Antony John Blinken was born on April 16,1962 and is an American government official and diplomat serving since January 26,2021 as the 71st United States secretary of state.
71 Facts About Antony Blinken
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Antony Blinken previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under President Barack Obama.
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Antony Blinken was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2001 to 2002.
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Antony Blinken advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008.
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From 2009 to 2013, Antony Blinken served as deputy assistant to the president and national security advisor to the vice president.
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Antony Blinken returned to government first as a foreign policy advisor for Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, then as Biden's pick for secretary of state, a position the Senate confirmed him for on January 26,2021.
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Antony Blinken's paternal grandfather, Maurice Henry Blinken, was an early backer of Israel who studied its economic viability, and his great-grandfather was Meir Blinken, a Yiddish writer.
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Antony Blinken attended Dalton School in New York City until 1971.
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Antony Blinken then moved to Paris with his mother Judith and Samuel Pisar, whom she married following her divorce from Blinken.
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Antony Blinken attended Harvard University from 1980 to 1984, where he majored in social studies.
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Antony Blinken co-edited Harvard's daily student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, and wrote a number of articles on current affairs.
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Antony Blinken earned a JD from Columbia Law School in 1988 and practiced law in New York City and Paris.
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Antony Blinken worked with his father to raise funds for Michael Dukakis, the Democratic nominee in the 1988 United States presidential election.
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Antony Blinken has held senior foreign policy positions in two administrations over two decades.
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Antony Blinken was a member of the National Security Council staff from 1994 to 2001.
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From 1994 to 1998, Antony Blinken was special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning and NSC senior director for speechwriting.
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Antony Blinken assisted then-Senator Joe Biden, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in formulating Biden's support for the US invasion of Iraq, with Antony Blinken characterizing the vote to invade Iraq as "a vote for tough diplomacy".
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Antony Blinken was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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From 2009 to 2013, Antony Blinken was deputy assistant to the president and national security advisor to the Vice President.
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Antony Blinken was sworn in as deputy national security advisor, succeeding Denis McDonough, on January 20,2013.
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On December 16,2014, Antony Blinken was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of State by the Senate by a vote of 55 to 38.
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Antony Blinken was influential in formulating the Obama administration's response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
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Antony Blinken supported the 2011 military intervention in Libya and the supply of weapons to Syrian rebels.
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In June 2015, Antony Blinken claimed that more than ten thousand ISIL fighters had been killed by American-led airstrikes against the Islamic State since a US-led coalition launched a campaign against it nine months ago.
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In 2017, Antony Blinken co-founded WestExec Advisors, a political strategy advising firm, with Michele Flournoy, Sergio Aguirre, and Nitin Chadda.
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Antony Blinken went on leave from Pine Island in August 2020 to join the Biden campaign as a senior foreign policy advisor.
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Antony Blinken said he would divest himself of his equity stake in Pine Island if confirmed for a position in the Biden administration.
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Antony Blinken is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was previously a global affairs analyst for CNN.
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Antony Blinken was a foreign policy advisor for Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.
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Antony Blinken's confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee began on January 19,2021.
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Antony Blinken took the oath of office of the secretary of state later that day.
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On January 31,2021, Antony Blinken condemned the 2021 Myanmar coup d'etat and expressed grave concerns on the detention of government officials and civil society leaders, calling for their immediate release.
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Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Kabul on April 15 and met with US military and diplomatic personnel following the Biden administration's announcement of the 2021 withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
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Antony Blinken said the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was made to focus resources on China and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Antony Blinken faced calls to resign as secretary of state following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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In February 2021, Antony Blinken condemned ethnic cleansing in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia and called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and other fighters.
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Antony Blinken spoke with the interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, whom the Biden administration will continue to recognize as the country's head of state and not Nicolas Maduro.
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Antony Blinken condemned the Chinese government for committing genocide against ethnic Uyghurs.
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In July 2021, the Biden administration accused China of a global cyberespionage campaign, which Antony Blinken said posed "a major threat to our economic and national security".
