Hilary Clinton
Ahead of US Secretary of State Clinton’s visit to Australia this weekend, The Punch caught up with US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich to discuss the recent parliamentary debate on Afghanistan and the US mid-term elections.
United States Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich makes no secret of the fact he was watching the debate on the Afghan war pretty closely.
“We were obviously very interested in it because Australia is a key partner is Afghanistan. Our take on it was that this is healthy. We did extensive internal review at the end of the 2009 to determine what’s the best course and how do we see this resolving and what are we going to need to do it.
“That was heavy internal conversation, and I think with all our partners we want them to have, if there are doubts, to have that honest discussion,” he told The Punch yesterday.
Considering the complex cloak and dagger diplomacy surrounding US-Iran relations deputy US State Department Spokesman Robert Duguid comes out with a pretty open account of how and why the State Department asked Twitter not to close down during the post-election uprising in Iran.
“We don’t have anyone on the ground in Iran; we haven’t since our hostages were set free in 1981. So for us just knowing the information was coming out that this real information, or at least piecemeal information that you knew was happening on the day was important,” Mr Duguid told The Punch from Washington.
“It was also evident to us that without social media being available that those groups who were opposing the crackdown and opposing the election results would not have a voice. So yes we learnt that Twitter was going to go down for maintenance. So we talked about it upstairs at the public affairs section, and one of our number knew the folks at Twitter.”
Continue reading "The diplomatic tightrope in the age of Social Media" »
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The flip side says:
Your statement [But the logical flipside to the positive PR is that if you’re going to open up social media as a form of intelligence gathering – as was the case in Iran – you best expect counter- intelligence and espionage]. This is a fair call made by you. The… Read more »
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stephen says:
No problem there Leo. Mr. whats-his-name from Iran has despatched -according to the Australian - loyal anti - US followers to Iraq to influence their elections. What goes around comes around. Read more »
No doubt there will be swooning all round when President Barack Obama descends upon Australia next month for his first official visit “Down Under” since coming to office just over a year ago.
While the precise details of his itinerary are understandably a closely guarded secret there can be no such mystery as to what the reaction of much of the local media will be.
Breathless comparisons with the charismatic US leader and his young family to the photogenic heyday of Camelot are sure to be exceeded only by gushing commentary of his wife, Michelle Obama. And given our sunny climes are more accommodating of sleeveless gowns than chilly Washington DC, fashion observers might just be rewarded with a glimpse of the First Lady baring those famed biceps.
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Ziggy says:
All of Obamas books were ghostwritten. Except the articles he never wrote for the Law review at Uni - only editor never to be published - now that’s history for you.Of course he never had TOTUS then. Read more »
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Ziggy says:
Did not sideline her? You must be the only person in the world who believes that. He appointed all sorts of people to handle various parts of the world that should be handled by Hilary. And they report direct to him - not to her.Is that sidelining or not? Read more »
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