12:50. Hearing takes a break until around 2:00. We'll be back.

12:44. Menendez calls attention to the issues of recognizing the Armenian genocide and the reunification of Cyprus.

12:41. Sen. Menendez wants to make sure we elevate foreign assistance.

12:29. Clinton on the three D's of foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development. Not necessarily in that order, though; she's not too happy about Defense Department encroachment on State turf. Looks like she's already well into her future role.

12:28. Emptywheel at FDL is a little bit cynical about these whole confirmation hearing things...

12:25. Ben Cardin, thankfully, mentions the Iraq refugee crisis. Perhaps Matt Dillon got to him.

12:13. Kerry echoes: Law of the Sea treaty will be a priority of the Foreign Relations committee.

12:10. Murkowski mentions "proximity to North Korea." At least she didn't say Kim Jong Il would rear his head into Alaskan airspace...12:08. There it is: Clinton says priority of signing the law of the sea treaty is "long overdue." Commercial interests, security interests, environmental -- Clinton forecasts a "very receptive" audience for Murkowski and other Arctic cooperation advocates at the State Department.

12:04. Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) talking about the Arctic -- good way to deal with issues there would be for Clinton to voice support for the Law of the Sea treaty.

11:55. Hoorah, Sen. Nelson. Someone finally defending the huge benefits of the CGI connection.

11:47. Megan at Madam Secretary, writing from the scene, has the scoop on who got into the hearing (some lucky fans) and who didn't (some not-so-lucky Congressional interns).

11:39. Reuters already has a piece on the hearing. Wow, those wires move quickly.

11:36. Clinton: "Women's issues are central to our foreign policy, not adjunct or auxiliary." Great way of framing it.

11:33. Senator Boxer: We can't "look away from the plight of women in the world." Shows a photo of girls attacked with acid in Afghanistan. Kristof getting a lot of attention on the Hill these days.

11:23. Relief. Clinton pronounces it "Lugar" not "Lugaarrr" as before. Sec. of State, not Somali pirate in disguise.

11:20. Lugar talkin' Albania...oh wait, Russia and arms control. But weapons hovering over Albania would not be a good thing.

11:14. Feingold's bailiwick -- Darfur. Clinton's "new and bold and comprehensive approach"...the "need to sound the alarm" about a grave humanitarian crisis is not going to be enough...

11:10. Feingold's up. Asks the Iraq redeployment question.

11:06. Clinton, "It's fair to say that USAID has been decimated."

10:58. Corker on the mic. He's drastically underestimating the value of non-profits, particularly the Clinton Foundation.

10:48. The outstanding Madam Secretary blog has a good round-up of some of the best quotables from Hillary's opening statement.

10:47. And now the Lightning Round!

10:45. Did she mention Joe Biden at all during her statement? Who's going to be the first person to ask her about her working relationship with the former Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee?

10:40. The U.S. needs to be an "unequivocal and unwavering voice on woman's rights." Right on.

10:37. Clinton says we need to aid the billion people in the world living on less than two dollars a day. Yes, except there are actually almost two billion of them. One billion live on less than one dollar a day.

10:36. "Climate change is an unambiguous security threat." Yes, and also an unambiguous humanitarian threat, economic threat, etc.

10:34. HRC announces the U.S. will participate in upcoming Copenhagen climate change negotiations. That's a start.

10:31Remember Canada and Mexico? They're our biggest energy importers and two of our three biggest trading partners.

10:24. Also, Sudan is most definitely not on the Human Rights Council. Clinton was referring to the old "Commission," since replaced by the Council, which, notably, has not elected some of the human rights abusers (e.g. Belarus, Sri Lanka) that have applied. Hopefully later Clinton will announce a reversal of Bush's decision not to join the Council and have an active role in shaping it.

10:21. Clinton: When international institutions don't work so well, we need to work to improve them. Better idea than turning away from them entirely, for sure.

10:17. Clinton says, "America cannot solve the most pressing problems on her own, and the world cannot solve them without America." Global solutions are a reality, not an ideology.

10:11. Hillary speaks!

10:09. Chuck Schumer lavishes praise on his (erstwhile) fellow Senator from New York.

10:06. Kerry nominates Chelsea Clinton as "intern for a day" on the committee.

10:04. Dodd only has time to talk about one issue, wants to talk about financial crisis. (And is it just me, or is his tie twice as wide as normal?)

10:02. Dodd takes the mic, lays down pleasantries.

9:56. Lugar says, "Even localized foreign policy decisions can ripple across countries and continents." Exactly.

9:52. Minority committee leader Lugar lists disarmament talks, energy security, and global hunger as top three priorities.

9:50. "President" Putin of Russia...oops.

9:46 Kerry talking a lot about traditional security issues and traditional global power relationships in his opening statement. Here's hoping that the discussion takes a broader view of the global challenges that Clinton will face if confirmed.

9:43. Kerry underscores national security importance of upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen.

9:41. Kerry gives a shout-out to ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

9:39. Pakistan and Afghanistan are front lines of "war on terror," says Kerry. But it will require that we "fundamentally redefine" our approach to take into account Afghan politics and society.

9:35 Not so easy for Senators to get elected president, says Kerry from experience...

9:30 The hearing to confirm Senator Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama's Secretary of State is about to begin. Here at UN Dispatch, we'll be blogging live, piping in commentary and analysis whenever we are so moved.

If you want a glimpse of some of the questions that might be sent Clinton's way, the Times' has a good compilation of questions from ten foreign policy experts. From the right, FP's Shadow Government collected 47 possible questions, and Heritage was kind enough to provide answers as well.

(image from flickr user brentdanley under a Creative Commons license)