Republican presidential contender John McCain said he would meet with leaders of Iran and North Korea only if the encounter would guarantee a US win.
"The logic is, you don't want to do something that enhances the image and prestige of someone who is your adversary, OK?" McCain told reporters traveling with him on a four-day campaign trip to northern New Hampshire.
The Arizona senator said on Friday there could be disastrous results if the outcome of meetings with any hostile leaders were not predetermined.
"Are you going to accomplish something? That's the key. If you're going to go in and you're confident you are going to accomplish something, fine, do it," he said. "Know what the outcome is going to be so you're not embarrassed by the person you're talking to walking out and embarrassing [you] and enhancing their own prestige."
The subject of meeting with leaders hostile to the US dominated weeks of the Democrats' debate between senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton said she would not meet with hostile leaders without condition; Obama said he would.
McCain would not say Clinton was correct.
His top aide, Mark Salter, helped him move past the subject with a joke about Clinton changing her politcal stances.
McCain said former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's approach was one to follow.
"Kissinger never scheduled a meeting that he didn't know exactly what the outcome was and what was going to be said at the end," the senator said.
Too many of his peers are placing a premium on their ability to conduct person-to-person diplomacy, McCain said.
He cited as an example US president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
"When Roosevelt said: `I like Uncle Joe and if we're nice to him, he'll be nice to us,' I don't think he understood Uncle Joe," McCain said.
"Too often, people think that because they have this good personal relationships, that it somehow is going to affect -- that their relationship will affect their national security policy. I think it opens lines of communication," he said. "I think it's vastly overrated."
McCain also said that officials "freelancing" on foreign policy hurt the country.
"We elect one president. When senators and members of Congress start freelancing, it's always a mistake," he said.
McCain said he was confused about Clinton's vow to send Democrats and Republicans abroad as goodwill ambassadors.
"I would have a tendency to ask people to have a specific mission, rather than just saying: `Why don't you go over and be real nice to the folks in Yemen?'" he said.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS