Apparently Australian Foreign Minister (and my Member of Parliament) Stephen Smith hit it off really well with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. So well that he invited her to Perth to hang out.
Well, today’s the day.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Perth later today.
Dr Rice will be in Perth for about 18 hours, and a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says she will attend a dinner tonight and an event tomorrow before flying to New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith invited Dr Rice to Perth when the pair met in January this year.
He says while the visit will include official business, he plans to show Dr Rice the sights of Perth during her stay.
It is her only Australian destination after the ASEAN meeting in Singapore.
So what’s she getting up to over here?
- Testing the waters for asylum in Australia, in anticipation of her indictment for war crimes at the Hague in 2010
- Investigating the effects of global warming first-hand, at the beach
- Surprise appearance at the Big Brother house, checking out how surveillance is really done
- Just taking it easy, not moving too fast, seeing how things go before making any big decisions
- Seeing if the economy is any better here, after having messed up everything in the USA
- The cabaret at Club West — not that there’s anything wrong with that.
UPDATE: It appears that she’ll be dining at the UWA University House, mere minutes from where I’ll be working late into the night. They’ll likely confiscate my red spray paint that was intended to symbolise the blood of the nations.
24 July 2008 at 5:16 am
Of course she’ll be going to Club Cabaret Daniel. From what I hear they do some extraordinary renditions there.
Remember to tip your waitress…
25 July 2008 at 2:49 am
I expect action… and I expect to hear about it.
25 July 2008 at 7:05 am
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close enough to make a citizen’s arrest. Though if I had, there would have been plenty of police around to deliver her to. And just standing around, too. Don’t you think an arrest would have been up to them? Which told me that the police largely serve to protect the powerful.
25 July 2008 at 9:05 pm
You mean kinda like the WTO in Seattle. Lovely to know we have freedom of speach unless powerful people from other countries show up in town and then we need to keep our mouths shut.