Senior State Department Official today announced that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver the keynote address tonight at the National Democratic Institute’s Democracy Awards Dinner.
“Secretary Clinton’s speech is to the National Democratic Institute, which is one of the premier democracy support NGOs here in the U.S., one of the National Endowment for Democracy family. And the Secretary really wanted to use this forum as an opportunity to address some really fundamental questions about the United States and our role in light of the Arab Spring and the changes in the Middle East.” -Senior Department Official
The Senior Department Official said it’s been a year of dramatic change and the people in the region. The Americans are asking some really fundamental questions about the United States response.
“Do we really believe that democratic change is in our interests, as the President said on May 19th? Why do we have different approaches to pursuing that policy in different places? What happens if parties that we might not agree with on everything or parties with a religious background win in elections? What exactly is the United States role going forward? And also, what about the rights and aspirations of Palestinians?” -Senior Department Official
Senior Department Official stressed that the Secretary’s speech is going to essentially take those on one by one. She’s going to talk about the reasons why U.S. truly believe that the historic change is in American interest.
“She’s going to be talking in some depth about specific places around the region, including talking a bit about what we expect from the SCAF in Egypt, talking about the situation in Syria and the fact that there’s a government there that has responded to people’s legitimate aspirations not with change but with rejection that is destabilizing. So she’s going to be trying to make a more in-depth case about why we believe that this change is in our interest.” -Senior Department Official
Senior Department Official highlighted that Secretary Clinton is going to address specifically what the U.S. role is and is not. She’s also going to address the issue of Palestinian rights and aspirations and the Arab-Israeli conflict and how that fits in.
