So, most of the people I talked to in Bangkok were optimistic about President O, and I tried to do the polite guest thing and was gracious (despite my own political leanings). However, they were kind of miffed that America's foreign policy was ignoring our longtime ally in Southeast Asia, exhibited during SECSTATE Hillary's visit to the region. From the Bangkok Post:
But here in Thailand, it is nearly a month into the Obama presidency without a word from the new government in Washington. Since the US election last November, Thai exports to the US have slumped because of the recession. The business community grows increasingly worried that the new administration is determined to press protectionist measures. The ill-timed "Buy American" campaign is part and parcel of renewed calls for the US to pressure its friends and trading partners on labour issues, intellectual property piracy and the environment. Mrs Clinton will be specifically pushing this week for more action on global warming. Mr Obama, who confused Thailand with Taiwan during a campaign speech last year in his only mention of our country, will visit Indonesia later this year.Well, you can't expect the Secretary of State to visit every single country in the region, but you could've at least asked her to not so blatantly excuse human rights violations committed by the communist country of China. Hot Air has the details:
Amnesty International and a pro-Tibet group voiced shock Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed not to let human rights concerns hinder cooperation with China.Seeing how much of our monstrous debt is carried by the Chinese in the form of Treasury Notes, it's no wonder that she has to grovel at their feet. That's too bad for the Tibetans and Chinese bloggers getting mysteriously shanked in bathroom stalls, but American politicians have to keep up our ridiculous standard of living somehow.
Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet.
“But our pressing on those issues can’t interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis,” Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.
See what the others have said:
9 comments:
Yeah, this is amazing. The Chinese seem to yearn for personal freedoms, but Clinton kicks them off the bus.
Meanwhile, we keep enforcing the freedom charade in Afghanistan and Iraq, who couldn't shout "Yanks, go home" any more loudly.
Be it real or not -- can they find another word and stop saying crisis over and over and over and over. Everything is a crisis. We'll probably have an Easter egg crisis!
Kath
Lisa -
I think you mean, 'throws them under the bus.'
I couldn't believe the gall Clinton had to say what she said. So, sure, in bad economic times human rights (RIGHTS! RIGHTS!) are considered a luxury by the US government.
Hope and change? Nah, just business as usual.
It's definitely pragmatic. If China pulls back all the money they have invested in our treasury, we'd all be cannibals by the end of the week. Apparently, rights are a luxury.
"Well, you can't expect the Secretary of State to visit every single country in the region, but you could've at least asked her to not so blatantly excuse human rights violations committed by the communist country of China."
Yes, President Bush set such a good example when he attended the Olympics in China. After eight years of inaction, after the Chinese knocked one of our surveillance planes out of the sky and the Bush administration did NOTHING, you expect SecState Clinton to fix all that? Hell, she's acting just like Condi - you ought to be proud.
J, pretty sure most of the plane and all of the pilots were recovered from that incident, so I'm not sure what you expected Bush to do.
I blame business schools for the current situation. They taught bottom line for so long and it sent countless jobs and dollars overseas. We used to be a country that produced things, now we just consume. It gives us no legs to stand on in the case of China. If we tried to play hardball with them, they would pull investments and we would fall. The ruling class there wouldn't take much a hit, but the people, who they don't care about anyway, would. Suck on both ends.
And J, it's always "the past the past the past" with the left, isn't it?
They keep calling the current adiminstration's failing policies "failed Bush era policies". Why don't you just call them failing Obama policies? Oh right... that would be heresey.
amagi,
Actually, off the bus sounds gentler. We don't get the full news here in the homeland. The Guardian UK gave a broader coverage, putting Clinton's remarks into perspective. Which doesn't forgive them, but all of rights are looking pretty ragged these days.
Sniper,
We are looking at failed policies, period. Greed knows no political party or economic strata. We are all reaping the wind.
J.,
I hope she will prove to be an improvement on Condi -- an abysmal failure who will be rewarded with tenure at some Ivy League school.
When did I say I was a huge COndi or Bush fan. You, sir, have a simplistic way of looking at people who disagree with you.
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