Posted on 03/15/2017 3:29:18 PM PDT by mdittmar
Good question. Certainly not jealous.
I wouldn’t exclude human nature...
Nothing to stop the media from buying their own tickets to Asia.
The following is from a few days ago, State Dept Q&A briefing.
MODERATOR: Thanks. And – excuse me – yeah, David, so, as you know, members of the U.S. media are going to be traveling commercially to all three locations – Japan, Korea, and China – in order to cover the trip. And we’re going to provide transportation, lodging, and logistic support on the ground to try to accommodate and ensure that they can cover the Secretary. I mean, all of you know, essentially, that we’re taking a much smaller plane, and so the Secretary’s overall footprint in terms of who he can accommodate or who we can accommodate on the plane is somewhat limited.
[...]
And with respect to whether there is any space for press on the plane, I just can’t speak to that at that time – at this time definitively. Again, we’re still trying to iron out the logistics and finalize the logistics for who’s on – actually on the plane. But I think going forward, as I said yesterday, it’s going to be a priority for this Secretary to try to include a contingent of media on his future trips.
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/03/268355.htm
Note how the State Department is “provid[ing] transportation, lodging, and logistic support on the ground” for the press. Just not having them fly on the same plane.
I wonder if the smaller plane is because they don’t trust that the normal SoS bigger plane is bugged.
>>I wonder if the smaller plane is because they don’t trust that the normal SoS bigger plane is bugged.<<
Probably they’re taking a smaller plane so they can say they’re not taking the press on the plane with them because they’re using a smaller plane.
This is a great reminder that the SoS job description does not include preening for the cameras and issuing a statement every time the world has a hangnail. Very refreshing, after the Pantsuit/HorseyFace tag team.
Yep. John Foster Dulles can finally stop rolling in his grave.
What little I know about diplomacy would include that the best talks with a potential friend would not be in front of a camera. Tillerson seems like a person that has his best moments with others in more private settings. He has a record of results negotiating business deals with other nations. His style needs to be encouraged.
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