too provocative. But the White House stands behind Clinton, and has demanded China give better answers about China's recent cyber attacks against Google. Clinton's speech garnered noticeable attention among diplomats, as this is the first time a senior US official has clearly put forward a vision of where the Internet is a key element of American foreign policy.
In early 2010, the Obama administration's efforts to forge new relations with Iran have failed to progress, and the United States adopted a policy of adopting international sanctions against it and diplomatically isolating it to reduce the country's nuclear program. This is a policy more in line with Clinton's thinking and back to the disagreements that he and Obama had during the 2008 presidential campaign. Clinton was assigned to rally support in the United Nations for these sanctions and spend much time over the next few months and years. Clinton sometimes proposes a possible military action against Iran if economic and diplomatic action fails to prevent it from its nuclear ambitions.
In February 2010, Clinton made his first visit to Latin America as secretary. The tour will take him to Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica and Guatemala and Argentina. He first visited Buenos Aires and spoke with Argentine President Cristina FernÃÆ'¡ndez de Kirchner. They discussed the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and the oil problem in the Falklands. Clinton said that "We want to see Argentina and the United Kingdom sit down and solve problems among them across the table in a peaceful and productive way." Clinton offered to help facilitate such discussions, but disagreed with Argentina's request that he mediate such talks. Within 12 hours of Clinton's declaration, Downing Street firmly rejected the US role: "We welcome the support of the secretary of state in ensuring that we continue to keep diplomatic channels open but not [direct involvement]." Clinton then proceeded to Santiago, Chile to witness the continued impact of the Chile earthquake of 2010 and bring some telecommunications equipment to aid the rescue and recovery efforts.
In April 2010, there was a confusion of speculation that Clinton would be nominated to the US Supreme Court to fill the void created by the retirement of John Paul Stevens, including a plug from the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Orrin Hatch. The idea was quickly overturned by the White House, which said, "The president thinks that Clinton's minister does an extraordinary job as secretary of state and wants him to remain in that position." A State Department spokesman said Clinton "loves her current job and is not looking for another job."
In mid-2010, Clinton and Obama clearly had established a good working relationship without a power struggle; He is a team player in the administration and a human rights defender outside, and is careful to make sure that neither he nor her husband will hit her anymore. He in turn adjusts to his point of view and in some cases adopts some of his more hawkish approaches. He meets him every week but has no close and daily relationships that some of his predecessors have with their presidents, such as Condoleezza Rice with George W. Bush, James Baker with George H. W. Bush, or Henry Kissinger with Richard Nixon. Nevertheless, he has faith in his actions.
During an early June 2010 visit to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, Clinton handled questions at every stop of the recently passed and highly controversial Arizona SB 10 immigration immigration law, damaging the US image in Latin America. When answering a question from a local television reporter in Quito about it, he said that President Obama was against it and that "the Department of Justice, under his direction, will bring a lawsuit against it." This is the first public confirmation that the Department of Justice will act against the law; a month later, became official as a lawsuit United States v. Arizona . While at a hotel bar in Lima, he completed an agreement with a Chinese representative in which the company could be specified in a UN resolution that approved Iran's nuclear program. Returning to SB 1070, in August 2010 he submitted a dispute about it in a report to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as an example to other countries on how cracking problems can be solved under the rule of law.
