Smart Diplomacy: Hillary Goes Off Script, Clarifications Follow

We seem to be hearing quite a lot of this.

At a press conference in New Delhi on July 20, she was asked by an Indian reporter whether the United States opposed the transfer of sensitive reprocessing and enrichment nuclear technology from India to other countries.

"Well, clearly, we don't," she said. "We have just completed a civil nuclear deal with India. So if it's done within the appropriate channels and carefully safeguarded, as it is in the case of India, then that is appropriate."

The Indian reporter got excited, because what he heard was a policy change. Since the beginning of the U.S.-Indian negotiations on the civil nuclear deal in 2005, both the Bush and Obama administrations have refused to allow India to transfer sensitive technology, citing proliferation concerns. Now Mrs. Clinton was saying the opposite.

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Biden, just back from a trip to Georgia and the Ukraine, said that Russian leaders are "clinging to something in the past," and dismissed Russia's claim to a sphere of influence extending to neighboring countries. “It’s a very difficult thing to deal with, loss of empire,” said Biden.

Sergei Prikhodko, the chief foreign policy adviser to President Medvedev, shot back: “The question is: who is shaping the U.S. foreign policy, the president or respectable members of his team?”

It wasn't immediately clear if Biden's aggressive, and extended, comments represented a broader change of U.S. tone or policy, and the White House hasn't offered any comment on the interview.