Sunday January 2, 2011

I've Been Thinking:

What was the US Secretary of State thinking? Where were her advisers? Where was their common sense?

Hillary Clinton shook hands with Hugo Chavez yesterday- pleasantries were exchanged.

Chavez just rejected the US ambassador in his country and Obama sent the Venezuelan ambassador packing. It's only the latest in a collection of snubs and name callings and disputes between the United States and Venezuela.

Shaking Chavez' hand sends the wrong message to everyone. Shaking Chavez' hand shows weakness on the part of the US. Shaking Chavez' hand is a diplomatic mistake.

Excuses can be made, but truly, there is no excuse. The invited guests were wasting time at the inauguration of the new president of Brazil. This is not the first time a US leader was in the room with a non-friendly leader of another country or someone who is getting the cold shoulder from the US. The response is to play diplomatic "sea-saw" - they go here, you go there. That is why you have staff. Even if Chavez wanted to embarrass Clinton with the handshake - which is most likely what he intended to do, the skillful diplomat avoids or deflects the situation.

This is a serious diplomatic snafu.

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