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In late April 2021, Antony Blinken denounced the sentencing of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Jimmy Lai, Albert Ho, and Lee Cheuk-yan among others, for their roles in the 2019 Hong Kong protests, calling it a "politically-motivated" decision.
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In May 2021, Antony Blinken traveled to London and Reykjavik for the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers' meeting and the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting respectively.
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Antony Blinken defended the action as pragmatic and practical to US interests and remarked that proceeding otherwise would be counterproductive with European relations.
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In June 2021, Antony Blinken traveled with Biden to attend the 47th G7 summit in Cornwall, the 31st NATO summit in Brussels, and the summit meeting with president Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
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Later that month, Antony Blinken traveled to Brussels for a NATO Ministerial with European Union counterparts to underscore the Biden administration's determination to strengthen transatlantic alliances.
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Antony Blinken has been a co-chair of the Trade and Technology Council since its creation in 2021 to encourage trade relation with the European Union.
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In January 2022, Antony Blinken authorized the supply of weapons to Ukraine to support the Eastern European country in amid border tensions with Russia.
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On February 11, Antony Blinken publicly warned about the likelihood of a Russian invasion of Ukraine prior to the end the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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In September 2022, Antony Blinken pledged that the United States would help the Ukrainian military retake Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
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In July 2022, Antony Blinken had a meeting with Sergey Lavrov to discuss a prisoner swap to secure the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.
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Antony Blinken has met with the Bring Our Families Home campaign, a coalition of families with loved ones detained abroad.
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Antony Blinken has asserted that "[Biden] would not tie military assistance to Israel to things like annexation or other decisions by the Israeli government with which we might disagree".
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Antony Blinken praised the Trump administration-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
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On October 28,2020, Antony Blinken reaffirmed that a Biden administration will undertake strategic review of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, ensuring that it advances USinterests and values.
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Antony Blinken is in favor of continuing non-nuclear sanctions against Iran and described it as "a strong hedge against Iranian misbehavior in other areas".
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Antony Blinken criticized former president Trump's withdrawal of the US from the international nuclear agreement with Iran and expressed support for a "longer and stronger" nuclear deal.
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Antony Blinken did not rule out a military intervention to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
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Antony Blinken has been critical of the Trump administration in aiding China to advance its own key strategic goals.
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Antony Blinken stated: "[Trump] weaken[ed] American alliances, leaving a vacuum in the world for China to fill, abandoning our values and giving China a green light to trample on human rights and democracy from Xinjiang to Hong Kong".
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Antony Blinken indicated a desire to welcome political refugees from Hong Kong and stated that the Biden administration's commitment to Taiwan's defense would "absolutely endure", and that China's use of military force against Taiwan "would be a grievous mistake on their part".
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Antony Blinken has viewed China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in its northwestern region of Xinjiang.
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Antony Blinken has characterized former president Trump's Phase One trade deal with China as "a debacle".
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Antony Blinken said it was unrealistic to "fully decouple" from China and has expressed support for "stronger economic ties with Taiwan".
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Antony Blinken has indicated American interest in robust ties between itself, Greece, Israel, and Cyprus regarding the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act and acknowledged the threats posed by an expansionist Turkey, which is "not acting like an ally".
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Antony Blinken opposed Turkish president Recep Erdogan's call for "a two-state solution in Cyprus", saying the Biden administration is committed to the reunification of Cyprus.
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Antony Blinken has suggested that he would consider sanctioning the Erdogan administration.
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Antony Blinken reaffirmed his support of keeping NATO's door open for Georgia, a country in the Caucasus, and raised the argument that NATO member countries have been more effectively shielded from "Russian aggression".
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Antony Blinken expressed his support of extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia to limit the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads.
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Antony Blinken said the Biden administration will "review" security assistance to Azerbaijan due to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and voiced his support for "the provision to Armenia of security assistance".
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Antony Blinken is opposed to the United Kingdom's separation from the European Union and has referred to it as a "total mess" with consequences adverse to US interest.
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Antony Blinken expressed concern over perceived human rights violations in Egypt under the presidency of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
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Antony Blinken plays the guitar and has three songs available on Spotify by the alias Ablinken.