Making peace with the MILF
Grappling with the alphabet stew of world insurgencies can have its pitfalls.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discovered as much Friday as she fielded questions about the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during a town hall-style gathering in Manila. MILF has the same acronym as an obscene phrase that gained currency in recent years. It was used in a Saturday Night Live political sketch last year in which characters playing Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton criticized sexism in the U.S. election campaign.
Questioned repeatedly about peace efforts with the MILF in the southern Philippines, Clinton struggled with how to speak the acronym.
“I’m encouraged by what I hear about the progress in the peace efforts that are going on between the government and MILF,” Clinton said, pronouncing it like a word — the same way as the acronym for the obscene phrase.
Then she switched and adopted the local usage — saying the letters individually.
Clinton said the time seemed ripe for a peace deal with the MILF, which has been fighting the Manila government for nearly 30 years.
She urged both sides to work to clinch an agreement while the timing is right, noting how Middle East peace efforts had been idle for years after her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, failed to secure a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians in the late 1990s.
Clinton finds ‘Hillary fans and fanatics’ in Philippines
If you’re a hard-traveling foreign secretary and need a place to recharge your batteries after a week of diplomacy, the Philippines seems to be the place to go.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got an enthusiastic welcome on arrival in the capital Manila Thursday after a week of visits that included stops in Berlin and Singapore.
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo called her “the most popular foreign secretary the world over.”
“The Filipinos love her,” he told a news conference. “I told her that there are Hillary fans and fanatics here.”
To demonstrate the point, she was greeted by a couple thousand cheering school students when she visited Malanday High School in suburban Marikina.
The school was inundated during massive flooding in September that left the first floor of the multi-story building under water.
The school has been receiving U.S. aid to help it get back on its feet, including desks, fans and some 50,000 books. Clinton brought with her a pledge of another $5.2 million in flood relief for the Philippines, which has been hit in quick succession by Tropical Storm Ketsana, Typhoon Parma and Typhoon Mirinae.
Not all who turned out to greet Clinton were “fans and fanatics.”
Check out BBC News “Day in Pictures” and flip to Image 11.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8 356612.stm
Well said msouth. I love the way the American legal system works. Guilty until proven innocent. Trial by public opinion, and allegations equal facts. A shining beacon of truth and democracy.