Briefing Skipper: Holbrooke, Eikenberry, Zelaya, Ethiopia

In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. Here are the highlights of today's briefing by Department Spokesman Ian Kelly:

• Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke is traveling to Berlin, Paris, Munich, and then Moscow, before he goes to Afghanistan for the re-inauguration of President Hamid Karzai. "These routine meetings are part of continued efforts to stay in close touch with allies and partners on Afghanistan and Pakistan," Kelly said, not to talk about the Russian lethal transit agreement.
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the Philippines and met with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo. She announced $5 million in new funds for schools and to help recover from recent natural disasters. She also apparently defended the agreement that allows U.S. forces to operate there.
• No comment on the leaked memo from U.S. Ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry which warned against new troops until Afghan government corruption was addressed. "We really have to be sure that this kind of advice that they're giving remains confidential," said Kelly.
• Assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Craig Kelly is back from Honduras, where he met with ousted president Manuel Zelaya and de facto regime leader Roberto Micheletti. No agreement yet to implement the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord, which both sides apparently agreed to on October 30.
• No comment on reports that the IAEA believes that Iran has very seriously slowed down its enrichment processes. Also, still no official response from Iran to the IAEA's proposal on transferring uranium to a third country for enrichment.
• Ambassador Stephen Bosworth will go to Pyongyang "fairly soon," Kelly said mysteriously.
• The U.S. has no official position on the possible postponement of the Palestinian Authority elections. "It's up to the Palestinians themselves to decide when the best time is to have these elections," Kelly said.
• The State Department is "monitoring" but not investigating allegations that Ethiopia has politicized and therefore abused distribution of $479 million in food and anti-poverty aid they've received from the U.S. "Personnel from U.S. embassy in audits are increasing their field visits to observe how the assistance is distributed," Kelly said, "And they're aware of these allegations, so they're conducting these monitoring activities specifically with these allegations in mind."