Members MsAnn Posted January 12, 2015 Members Posted January 12, 2015 http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/11/politics/obama-kerry-paris/index.html lookin and flipao 2 Quote
Members RA1 Posted January 12, 2015 Members Posted January 12, 2015 Any thoughts about the absence of BO et al for this rally? Best regards, RA1 Quote
Members MsAnn Posted January 12, 2015 Members Posted January 12, 2015 Any thoughts about the absence of BO et al for this rally? Best regards, RA1 The link I posted highlights his absence. Excuses aside, I thought it was a mistake and political faux pas. A bit shameful, if someone were to ask me. But what do I know, I'm the guy in a double wide down by the creek. lookin 1 Quote
Members RA1 Posted January 12, 2015 Members Posted January 12, 2015 OK, so now I know who you are and where you are. All good. Best regards, RA1 Quote
TotallyOz Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 I thought he should have been there. I was disappointed that he was not there. Quote
AdamSmith Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Kerry, ever willing to go into the line of fire for duty, seems to be the point person scrambling to patch this up. We'll see if he can salvage anything from it. Quote
Members lookin Posted January 12, 2015 Members Posted January 12, 2015 While it might have been good PR, I'm not sure Obama's presence would have changed much and his security arrangements may even have influenced who else could have attended. I think Biden's presence would have helped, and Holder should definitely have participated since he was already there. But PR concerns have a way of backfiring. Apparently, Netanyahu muscled his way in once he learned that two of his political rivals would be attending. After failing to discourage Netanyahu from coming, Hollande felt compelled to invite Abbas. Bibi further upset the French by using the occasion to encourage French Jews to move to Israel. All of this political jostling and Monday morning quarterbacking does little, in my opinion, to send the message that needs sending. I'd much rather have seen a dozen leaders from the Middle East heading the procession, and am surprised that more folks aren't focused on that missed opportunity. AdamSmith, MsGuy and MsAnn 3 Quote
Guest callipygian Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Holder should definitely have participated since he was already there. It could should have been a no-brainer. Quote
Members MsAnn Posted January 13, 2015 Members Posted January 13, 2015 While it might have been good PR, I'm not sure Obama's presence would have changed much and his security arrangements may even have influenced who else could have attended. I think Biden's presence would have helped, and Holder should definitely have participated since he was already there. But PR concerns have a way of backfiring. Apparently, Netanyahu muscled his way in once he learned that two of his political rivals would be attending. After failing to discourage Netanyahu from coming, Hollande felt compelled to invite Abbas. Bibi further upset the French by using the occasion to encourage French Jews to move to Israel. All of this political jostling and Monday morning quarterbacking does little, in my opinion, to send the message that needs sending. I'd much rather have seen a dozen leaders from the Middle East heading the procession, and am surprised that more folks aren't focused on that missed opportunity. OR that more people aren't focused on the hypocrisy of many of the nations that attended, walking arm in arm with this "kumbaya" photo op, that have an appalling record on freedom of the press back home. That criticism notwithstanding, Michelle, Kerry or Biden would have been an appropriate representation. Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/paris-rally-charlie-hebdo-free-press-reports-without-borders Presence at Paris rally of leaders with poor free press records is condemned poor free press records is condemned Reporters Without Borders singles out the leaders of Egypt, Russia, Turkey, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates Panels depicting the eyes of the late Charlie Hebdo editor, Stephane Charbonnier, as hundreds of thousands take part in a solidarity march in Paris. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters Press freedom campaigners condemned the presence of world leaders attending the unity rally in Paris on Sunday who have poor records on human rights and the free press in their home countries. Reporters Without Borders singled out leaders from Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as being responsible for particularly harsh environments for journalists. These countries rank respectively 159th, 154th, 148th, 121st and 118th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom in a league table compiled by the group. “We should show solidarity with Charlie Hebdo without forgetting the world’s other ‘Charlies’,” said Christophe Deloire, secretary general of the campaign group. “It would be intolerable [if] representatives from countries that reduce their journalists to silence profit from this emotional outpouring to … improve their international image … We should not allow the predators of the press to spit on the graves of Charlie Hebdo.” About 40 world leaders gathered in Paris to take part in the massive rally. France’s president, François Hollande, the British prime minister, David Cameron and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, walked arm in arm with other leaders at the start of the march. Also invited were the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Sheikh Abdallah ben Zayed al-Nahyan of the UAE and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Russia and Algeria: Sameh Choukry, Sergei Lavrov, and Ramtane Lamamra. Nearly 70 journalists are being prosecuted in Turkey for referring to corruption allegations against close associates of the former prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is now the president. In Egypt 16 journalists, including three from al-Jazeera, are in jail. The al-Jazeera journalists have been held since December 2013 for “spreading false news” and “membership of a terrorist organisation”. The al-Jazeera journalists include Peter Greste, formerly of the BBC, who has lodged paperwork with the Egyptian government seeking his own deportation. But his release from prison could be weeks or months away, as the new presidential power to deport foreign prisoners is tested for the first time. A member of Greste’s Australian legal team said the jailed journalist’s application was “among the first” to petition the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, for deportation. Several Russian journalists have been imprisoned, often in Siberia, and two NGOs that support the media have been added to an official list of “foreign agents”, a term used to stigmatise bodies that receive foreign funding and are suspected of “political activity”. In December, 20 activists including Masha Alyokhina from Pussy Riot were arrested in Moscow, after staging an all-night protest against the conviction of Alexei Navalny, a critic of the Kremlin, and his brother Oleg. Algeria bans marches and public protests, prompting the Algérie-Focus website to say: “Marches and public protests are banned in Algeria, but Algerian ministers have the right to march in the streets of … Paris!” AdamSmith 1 Quote
Guest steveescort Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Quite ironic that leaders of countries with no free speech decided to march along Hypocrites Quote
