United Nations

Check out the signs in front of Secretary Clinton in the photo above: "President" and "United States."

Secretary Clinton got to preside over a session of the U.N. Security Council today because the United States holds the rotating presidency this month. She called for a vote on a resolution to end wartime sexual violence, and it passed unanimously.

Then in a speech, she declared:

Even though women and children are rarely responsible for initiating armed conflict, they are often war's most vulnerable and violated victims."

She also said: 

The dehumanizing nature of sexual violence doesn't just harm a single individual or a single family or even a single village or a single group; it shreds the fabric that weaves us together as human beings."

After Clinton ended the speech, a humorous moment (captured on this video) ensued. She said, "I resume now my function as president of the council. I kind of like being a president. So this may go on a little longer than anticipated."

The diplomats laughed, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "Thank you, Madam President."

In other Clinton-related news, American essayist and political activist Gore Vidal has revealed that he regrets shifting his support from Clinton to Barack Obama during last year's Democratic presidential primary. In an interview with The Times of London, he said he thinks Clinton would have been a better president and said:

Hillary knows more about the world and what to do with the generals. History has proven when the girls get involved, they're good at it. Elizabeth I knew Raleigh would be a good man to give a ship to."

Secretary Clinton had another busy day in New York. Above, she listens attentively during a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (in purple tie) at the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

A couple of amusing tidbits about Clinton in the news:

•In the just-published book, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage, author Christopher Andersen claims that Michelle Obama was crucial in Barack Obama's decision not to select Clinton as his running mate during last year's presidential election. Michelle reportedly told Barack, "Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House? … Could you live with that?"

•In the soon-to-be-published book The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch discusses how late Russian President Boris Yeltsin was found drunk and in search of a pizza on Pennsylvania Avenue during a 1995 visit to Washington. Yeltsin's former head of security says the alleged incident is a lie and blamed it on Clinton: "I think this book was written with the participation of Hillary Clinton who never had much sympathy for Yeltsin."

Photo: Olivier Doulier-Pool/Getty Images

Secretary Clinton is having a busy week at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Above, she speaks with the much taller Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt upon their arrival for a meeting with EU foreign ministers at the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

Another Clinton, however, seems to be getting a lot more attention this week -- husband Bill. He's hosting the fifth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, which President Obama attend today. FP editor Josh Keating attended a "blogger roundtable" with Bill Clinton yesterday and will be blogging from the General Assembly all this week. (Check out Passport for his posts.)

Photos, top to bottom: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images, TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

I just returned from the Brookings Institution, where I heard Secretary Clinton deliver a speech previewing the United States' priorities during next week's U.N. General Assembly session.

Before diving into her speech though, Clinton remarked on President Obama's announcement yesterday of changes in the U.S. missile defense program. She said the new system stemmed from a "lengthy and in-depth assessment" of the threats posed by Iran and is based on the United States' "best understanding of Iran's capability."

The new system will "deploy sooner," be "more comprehensive," and have a "better capacity to protect." Clinton said it will "deploy technology that's actually proven" to work and "does what missile defense is actually supposed to do." She added that criticisms of the new system are "not connected to the facts."

Then Clinton delved into her official remarks. Nonproliferation of nuclear weapons will be the main topic that the United States will address next week. Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation to a conference on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the first time that a U.S. secretary of state has attended such a conference.

Another key topic for the United States next week will be Iran. The issue isn't Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, she said. Rather, she firmly stressed, the problem is that for years Iran has not lived up to its responsibilities to demonstrate that its program is "exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Clinton said that the United States' past refusal to engage Iran had yielded no progress and added, "We remain ready to engage." (Whether Iran is ready to engage on talking nukes, however, is an entirely different story.)

Some other tidbits:

•Clinton said the United States and Iraq have entered a new, "more mature partnership."

•Clinton will be chairing a session on women, peace, and security at the U.N. General Assembly session. She said, "If women are free from violence and afforded their rights," they can be "change agents."

•On corruption, Clinton said it was a "security problem," not just a "good government concern."

•Finally, at the end, Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott asked Clinton about U.S. health-care reform. Clinton said, "We're going to be successful," but went on to say it "won't be pretty."

Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

A few Clinton-related news articles:

•Secretary Clinton and the U.S. State Department are trying to find accommodations for Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, who'll be visiting New York for next month's U.N. General Assembly meeting. He prefers to erect Bedouin-style air-conditioned tents, such as this tent he set up in Paris in 2007, but his request to camp in Central Park was rejected. Now, he wants to put down stakes at a Libyan-owned estate in Englewood, N.J., but residents don't want to host the leader who just embraced the recently released Pam Am Flight 103 bomber.

•"Hillary's Right About the 'Defense Umbrella'" argues a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Referring to the "defense umbrella" that Clinton said the United States should consider extending over the Middle East to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions, the piece argues that Clinton has "the right idea," but that the Obama administration must put its money where its mouth is and support missile defense, not scale it back.

•The finance chairman of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign has been accused of fraud for allegedly lying to Citibank to secure a $74 million loan.

Photo: GLENNA GORDON/AFP/Getty Images