The secretary has quietly begun rethinking the very nature of diplomacy and translating that vision into a revitalized State Department, one that approaches U.S. allies and rivals in ways that challenge long-held traditions. Full Story »
Posted by Kaizar Campwala
This article breaks out of the press "pack" that misses substance while failing into a routine of often silly coverage of the Clintons, especially Hillary Clinton. Here, the reporter covers an important foreign policy speech, with a follow up interview with the head of Policy Planning at the State Department. In his commentary, the reporter does not spare his fellow journalists, in effect, it says that history will not judge reporters who "miss the forest for the pantsuits" kindly.
W"What do you do when many vital partners — China, for example, and Russia — are rivals as well? How must America’s alliances change as NATO is stretched to the limit? How do we engage with rogue states and old enemies in ways that do not strengthen them and preserve our prerogative to challenge threats? How do we move beyond the diplomacy of men in striped pants speaking only for governments and embrace potent nonstate players and once-disenfranchised peoples? "
At the center of Clinton’s brain trust is Anne-Marie Slaughter, the former dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Now head of policy planning at the State Department, Slaughter elaborated on the ideas in Clinton’s speech. “We envision getting not just a new group of states around a table, but also building networks, coalitions and partnerships of states and nonstate actors to tackle specific problems,” she told me.“To do that…New connecting technologies will be vital tools ….” Whether through a telecommunications program in Congo to protect women from violence or text messaging to raise money for Pakistani refugees in the Swat Valley, technology has been deployed to reach new audiences.
The silliness of press coverage of Senator Clinton was exemplified recently by their ignoring her trip to Goma in favor of coverage of her response to a single questioner.