John Kerry

Here is an article that is on the SA press conference with JK and the SA FM. The ONLY thing that DU has focused on is that after giving a very short nod to US values, he did not go after SA on not letting women drive. This article gives a lot of context to the probable reason why.

He was there to soothe the relationship - while NOT caving to SA on Syria and Iran. This is really a case of picking your battles - and the SOS chose Iran and Syria - which are where SA was seeking to influence OUR behavior. His comments on Syria are the strongest I have read to date from any Obama administration person.

[div class = "excerpt"]
In what may have been the frankest description to date of administration views, Kerry said at the news conference that “absent a negotiated solution, we don’t see a lot of ways to end the violence that are implementable or palatable to us, because we don’t have the legal authority or justification or the desire, at this point, to get in the middle of the civil war.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/kerry-meets-with-saudi-king-abdullah-amid-policy-differences-on-mideast-issues/2013/11/04/4dbf204a-4554-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story_1.html

I did not see this article before the hyper thread on DU that focused only on Kerry not blasting SA on the women issue. I am putting this here in case it comes up again or if the more important issue of Syria does. (This and the online addition to the 60 minutes piece saying essentially the same thing are good to have.)