The new Secretary of State Madeleine Albright went before the
Congress on February 11 to request a slight increase in funding
for the State Department to a total of $19.45 billion. According
to Albright, this amount is required to "sustain U.S.
leadership." She said over the last few years, the State
Department has cut more than 2,000 employees, closed more than 30
embassies and consulates and deferred modernization of
infrastructure and communications. According to Albright, "Force,
being a blunt instrument and one with sometimes extreme
consequences, cannot solve all our problems. There will be many
occasions, in many places, where we rely on diplomacy to protect
our interests, and we will expect our diplomats to defend those
interests with skill, knowledge and spine," she said.
U.S. Issues Diplomatic Warning to Russia Based on "Intelligence
Reports"
Quoting "senior Clinton administration officials," the Los
Angeles Times said that during talks last week between U.S. Vice
President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
in Moscow, the U.S. issued Moscow a diplomatic warning about
"Russian assistance to Iran's missile programme that potentially
could threaten U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, several Gulf allies
and Israel."
It claims that "intelligence reports" indicate that Russia
recently transferred to Iran technology "for the Russian SS-4
missile which has a range almost three times greater than that of
any missile now in Iran's arsenal." According to "Israeli
officials," the transfer "basically involved detailed
instructions on how to construct the missile's delivery system"
but also contained "some parts for an SS-4 missile which has a
range of 1,250 miles."
Chernomydrin denied any such transfer which he said "would
be in violation of a 1994 pledge by Russian President Boris
Yeltsin not to engage in further arms sales to Tehran."
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
