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SUNDAY 8 MARCH - DAY 48 - obamadiehard - 03-10-2009 10:06 AM
1830 EST Back from her travels
The overall theme of Hillary Clinton's second trip abroad was further outreach and more public diplomacy.
In the Middle East, she attracted smaller crowds overall than during her Asia trip but she was still immensely popular and often got effusive applause.
The outreach was meant for both foes and allies. She tried to rekindle strained ties with Europe and Turkey, she worked to thaw relations with Russia but crucially, in a clear break with the Bush administration, she reached out, in public to Iran and Syria.
She invited Tehran to attend a conference on Afghanistan later this month. The Iranians have said they will attend.
And she sent two senior envoys to Damascus, which has had icy ties with Washington for almost five years.
Will engagement yield results? It's still too early to tell. But Hillary Clinton's strategy is this, in her own words: "Something positive might actually happen. You never know. But if you stand at opposite sides of the room and refuse to engage, it's guaranteed nothing will happen."