Talk:Antony Blinken

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Speculation on appointment as Secretary of State under Biden Administration

Just as a point of information - The Hill includes some speculation that Blnken will be named Secretary of State/ It's pretty common that there is lots of speculation about cabinet-vevel appointments, and I don't think this rises to the level that it should be included in the Wikipedia article, yet. We might however keep an eye out for less speculative statements, as well as to clean up the article before it becomes front page news. On a brief view of the article, the only thing I noticed is the sentence, "During the 1988 presidential campaign, Blinken worked with his father in fundraisers for Michael Dukakis.[3]" This might refer to either his biological father Donald M. Blinken or his step-father Samuel Pisar, so should be checked and rewritten. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 14:27, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I checked out the long article referenced for the Dukakis sentence. [1] It's an amazingly detailed article and I suggest people go over it if they have questions on Tony Blinken's background. It mentions, and interweaves his history with both his father Donald Blinken, and his his step-father Samuel Pisar. The father sentence probably refers to Donald Blinken, but just says "father". I'll rewrite the sentence "During the 1988 presidential campaign, Blinken worked with his father Donald in fundraisers for Michael Dukakis.[3]" Smallbones_(smalltalk) 15:23, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest we move to change the article so that it states Blinken as the Nominee for Secretary of State. This is no longer speculation, many credible sources have said that Blinken is expected to be named Secretary of State by Biden. --JG4236 (talk) 03:17, 23 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed move

I suggest moving to "Antony Blinken". NYT uses Antony, as does FT. "Antony Blinken" gets ~20,000+ more ghits than "Tony Blinken". AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 03:02, 23 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Obama administration section

I can't find this quote anywhere in the article source or in the Brookings Institution speech transcript it references.

"demonstrate to the Russian people that there is a very hefty fine for supporting international criminals like [Putin]."

Article: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2014/06/06/antony-blinken-for-russia-bloom-will-come-off-crimean-rose/ Transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2014/06/06/antony-blinken-for-russia-bloom-will-come-off-crimean-rose/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dmbco87 (talk • contribs) 04:45, 23 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Dmbco87: I've had a look at the actual transcript and couldn't find any reference to that passage and after doing a Google search for that phrase, have found only sources from the 'World Socialist Web Site' and 'WikiBio'. It's unclear whether they used Wikipedia as a source for their articles and are not exactly reputable sources. Good spot! I've found the edit that caused this and the IP editor seems to have a history of adding unsourced information. I'll remove the passage.

Sdrqaz (talk) 19:12, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No mention of Iraq in article

Blinken was Biden's FOREIGN POLICY advisor when Biden voted for the Iraq war. Now Biden wants him for Secretary of State. Why is there no mention of this superb advising that Blinken did in the article? 46.109.77.155 (talk) 12:57, 23 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blinken appears to have been a staff director for the Foreign Relations Committee during the AUMF vote and not a foreign policy advisor for Biden personally. If you want to take issue with his "superb advising", perhaps here is not the place to do it.

Sdrqaz (talk) 23:15, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

After I posted the original comment, someone finally mentioned Iraq in a sentence in the article. Good that this minor peripheral foreign affairs issue of the past 20 years finally is slightly mentioned in the article on the man who will be the Secretary of State and was intimately involved in Iraq-related decisions.46.109.77.155 (talk) 21:24, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Date/incumbent in infobox

I tried sorting out the infobox to tidy it up a bit, but I'm not sure why it shows his status as incumbent (I've put his start date as January 2021). I know he might not be confirmed until February, so January is just a provisional date. — Preceding unsigned comment added by GibbNotGibbs (talk • contribs) 16:00, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

We should not state anywhere in the article—including in the infobox—that he is Secretary of State until he is confirmed. See WP:CRYSTAL. AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 18:34, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@AleatoryPonderings: Not even if he is Secretary of State-designate? (Blinken is already listen as the nominated successor on the Mike Pompeo page). --GibbNotGibbs (talk) 19:47, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

GibbNotGibbs, Is Secretary of State–designate a legal term used in reliable sources? AFAIK, Blinken can either be: (1) the nominee to be Secretary of State (which I don't think he can be yet, since Biden isn't yet president, and hence does not have the power to nominate); or (2) or the Secretary of State (which, of course, he can't be until the Senate confirms him, which is not guaranteed). AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 20:04, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Passage on Turkey

I'm a little wary of the following passage:

Blinken described Erdoğan's Turkey as a NATO ally with which the United States will have to "find ways to work more effectively together". He said the U.S. should support Turkey in its fight against the PKK, a Kurdish separatist movement deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey.

