...and a great photo of Hillary and about a hundred Mexican indigenous youth at a scholarship programpresentati. Lifted from La Jornada of today.
En un encuentro montado en el Palacio de Bellas Artes, la secretaria de Estado, Hillary Rodham Clinton, entrevistó
sobre sus experiencias en Estados Unidos a medio centenar de jóvenes
indígenas mexicanos, ataviados con sus trajes típicos, que se
congregaron en la sala Manuel M. Ponce. Ahí se presentó el programa de
becas de la Comisión de Cultura y Educación de ambos países y de la
USAID Foto Francisco Olvera
The caption says Clinton "interviewed" about her experiences in the middle of a hundred young indigenous Mexicans dressed in their typical garb...." Now I just have to say that when I first read it, I thought it said that Clinton was dressed in her typical garb. Sure looks like it. Anyway, it is just a lovely picture because everyone looks truly happy and amused.
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Anyway, the picture below is of Carlos Pascual whose name is being floated as possible US Ambassador to Mexico. This is stolen from El Universal.
Now the NY Times which is fast developing a reputation with me for muddying news from Mexico and sullying it and misleading its readership in nasty little ways has a comment about Pascual in an article this evening. After quoting a snippet from an article in El Universal (at least they refer to a Mexican source for once)saying
"... that Mr. Pascual’s specialty was in dealing with
conflict-ridden states. He served as the coordinator for reconstruction
and stabilization in the State Department, a post that involved working
with several agencies to develop strategies for broken countries like
Afghanistan" the Times asserts that
But in fact this aspect of Mr. Pacual's work was not highlighted in the El Universal article. Here is what the article said, which seems drawn from public information at the Brookings Institute site. Mr. Pascual is currently Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute.
"Carlos Pascual was born in Cuba but emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was three years old.
"He was US Ambassador to the Ukraine from 2000 to 2003. He then served as Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the State Department.
"The diplomat, was educated at Stanford and at Harvard. At Harvard, he received a masters degree in public policy. He has also been coordinator for assistance to Europe and Eurasia; director of Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council, and and assistant administrator for Europe and newly Independent States for the US Agency for International Development.
"Pascual is presently the vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institute, a center for advanced research in Washington. Upon his appointment to this position in October, 2005, Strobe Talbott, the President of Brookings, said that Pascual has been an innovator and has been present for some of the most important challenges facing the US and the international community.
"Pascual's experience includes missions in Africa, Latin America and Europe as well as the former communist bloc. According to Talbot, his experience is as much as an executive as on the ground, in matters of economic reform and policy in countries in transition, in combating terrorism an arms proliferation and in dealing with sources of instability. As an expert he has also concentrated on stabilizing post-conflict scenarios."
You should look at his one page pdf biography at Brookings in addition to the other information available and read some of his papers and positions. This man is, as my father would say, one smart cookie. He is not stuck on military solutions, on the past, on keeping Cuba down. In fact, he proposes a number of creative ways the US and Cuba could engage. He is very outspoken about the US obligation to take responsibility for itself and its actions among the very interwoven world of nations.
My favorite quote from him (I have only brief acquaintance with his quotes) is his comment on the Iraq quagmire:
"Is there even a political strategy? Because right now the political
strategy, in my view, has essentially been telling the Iraqis we’re in
the middle of a war to fix themselves." He presented an extraordinarily candid assessment of our failure in Iraq and how best to extract ourselves.
I think Mexico would be well-pleased to have him as Ambassador. His intellect, experiences, and creative approaches would do honor to Mexico and probably -- hopefully -- be helpful to both the US and Mexico. He is probably as sophisticated as anyone about the complex issues of drugs, crime, economic difficulties, and environmental issues weaving the hemisphere together.