Hillary Clinton just finished testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her confirmation hearing to be secretary of state.
She said that we can't give up on peace in the Middle East. Israel's security needs must be addressed but at the same time, Palestinian aspirations must also be addressed.
She talked about the reduction of nuclear weapons and "smart power," the use of non-military might such as diplomacy and persuasion.
The gravest threat, she said, is weapons of mass destruction getting into the hands of terrorists.
She talked about strengthening ties with Europe, Japan, Canada, our No. 1 trading partner, Mexico, No. 3 trading partner, Latin America, India, China and other Mid-East countries, such as Egypt and Jordan.
She described relations with Russia as "cooperative engagement." The U.S. also needs to seek agreements with Russia to reduce nuclear stockpiles.
At the end of her testimony, she talked about Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, and her work in micro-financing and how important small loans are to developing parts of the world.
Hillary is expected to be confirmed.
Read more at the Swamp and NYT is live blogging the hearing.
John Kerry wrote a piece for the Boston Globe on the new direction of foreign relations. He emphasized multilateral problem solving, as opposed to Bush's unilateral approach, with strong diplomacy.
Video will be up at C-SPAN.org. I'll post it when it's available.
Here is the upcoming senate confirmation hearings schedule.
Obama's energy pick Steven Chu, and Arne Duncan, education, and a couple of others are scheduled to testify today.