In July 2010, Clinton visited Pakistan for the second time as secretary, announcing a huge new US economic aid package to the country as well as a US-led bilateral trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He then traveled to Afghanistan for the Kabul Conference on the situation there, where President Hamid Karzai vowed to carry out promising political, political and economic reforms promising in exchange for a sustained West commitment there. Clinton said that despite the US withdrawals scheduled there in 2011, the US "has no intention of abandoning our long-term mission to reach a stable, secure, and peaceful Afghanistan." Too many countries - especially Afghanistan - have suffered too much harm to see this "He then went to Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone of Korea where he and Defense Minister Robert Gates met with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-young in '2 2 meetings' to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. There he said that the US experience of living in Korea for decades has brought about successful results, which may also apply to Afghanistan. Finally, he went to Hanoi, Vietnam, for the ASEAN Regional Forum, closing the so-called "exhausting journey that amounted to American war tours, past and present". There he injected the United States into a prolonged dispute over the sovereignty of the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, much to the displeasure of the Chinese who regard the South China Sea as part of their core interests, saying "the United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation, opening access to the maritime territory Asia and respect international law in the South China Sea. "
At this time, Clinton's Secretary was quite busy with another similar role, "M.O.T.B." as he wrote in the State Department memo, referring to him being the mother of the bride to her daughter Chelsea Clinton on July 31, 2010, marriage to Marc Mezvinsky. He confessed in an interview in Islamabad less than two weeks before the wedding that he and her husband were both nervous, and that "you have to assume that if he makes it in the passage in one piece it will be a great achievement.He will become very emotional, like me. "The show itself gained a lot of media attention.
In a September 2010 speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton emphasized the continued virtue of American power and involvement in the world, declaring "a new moment of America". Making reference to the actions of reviving Middle East talks with US aid after the 2010 Pakistan floods, Clinton said that "The world relies on us" and that "After years of war and uncertainty, people are wondering what the future is, at home and abroad, so let me say it clearly: The United States can, should, and will lead in this new century. "
With Democrats facing possible big losses in mid-2010 elections and President Obama fighting in polls, empty speculation among Washington media about Obama's chances in the 2012 presidential election led to the idea that Clinton will take over as Obama's vice president in 2012 to add to his electoral appeal. Several versions of this idea have Vice President Biden succeed him as Secretary of State if Obama wins. That it will happen is impossible, but it does not stop the chat; when the idea of ​​a job exchange was mentioned publicly to Clinton, he smiled and shook his head. A few months later, Obama shot down the idea, saying the idea was "completely unfounded" and that "they both did an outstanding job where they were." (In late 2011, however, with Obama's popularity in decline, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley conducted a research into Clinton's idea of ​​replacing Biden, but the idea was dropped when the results showed no significant improvement for Obama.)
During the summer of 2010, the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process could potentially be revived when the various parties involved agreed to direct the talks for the first time in some time. While President Obama is the orator of the movement, the Clinton Secretary has been through months of persuading just to get the parties to the table, and help convince the Palestinians who are reluctant to get support for direct talks from Egypt and Jordan. He then took an important role in the negotiations; Speaking at a Sept. 2 meeting at the State Department between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, he admitted that, "We've been here before, and we know how difficult it is to go ahead." His role in the ongoing talks will take over from US Special Envoy to Middle East Peace George J. Mitchell as discussions threaten to fail. The talks were generally given little chance of success, and Clinton faced the history of many past failures, including his near-missed husband at Camp David Summit 2000. However, his prominent role pushed him further into the international spotlight and had the potential to influence his legacy as a secretary.
In October, Clinton embarked on a seven-nation tour of Asia and Oceania. In New Zealand he signed the "Wellington Declaration", which normalizes diplomatic and military ties between it and the United States. The signing marked twenty-five years after the United States suspended the obligations of the ANZUS agreement with New Zealand after the incident of USS Buchanan .
Clinton maintained its high approval ratings during 2010. A poll aggregation taken during the latter part or all of 2010 shows that Clinton (and her husband as well) have thus far the best favorable rating of any contemporary American political figure.
In late November, WikiLeaks released the secret cables of the Department of Foreign Affairs, some of which were then published by major newspapers around the world. The cable leak caused a crisis in the State Department, as the blunt statements and judgments by US and foreign diplomats became public. Clinton led damage control efforts for the US abroad, and also sought to raise the morale of the shocked Officers of the Foreign Service. In the days leading up to cable publishing, Clinton called officials in Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Afghanistan, Canada and China to remind them of the pending disclosure. He noted that some foreign leaders received an honest language from the cable, with one telling him, "Do not worry about that.You have to see what we say about you." He condemned WikiLeaks, saying: "Let's be clear: This revelation is not only an attack on US foreign policy interests, it is an attack on the international community - alliances and partnerships, conversations and negotiations that protect global security and promote a prosperity economy. The Department of Foreign Affairs immediately entered the "war space" mode to deal with disclosure effects, and began implementing measures to prevent future leaks in the future.
