It remains one of the few places where drinking in the style of a cast member of “Mad Men” is not only accepted but expected.Diplomat Calls for End to Drunkenness at U.N. - NYTimes.com (via rubenfeld)
The United States should stop its role as a sneaky troublemaker sitting behind some nations in the region and pulling strings.Xinhua’s Liu Chang • In an editorial for the Chinese state-run publication, demanding that the United States respect China’s regional sovereignty if the country truly wants a positive relationship between Washington D.C. and Beijing. Many were shocked that such a statement would appear in a state-run publication just before the arrival of a diplomat, in this case Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, particularly when Secretary Clinton received such a warm reception from foreign minister Yang Jiechi. source
It’s not that Romney struck out against a major league pitcher. I mean, here, he struck out playing t-ball. This should have been easy and it wasn’t for him apparently.Obama campaign aide Colin Kahl • Pulling out the dagger against Mitt Romney, who spent a week overseas, stretching out his foreign policy legs in other countries. Problem — he kept making headlines for doing stupid things. First, he criticized Britain for being unable to handle the Olympics. Then he made a negative comment about Palestinian culture. Finally, he bashed Obama for scrapping a missile defense system — a criticism which the Slovakian foreign minister didn’t like. So yeah, kinda rough — though he did score points with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, for what it’s worth.
Best way to derail an Olympic soccer match: Accidentally use the South Korean flag for a game featuring the North Korean team. Oops. The North Korean women’s team protested the scene, one hour wasted. Suddenly, the match is a diplomatic failure, even though the North Koreans won. (AP photo)
» And no, the U.S. isn’t happy: Previously, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she hoped to see Shakil Afridi freed, as his work helped capture a pretty bad dude. Instead, Afridi is heading to jail, a move which will likely strain relations between the U.S. and Pakistan, who are currently locked in a diplomatic battle over Afghan War supply routes. (EDIT: We apologize for the inital error in the title. Total accident. Sorry guys.)
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The U.S. State Department says a blind activist has fellowship at a U.S. university and it expects China to quickly handle the travel procedures for him.
Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday that the agreement included allowing Chen’s wife and two children to also leave so he can accept the fellowship.
Chen’s weeklong saga has put strain on the United States’ relationship with China, so this may possibly be the best thing to happen in that whole situation. We’ll see.
Obama to North Korea: Don’t launch that rocket, guys: “Bad behavior will not be rewarded,” Obama said after speaking to South Korean leader Lee Myung-bak, right. North Korea plans to launch a long-range rocket next month to remember the 100th birthday of its founder, Kim Il-sung. source
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
In 2007, I was...
In another sign of warming relations between two wartime foes, a senior North Korean nuclear negotiator will attend a security conference in the United States, a person with knowledge of the negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Word of Ri Yong Ho’s visit to the forum at Syracuse University, where he may also meet on the sidelines with U.S. officials, comes on the heels of a breakthrough agreement that will provide much-needed U.S. food aid to North Korea in exchange for a rollback of its nuclear programs.
The agreement announced Wednesday sets in motion a plan laid out by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il before his death in December: to improve relations with the U.S. and to get back to six-nation disarmament-for-aid negotiations. Significant challenges remain, however, in achieving the long-term goal of the U.S. and other nations: to persuade Pyongyang to end its nuclear ambitions altogether.
Next thing you know, we’re gonna invite these guys to a slumber party or something and watch episodes of “Beavis & Butthead” or “Team America: World Police.” OK, maybe not that second movie …
» Significant, if “limited”: This result came after a set of talks last week that initially did not seem to go well, but later proved be palatable for the North Koreans. The two countries previously were close to some sort of deal before Kim Jong-il’s death, but the latest development seems to have gone over. “The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behavior across a wide range of areas,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, ”but today’s announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these.”
Ahmadinejad, Chavez joke about having nuclear weapon: Could this photo and this headline juxtapose better? Probably not.
The Iranian Chargé in London is being informed now that we require the immediate closure of the Iranian Embassy in London and that all Iranian diplomatic staff must leave the United Kingdom within the next 48 hours. If any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil they cannot expect to have a functioning Embassy here.British Foreign Secretary William Hague • Warning Iran to close its embassy, in a ratcheting-up of tensions between the two countries a day after activists raided the British Embassy in Tehran, upset over new sanctions against Iran. Hague was careful to emphasize diplomatic ties still exist between the two countries: “This does not amount to the severing of diplomatic relations in their entirety,” he said. “It is action that reduces our relations with Iran to the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations.” In other words, they may get a phone call, but don’t expect it to be friendly. source (via • follow)
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