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Bill's $500,000 Kuwait Lecture
"While international finance institutions count their losses in the billions,” the Kuwaiti newspaper reported, “the National Bank of Kuwait stole the limelight yesterday to host a guest who tried to put a brave face on an economic crisis that has driven the American economy to the brink of recession."
In the speech, Clinton offered the view that the price of a barrel of oil should “ideally” be between $80 and $100, but “negative psychology” around the world had pushed the price to below $60, according to the bank's press release.
Asked whether his wife should become secretary of state, Clinton replied, “"If [Obama] decided to ask her and they did it together, I think she'll be really great as a secretary of state. She worked very hard for his election after the primary fight with him, and so did I, and we were very glad that he won and we have a lot of confidence that he can do a good job. But she didn't do what she did with the hope or expectation of getting any kind of job offer, much less having this discussed."
Awan reported that the bank, which hosted a similar lecture last year by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said attendees of the Clinton lecture, delivered at the Sheraton Hotel, also “heard…the changes expected under the new president in regards to regional hot spots such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon.”
Previous speakers at NBK events include former President George H. W. Bush and former British Prime Minister John Major.
Since leaving the White House in 2001, Bill Clinton has raised more than $353 million for the William J. Clinton Foundation, which finances his presidential library in Little Rock, as well as his global anti-AIDS charity. He has also received donations from the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a foundation linked to the United Arab Emirates, and the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, The New York Times reported last year. In 2002 he was paid $750,000 for speaking at the Jeddah Economic Forum.
Clinton's presidential library in Little Rock has received about 10 percent of its $165 million fundraising effort from foreign sources, with the most generous overseas donation coming from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi royal family gave the library about $10 million, about the same amount it gave to the presidential library of George H.W. Bush.
Salameh Nematt is the International Editor of The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington Bureau Chief for Al Hayat International Arab daily, where he reported on U.S. foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the U.S. drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Salameh Nematt is an international writer for The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
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Salameh Nematt is an international writer for The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
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Salameh Nematt is an international writer for The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
Mr. Nematt
While i respect you as a journalist but i have to say that your article above is nothing but a misleading piece. I expected from a renowned journalist as yourself to present more accurate information to the American public. As an Arabic speaker myself i tried finding the news article you have based your whole article on. To my dismay i discovered i it does not exist which explains why the link you have provided links back to your article.
There are two articles on Awan's website discussing the issues mentioned above; the first reports what Clinton said in his speech in Kuwait without mentioning the $500,000 you have mentioned above. The other is a translated article from the Washington Post containing an analysis of Hillary's future if she is chosen Sec. of State (which also does not mention the numbers you have provided above or give any new piece of information we have not heard in the American media).
Maybe Clinton actually received $500,00, but i would appreciate it if you would attribute whatever info you provide to real sources next time.
Wow, well this is bullshit news. It should be completely irrelevant where Bill Clinton decides to give speeches. The fact that people are trying to invent a talking point out of this proves the worthlessness of our news media
I disagree, this is a taste of the sick and twisted world of globalization. The shrewd Obama has opened this door for us all to see. My hat's off to him. I hope more people wake up and realize the Clintons are Captains in the army of the "One World Order" the Neo-Cons are the Lieutenants and Bush Jr. is a corporal ....Hitler was a corporal too....
If Bill Clinton was getting 500.000 for teaching the Arabs to turn salt water to drinking water, How would it have been seen by the talking heads?
Are "we" paying security for Clinton world wide travel? Security costs for travel outside US for paid speeches should be covered by Clinton.
Is $500,000 too much?
The value is what someone is willing to pay.
I run a public speaking /presentation training company and speak myself. Of course, I would have done it for half that.
Bill Clinton delivers though. He embodies exactly what great communicators have, and what business leaders reading the blog must have:
The audience needs to move through 4 key areas:
-The need to UNDERSTAND the messages
-They need to REMEMBER the key messages
-ACTION should be created in an audience
-Ideally, the audience will be able to PASS ON the information to others.
Jess Todtfeld
Media Training Worldwide
The speech money is how powerful people run bribes and payoffs through the system.
I actually attended this speech a few days ago. I personally thought it was an OK speech at most, but the real value came from the Q&A session, which covered everything from Middle East issues to Hillary's job offer to new world powers.
A few points really came out, and his passion and ability to analyze global politics came through during this session much more than the typical speech which basically recounted the financial crisis and how it happened.
The full details of the speech are on my website http://www.kuwaitism.com/2008/11/17/bill-clinton-speech-at-nbk-annual-sympo sium/
Thank you.
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