Some cables released by WikiLeaks directly concern Clinton: they reveal that direction to members of the foreign service has come out in 2009 under the name Clinton to gather biometric details on foreign diplomats, including United Nations officials and US allies. These include Internet and intranet usernames, e-mail addresses, useful website URLs for identification, credit card numbers, frequent flier account numbers, work schedules, and other targeted biographical information in a process known as the National Humint Collection Directive. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said that Clinton had not made the order and that the name of the Secretary of State was systematically attached to the bottom of the cable originating from Washington; it is not clear whether Clinton really saw them. The guides in the cables were actually written by the CIA before being sent under the name Clinton, because the CIA can not directly instruct State Department personnel. The cables expressed at a more aggressive intelligence meeting returned to 2008 when they came out under the name of Condoleezza Rice during his tenure as Secretary of State. US practice and the State Department gathering intelligence in the UN or in friendly countries is not new, but the surprise in this case is that it is done by other diplomats rather than intelligence agencies, and that the specific types of information requested. to go beyond past practice and not the kind of information diplomats would normally expect to gather. However, the instructions given in this cable may have been ignored by American diplomats as being wrong. Responding to calls from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and others that Clinton might resign from his post due to revelation, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said: "I think it's absurd and ridiculous, I think Clinton's Foreign Minister is doing an extraordinary job. "
On December 1, Clinton flew to a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Astana, Kazakhstan. There he will meet with fifty leaders who are subjected to embarrassing comments in leaks, including Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. A Kazakh official said that during such meetings Clinton "guarded his face. He did not run away from tough questions." During the meeting he stressed that the leaked cables do not reflect official US policy, but only examples of individual diplomats who provide unfiltered feedback to Washington about what they see happening in other countries. This situation caused some leaders to change their strong statement about internet freedom early in the year against it. The OSCE Summit also featured a meeting between the Secretary of Clinton and Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In an effort to correct the tension caused by the publicist spying on relevance, Clinton expressed regret to Ban over the revelation, but made no direct apology. U.N. Statement said that Ban thanked Clinton "to clarify the matter and to express his concern about the difficulties created."
On December 13, the death of US veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke (who initially fell ill during a meeting with him), Clinton led a spontaneous meeting of about forty senior State Department staff and Holbrooke aides at George Washington University Hospital, recalled. At a memorial ceremony for him a few days later, both Clinton and her husband praised Holbrooke's work, and he said, "Everything we achieve that works in Afghanistan and Pakistan is largely because of Richard." However, as it happens, Holbrooke has built a poor relationship with the White House during his time as an Afghan envoy, and Clinton's vision of him forged an agreement in a country that exemplifies the success of the previous Dayton Accords (which completed the Bosnian War) is unrealized.
On December 22, 2010, Secretary Clinton returned to the Senate floor during a lame-duck session of the 111th Congress to witness the ratification, with a margin of 71-26, of the New START agreement. Clinton had spent the previous days repeatedly calling hesitant senators and seeking their support.
When the year closes, Clinton is re-named by Americans in the most admired Gallup men and women polls as women of the world they most admire; it was his ninth consecutive and fifteenth victory overall.
Regional issues and trips: 2011
Clinton's Secretary begins 2011 abroad, attending Dilma Rousseff's appointment in Brazil, which has been sent by President Obama to represent the US. Rousseff was the first woman to rule the country. While there, he met Venezuela's ruler and US antagonist Hugo ChÃÆ'¡vez, but both had a nice exchange; ChÃÆ'¡vez said, "He has a very spontaneous smile and I greet him with the same passion."
