State Dept Embarrassed During Debate With Reporter Over Asian Countries Aligning With China
State Department spokesman John Kirby struggled Tuesday when he debated Associated Press reporter Matt Lee over the number of Asian countries that are now aligning with China instead of the United States.
After Malaysia signed multiple new deals with China this week, including the purchase of ships and a railroad line, questions began to swirl if Malaysia was aligning more with China. The Philippines announced last month its intention to forge closer ties with China and move away from the U.S.
“I don’t want to get too conceptual here, but what do you mean it’s not born out by the facts that countries in greater numbers in Southeast Asia are becoming friendlier with China?” Lee asked at the State Department daily press briefing. “I mean it’s completely born out by the facts.”
“Name them,” Kirby said.Flesh wound m'lord?
“Well, the Philippines for one,” Lee said before reciting a list that included Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia.
“Okay, so we have two or three, four, whatever,” Kirby said. “There’s a lot of nations in the Asian-Pacific region.”
“There’s only ten in ASEAN,” Lee said.
ASEAN, an acronym for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a regional economic organization that seeks to promote better coordination between the ten member states. All five of the countries that Lee mentioned are ASEAN members.
Kirby then said he did not deny that countries were reaching out more to China but said it was not a bad development for the United States....
Previously:
Dec. 28, 2015
UPDATED--"State Department Lists 'Bringing Peace, Security to Syria' Among Top 2015 Accomplishments"
Cool, peace in our time, I can roll with that....
...Update-
It's all in the conjugation! You have your Present participle - bringing vs your Past participle - brought.
And the whole present (continuous) progressive tense and the gerund and you can see where I jumped to conclusions can't you?
From The Hill's blog briefing room:
State Department defends naming 'bringing peace' to Syria as 2015 win
The State Department is defending naming "bringing peace" to Syria as one of its 2015 accomplishments.
The claim was made in a Dec. 24 blog post written by John Kirby, the assistant secretary of State for the bureau of public affairs.
Deputy spokesman Mark Toner on Monday called it a "truthful claim."
"Now look, the operative word there is bringing, not brought, so we're bringing peace and security to Syria," he told reporters, adding that it's a "mistaken impression" to think that Kirby is implying that the country's multi-pronged conflict has been resolved.
On Saturday I happened to mention (Admiral) John Kirby:Kirby, in the blog post, noted that while the Syrian conflict "has continued to unfold in tragic ways," the United States has given humanitarian aid and pushed for a political transition....MORE
The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, has become a bit of a favorite among the connoisseurs of foreign ministry spokespersons.*
Current U.S. spokesman, Admiral Kirby, is a very dim bulb in comparison.**
She can kick ass on Secretary Kerry's minion in Russian, English or Chinese....Now if I verb the noun 'bullshit', can I demand the spokesman rotate on the pluperfect as he spins and spins?
For good fun here's the reverso conjugator.
*The Moscow Times doesn't approve of her rather blunt and undiplomatic
style but gives a pretty good flavor of what's changed since she took
the top spot:
Russian Foreign Ministry Gets New, Outspoken Mouthpiece
**Kirby's predecessor, Marie Harf always came across as though she was doing an SNL sketch.
Do click the Harf link and see if you don't agree.
And the reverso conjugator? It's just awesome.
Russian Foreign Ministry Gets New, Outspoken Mouthpiece
**Kirby's predecessor, Marie Harf always came across as though she was doing an SNL sketch.
Do click the Harf link and see if you don't agree.
And the reverso conjugator? It's just awesome.
