Foreign Policy

Briefing Skipper: IAEA, Clinton trip, Somalia, North Korea
Fri, 10/02/2009 – 6:12pm

In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily
presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of today’s
briefing by spokesman Ian Kelly:

* IAEA Director Mohammed ElBaradei will go to Tehran this weekend to
work out the details of the plan to ship Iran’s low-enriched uranium
to some other country, Kelly said, but he claimed not know anything
about reports that Iran is denying they agreed to the scheme. "They
agreed in principle to do it, is my understanding," he said. The next
meeting is in Vienna on Oct. 18.
* Iran and North Korea will likely be a part of Secretary
Clinton’s agenda on her upcoming trip to Moscow, Kelly said, along
with a host of other issues. There are rumors today that she might
stop in Prague and Warsaw, but informed sources tell The Cable that
the yet- unannounced possible stop on the trip next week is Zurich and
it would be on the 10th if the Turks and Armenians come to an
agreement on restoring diplomatic relations.
* Amb. Phil Goldberg, coordinator for implementation of
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 (related to North Korean arms
proliferation), was in the UAE yesterday to discuss the resolution,
along with Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Danny Glaser and
others. The delegation will meet with Egyptian officials in Cairo
Sunday. The jet-setting Goldberg has already been to Malaysia, South
Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.
* Bad news on the fate of missing Vice Consul James Hogan in
Curacao. The police there found his bloody clothes and cell phone on
the beach.
* The U.S. has not suspended some $50 million of aid to Somalia,
as the New York Times reported today, according to Kelly. "We are, of
course, aware of the possibility that some of this aid is going
through areas that are controlled by al-Shabab, which, of course, is a
designated terrorist organization," said Kelly, but said the food aid
continues and was only paused
Secretary of State James Steinberg is back from his whirlwind tour of
Asia, but still no decision on whether to have one-on-one talks with
the North Koreans.