In mid-January, Clinton traveled four countries to the Middle East, visiting Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Speaking at a conference in Doha, he criticized the failure of the Arab government to move faster vis ÃÆ' vis of reform in an unusually blunt language, saying, "In too many places, in many ways, the foundations of the region sink into the sand. The dynamic middle I have seen requires a stronger ground if it is to root and grow everywhere. "His visit to Yemen, the first visit by the Secretary of State in 20 years, found him focusing on the dangers of terrorism originating in the country. A sudden tour around the walled old city of Sana'a found Clinton cheering by watching the schoolchildren. A journey and a falls on a plane that departs leaving Clinton unscathed but news services make predictions that can be predicted.
When the 2011 Egyptian protests began, Clinton was at the forefront of the government's response. The initial public assessment on January 25 that President Hosni Mubarak's government was "stable" and "seeking ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people" was immediately criticized for being warm and behind the evolving curve of events. , although others agree that the US can not be ahead in undermining long-term ally governments. The following day, Clinton criticized the blocking of social media sites by the Egyptian government. On January 29, Obama has put Clinton in charge of sifting through the government's so confusing response to developments. During the frenetic January 30, he combined appearances at all Sunday morning talk shows - where he publicly declared for the first time the US view that there needs to be a "regular transition" to "democratic participatory governance" and "transition peace to true democracy ", not Mubarak's" mock democracy "- with flights to Haiti and returning to mark the horrific earthquake warning, while engaging in another conference call on Egypt.
Egyptian protests became the most important foreign policy crisis so far for the Obama administration, and Obama increasingly relies on Clinton for advice and connections. Clinton has known Mubarak for about twenty years, and has established close ties with First Lady of Egypt Suzanne Mubarak by supporting her latest human rights work. Clinton derived the idea of ​​sending Frank G. Wisner as envoy to Cairo, to tell Mubarak not to seek another term as a state leader. When Mubarak's response to the protests became violent in early February, Clinton strongly condemned the actions, especially against journalists covering the event, and urged the new Egyptian Vice-President Omar Suleiman to conduct an official inquiry to hold those responsible for responsible violence. When Wisner bewilderedly declared that Mubarak's departure should be postponed to accommodate an orderly transition to another government, Clinton rebuked him, but shared little of the same sentiment. Mubarak finally descended on February 11 when the protests became Egypt's revolution 2011. Clinton said that the US is aware that Egypt still has a lot of work and some tough times ahead of it. In mid-March, Clinton visited Egypt and showed support for Egypt's move towards democracy, but he avoided specific problems of US aid and when elections would take place.
President Obama is reportedly unhappy with US intelligence agencies after their failure to forecast Tunisia's 2010-2011 uprising and the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian protests. In response to criticism that the State Department has failed to see developments in Egypt come, Clinton defended the US in an interview in Al-Arabiya, saying "I do not think anyone can expect us to sit here talking about the end of Mubarak's presidency at this moment all started. "
Reflecting not only the situation in Tunisia and Egypt but also on the Yemeni protest 2011, and the 2011 Jordanian protest, Clinton said at the Feb. 5 meeting of the Quartet in the Middle East, "This region is being stormed by a perfect storm of strong trends... This is what drives the demonstrators to the streets... cities across the region Status quo is not sustainable. "He says that while the transition to democracy can be chaotic - and free elections must be accompanied by free speech, free trials and the rule of law to be effective - ultimately" free people set themselves best ". The transformation highlighted that the US foreign policy in the region had sided with the authorities that suppressed domestic dissent but gave stability and generally supported US goals in the region. When the monarchic response to the 2011 Bahrain protests turned violent, Hillary urged her return to the path of reform, saying that violence against demonstrators "is totally unacceptable... We are eager to see the human rights of the protected people, including the rights to get together, the right to express ourselves, and we want to see reform. "At the same time, he said that the US" can not tell the country what they are about to do [and] can not dictate the results. " As the situation in Bahrain continues and continues to experience violent episodes of protesters, Hillary said in mid-March, "Our goal is a credible political process that can overcome the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis... Violence is not and can not be the answer. politics is.We have raised our concerns about current actions directly with Bahraini officials and will continue to do so. "
