TRANSCRIPT: Of the Daily Press Briefing of 9 October 2009
Given by PHILIP J. CROWLEY,
Assistant Secretary for Diplomacy & Public Affairs, Washington, DC
Briefing began @ 1:43 p.m. EDT
MR. CROWLEY: Are we reconvened? I heard – or was there when David briefed Secretary Clinton about two or so weeks ago on his energy strategy, and I said this would be a great briefing. So we’re glad that worked out.
A few – just to pick up a few announcements before taking your questions. Obviously, we at the Department of State woke up this morning with the terrific news of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama. The Secretary will depart shortly for the White House for a high-level meeting, and she’ll have the opportunity to congratulate the President personally. And I suspect for your colleagues who will be traveling with her later tonight overseas, she’ll probably have more to say about that personally.
But I think from the Secretary’s standpoint, not only is it well-deserved, the outreach that the President has made in the first now ten months in office, but it’s an affirmation of the strategy of engagement, of the need to work collaboratively and multilaterally to solve the challenges of the world. And I think she recognizes, as the President said, that this is a call to action, and that call to action falls significantly on the shoulders of the Secretary and here at the Department to advance the President’s agenda and confront the challenges of the 21st century. But certainly from our standpoint, we think that this gives us a sense of momentum when the United States has accolades tossed its way rather than shoes. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Well, can I follow up on that?
MR. CROWLEY: Let me go through some stuff first. Obviously, on the Secretary’s trip, which begins tonight, she will be in Zurich tomorrow to witness the signing of two protocols moving Turkey and Armenia towards normalization of relations and an open border. She’ll move then to London for consultations on high-level issues with the British Government, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan; then will move to Ireland as part of our continuing commitment to that country and also focus on economic and political development in Northern Ireland; and then finally, as you know, to Russia for some significant discussions on a range of issues, from START to Iran, North Korea, the Middle East peace process. And both Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov will be able to monitor the progress in the bilateral presidential commission and the various working groups that are a part of that. And of course, she’ll have, as you heard yesterday, the opportunity to travel to Kazan for participation in some activities there that will show the – some – what’s happening in that province.
Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg is on his way back from a meeting in Bosnia. It was convened by the Deputy Secretary and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt for a discussion with political party leaders today to outline both the U.S. and EU’s shared concerns over the ongoing reform stalemate. They offered ideas and assistance to help the parties move forward on political and constitutional reforms that are essential if Bosnia hopes for eventual membership in NATO and the EU. And we would expect that there might be another high-level meeting within a couple of weeks.
George Mitchell remains in the Middle East. I can’t say whether he’s had or will have a meeting today with Prime Minister Netanyahu following up on meetings he’s already had in Israel with President Peres and Foreign Minister Lieberman, and he will meet tomorrow with President Abbas.
With that, I will take your questions.
QUESTION: I have two questions. First of all, on your very clever comment about accolades, not shoes, how much of this Nobel Peace Prize do you think is, you know, a kind of award to the President for not being George Bush? I mean, there was so much kind of animosity in the international community because of the last administration that it seems that just the fact that this Administration has offered a new approach around the world is what the award was really about. I mean, I think the President himself recognized that there isn’t a whole lot of actual accomplishment yet about the award, but it’s more about expectations and the fact that this Administration is devising a new course. So how much do you think that this is an indictment of the past administration and an award for not being George Bush?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think I’ll follow the sage advice of Robert Gibbs and say it’s impossible for us to project what the Nobel committee had in mind. I think what is important to us is an affirmation of not only the strategy but also the important agenda. The committee particularly singled out the challenge of nonproliferation. Obviously, it’s been a significant focus of the President, the Secretary, and others in these first 10 months, starting with the Prague speech and continuing with the session at the UN a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, we’re very mindful as the Secretary heads to Russia – we’ve got ongoing discussions with Russia on a follow-on to the START treaty. We obviously are aware that we have important dialogue with Iran and North Korea that’s ongoing. We’re looking ahead to the NPT review conference next year, finding ways to strengthen the Nonproliferation Treaty and the global regime. And we know that there’s a very heavy lift here with the United States coming up in terms of the Administration’s desire to see ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. And there are other steps as well.
So there is an opportunity here. The tone has changed, but obviously, we recognize that while the tone in the world has changed, the challenges remain. They’re very significant. And I thought the President set the right tone today in terms of looking forward and understanding that there’s a lot that needs to be done, but that as we go through this we’ll need to see collaborative action. The United States can’t solve this problem alone, but these problems will not be solved without the American leadership that we’ve shown in the first 10 months. (more…)
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