British Foreign Secretary David Milliband spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies yesterday. He is quite an exceptional foreign leader: he is 41 years old and has been in politics for only 10 years, and at very high levels at that.
CSIS invited Milliband as part of their “Smart Power” program, which studies new public diplomacy strategies. But the State Secretary did not talk about that, or about the transatlantic relationship. The talk was titled “Dilemmas of Democracy: Work in Progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” Secretary Milliband explained that he wished to speak about these two countries because they are number one priorities for Britain.
He further emphasized this point by saying: “Why am I speakingabout this subject to Washington and not London? Because your decisions are critical for the future of Pakistan and Afghanistan and therefor critical to us… The current situation in both countries demands our attention.”
Milliband opened the discussion with a plea to the audience that we hang on to our belief in democracy. Aside from being morally right, he emphasized that a commitment to spreading and nurturing democracy is also in our self-interest.
I highly recomend you give his talk a listen. His case for decisive attention to the needs of the Afghans and the Pakistanis is compelling.
Since Afghanistan and Pakistan are such high priorities for theUK and the US, it makes perfect sense that Secretary Rice and Secretary Milliband are going to travel to California today to holda “fireside chat” with Google employees. Huh? My guess is that Secretary Milliband just wants to dine at Google's famed five-star cafeteria. It's a far cry from Sheppard's pie and mushy peas.
Before they left, though, the two State Secretaries did meet to discuss about more “serious” matters, and afterwards held a press conference.