I'm wary because it is cited to TRT World. A 2019 RfC described the reliability of this source as follows:

Consensus exists that TRT World is reliable for statements regarding the official views of the Turkish government but not reliable for subjects with which the Turkish government could be construed to have a conflict of interest. For other miscellaneous cases, it shall be assumed to be reliable enough.

I think this passage is something about which the Turkish government could have a COI. What do others think? AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 21:13, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@AleatoryPonderings: While I am not familiar with TRT World, I'll defer to the RfC. The first half of the quote seems accurate, as it is supported by a transcript of an interview in July.^[1] A 2017 opinion piece authored by Blinken in The New York Times seems to support the second half of the quote.^[2] I would advise replacing the TRT World source with those two and removing the "deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey" part so there isn't a conflict of interest.

Sdrqaz (talk) 23:06, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Sdrqaz! I've replaced the old sourcing with those refs. Since it's primary, I tagged the NYT piece with {{Third-party inline}}; would be good to have an independent source that corroborates Blinken's view. AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 23:35, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@AleatoryPonderings: That seems fine by me. I've removed Erdoğan from the text because Blinken seems to be talking about Turkey in general rather than Erdoğan's Turkey. I would say that in this instance, the opinion piece is fine as a source since we are using it to describe his points of view (WP:NIS).

Sdrqaz (talk) 00:00, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

AleatoryPonderings, regarding this edit Blinken wrote in the opinion piece that the P.K.K. is a terrorist group that has plagued Turkey for decades and Mr. Trump should double down on support for Turkey’s fight against the P.K.K., including helping find the group’s leadership holed up in Iraq’s Qandil Mountains. The text of the page regarding how the U.S. should support Turkey in its fight against the P.K.K. seems pretty accurate when compared to what Blinken wrote in the opinion piece. Sdrqaz (talk) 15:10, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sdrqaz, That's true. However, I'm reluctant to put it back in, and here's why. That op-ed is structured around five separate points related to US support for Turkey in the context of military operations against Isil. It looks like WP:OR to me to highlight that one point to the exclusion of others (and also risks taking it out of context—it's not clear from that short quote wheter Blinken means that US anti-PKK operations should be ongoing, or just in the context of anti-Isil operations, for instance). The reason we require independent, secondary sources is precisely to avoid editors WP:CHERRYPICKING quotes that they like to the exclusion of others. (Not accusing you of doing that, of course—just making the general point.) Accordingly, I'd be inclined to excise the whole paragraph, since it's just selective quotes from public statements Blinken has made. We should either find a third-party description of his views on Turkey or wait until one arrives. AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 16:10, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Mead, Walter Russell (July 9, 2020). "Transcript: Dialogues on American Foreign Policy and World Affairs: A Conversation with Former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken". Hudson Institute. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
^ Blinken, Antony J. (January 31, 2017). "To Defeat ISIS, Arm the Syrian Kurds". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2020.

CIA

So Blinken went to Dalton School, where Epstein taught & Bill Barr's father was principal and CIA and then Bill Barr and Blinken's father both went to Horace Mann School In NYC (albeit at different times).--87.170.193.89 (talk) 16:23, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, many people have attended both of those schools. WP:NOTFORUM. AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 16:29, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Mead, Walter Russell (July 9, 2020). "Transcript: Dialogues on American Foreign Policy and World Affairs: A Conversation with Former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken". Hudson Institute. Retrieved November 24, 2020.

[2] Blinken, Antony J. (January 31, 2017). "To Defeat ISIS, Arm the Syrian Kurds". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2020.

[1]

[2]