Some Stunning Quotations

(My source is here.) Hillary Clinton said of China “We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa.”  The article suggests that she prefers bringing back the old colonialists in NATO and adding the U.S. to the bunch.

She also said “that Washington was concerned that China’s foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance” Right, Hillary, China should have all its banks carry their assets at fictitious values as in the U.S.

USA Today and other major newspapers had this gem:

“A rebel official said opposition leaders in Zlitan have been meeting with their counterparts in Misrata, but he acknowledged they face challenges in advancing on the city.’We need the people of Zlitan to push more courageously forward. They are dependent on our movements, but the problem is only a third of that city is with the rebels,’ said Ibrahim Beatelmal, a rebel military spokesman in Misrata.”

The National Transitional Council that heads the rebels has so far been officially recognized as the sole legitimate representative of Libya by France, Qatar, Maldives, Italy, Spain, Kuwait, Gambia, Jordan, Senegal, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Canada, Panama, Austria, and Latvia. 

It’s clear that official recognition is a political act taken by a state for the state’s own purposes and interests. It is equally clear that such recognition can’t possibly be based in the Libyan case on recognizing a “legitimate representative”.

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6:33 am on June 22, 2011