When the Libyan civil war of 2011 began in mid-February and escalated into an armed conflict with rebel success in early March 2011, Clinton declared the government's position that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi "should leave now, without violence or further delay". When Gaddafi counterattacks the rebels, Clinton is initially reluctant, as does Obama, to support calls made in places for the imposition of a no-fly zone of Libya. However, as the prospect of Gaddafi's victory and possible subsequent bloodshed will kill thousands of people appear, and when Clinton travels to Europe and North Africa and finds support for increased military intervention among European and Arab leaders, he has a change of view. Together with Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and National Security Council leader Samantha Power, who has supported military intervention, Clinton overcame opposition from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, security adviser Thomas Donilon and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, and the government backed UN action to enforce the zone prohibition of flying and authorizing other military actions as necessary. Clinton helped gain financial and political support from several Arab countries, particularly convincing Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan that a no-fly zone imposed by the Arab League would not be enough and that aerial assault would be necessary. Clinton later persuaded Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that his country should abstain from the power of UN resolutions supporting Gaddafi, and Rice and Clinton played a major role in getting the rest of the UN Security Council to approve the UN Security Council Resolution 1973. Regarding whether the US or any other allies would sending weapons to anti-Gaddafi forces, Clinton said that this would be allowed under the resolution, but no decision has been made to do so.
Clinton testified to Congress in March that the government did not require congressional authorization for its military intervention in Libya or for further decisions on it, despite congressional objections from both sides that the government violated the Resolution of the Power of War. During a secret briefing to Congress, he allegedly indicated that the government would avoid the provisions of the Resolution regarding the 60-day limit on unlawful military acts. A few months later, he declared that, in connection with military operations in Libya, the United States still flew a quarter of a sudden attack, and The New York Times reported that, while many presidents had passed other sections. Resolution of the Strength of War, there is little precedent to exceed the 60-day law limit on unlawful military actions - a limit that the Justice Department said in 1980 was constitutional. The State Department openly took up the position in June 2011 that there was no "hostility" in Libya in the sense of the Resolution of the Power of War, contrary to the legal interpretation by the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice Office of the Legal Counsel. The State Department requested (but never received) to express Congressional authorization. The US House of Representatives voted to reprimand the government for maintaining an American presence with NATO operations in Libya, which they consider to be a violation of the Resolution of the Strength of War.
While Clinton acknowledges some of the US policy contradictions to the chaos in Middle Eastern countries, involving the support of several regimes while supporting protesters against others, he remains passionate about it, enough that Obama jokes at the annual Gridiron Dinner that "I 'has sent Hillary to the Middle East to talk about how these countries can transition to new leaders - though, I have to be honest, she's getting a little excited about this problem.Some of these past weeks have been hard to fall asleep with Hillary out there on Pennsylvania Avenue shouting, throwing stones at the window. "However, Obama's reference to Clinton travels quite right; now he has recorded 465,000 miles (748,000 km) on his Boeing 757, more than any other Secretary of State for a comparable period of time, and has visited 79 countries while in office. Time Magazine writes that "Clinton's endurance is legendary" and that he will stay away at the end of a long workday even when his staff members are teary. The key is his ability to fall asleep on demand, anytime and anywhere, for a nap.
Clinton also sees the potential for political change in the Middle East as an opportunity for more fundamental change to take place, that women's empowerment (something Newsweek magazine is seen as Clinton's categorical imperative). He makes statements for this effect in countries like Egypt - "If a country does not recognize the rights of minorities and human rights, including women's rights, you will have no kind of stability and prosperity possible" - and also in Yemen , where he talks about the current story of Nujood Ali and his campaign against forced marriage at a young age. At home, Clinton is even more widespread, searching around the world: "I believe that women's and children's rights are per
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