John Kerry flying to Vietnam today,for an event at the new American Fullbright University there
From an interview last week:
https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/01/266745.htm
Here is an interesting article, from last year that shows that Kerry has long been involved in the roots of the Fullbright University. His connection goes back to when he was a young Senator, although that had roots in his experiences in the Vietnam War decades before that.
The article goes on to discuss his connection over the decades. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/special-reports/157084/john-kerry-and-the-journey-of-fulbright-university-vietnam.html PS Note that this is a Vietnamese site
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I'm just sayin...Comrade Casino & Republican Cronies are masters at both draft dodging & tax dodging. They really think they're exempt from civic responsibilities. This ugly behavior righteously galls the everlovin bejabbers out of the honest, honorable citizens of the United States of America.
One example of that is this article - http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/28/politics/john-kerry-legacy/ It is well researched, but written in an almost impressionist way -- bringing up a common wisdom claim - then essentially providing information on something that happened- that if you think about it - demolishes the claim - without overtly noting that. (ie look at the idea that he pushes too hard - note that it is followed by noting that all the other countries saying that without that persistence, there would have been no Iran deal. )
The strangest claim is that he had no broad vision - but from what he did, it is clear there are two very big, very personal visions that he worked on everywhere. The first would be that no SoS has ever had the commitment he does on the environment. He says he has raised this everywhere he has traveled. His accomplishments on that include that he was key on US/China pact, the Paris Accord, the HFC agreement, the agreement on limiting carbon for aviation, the international effort on preserving the huge Ross Sea around Antarctica, and a project in the Mekong Delta, which he is supposed to speak of tomorrow. Add to this his three international annual conferences on the oceans and the need to protect them. Kerry has been said to have gotten Obama's agreement that environment could be his signature issue - just as women's issues were for Clinton. The second issue is the more normal conflict resolution and peace making.
The idea that because he took on every tough problem out there, his legacy is "mixed" because he only succeeded in at least three situations - all of which are more significant gains than ANY secretary of state this century -- and arguably the sum of those three and other successes make him the most successful in my life time - and I was born in 1950!
The Paris Climate Accord, which would not have happened without his efforts, will hopefully be seen in history as when the world started to act. When Kerry came into office, the Obama team considered that climate change gains through international diplomacy were unlikely after Copenhagen was a complete failure. ( Last year this was actually implemented very very quickly, largely due to his efforts - and there were the two other carbon reduction agreements.)
Getting the Iran deal was also considered a long shot -- and Obama consistently gave it no more than a 50/50 chance even after an interim deal was obtained and as Iran abided by it. This agreement almost certainly averted a war with Iran.
Kerry brokered a way for Afghanistan to move beyond a contested election, which while not perfect, is still functioning years later and it kept that country from going completely over the cliff.
These are three big, unlikely to succeed successes.
Now consider, that - other than Jimmy Carter - NO ONE has actually succeeded with Israel/Palestine -- and Israel has become harder to work with itself as their coalition government is far more right wing than any previous government. The mess with Syria was full blown before Kerry became Secretary - and it is true that as hard as he tried, he failed to get everyone to the peace table. However, he did get the UN resolution that will likely be the basis for that peace conference when it happens. He also DID lead in getting over 600 tons of chemical weapons out of that unstable country. Far from being a failure, imagine where those 600 tons could have gone.
If Kerry's legacy is "mixed", what would you call Clinton's, Rice's, Powell's, ..... I content that not one of the past Secretaries who have succeeded George Marshall, who left the State Department in 1949, with his brilliant Marshall plan have a more significant positive legacy.
I do not think that Obama will give John Kerry the award he gave Biden. Kerry, who has worked on the international stage, has been given a long list of prestigious international honors in the last 6 months - including the Tipperary Peace Prize (Ireland), the Chatham House prize (UK), the German Cross, the French Legion of Honor etc Biden, has primarily worked in the US for Obama - notably on the cancer moonshot recently and being a lead on the economic efforts in 2009. It also was pretty obvious that Obama favored HRC over Biden as the Democratic nominee - though the norm is that a VP would be given preference - especially one who did as much as Biden did. Obama may have felt that Biden deserved more public credit than he has been given. The other reason is that it is clear that Biden is extremely close to Obama - more so than Kerry.
By the way 
Last edited Sun Jan 29, 2017, 03:32 AM - Edit history (3)
