QUESTION: On Zimbabwe, this morning you said that you were going to be speaking to others, you know, like-minded people -

SEAN MCCORMACK (spokesman): Right.

QUESTION: - probably not China and Russia, I would assume - on how to proceed on Zimbabwe. What are you looking at -

MCCORMACK: Well -

QUESTION: - specifically and who are you talking to?

MCCORMACK: I don't have a list for you, Sue, but certainly you can go down the list and start with the list of countries that voted for the resolution. The nine countries that voted for the resolution that would have passed absent those vetoes that you mentioned. Look, we'll continue to talk to the Russians and the Chinese, although they have clearly not expressed the depth of commitment to the issue that we have. And those other eight countries have.

And we'll also talk to other like-minded countries in Europe and around the world to see what we might do to keep the focus on the issue of Zimbabwe, the plight of the Zimbabwean people, and how we, as an international system, might facilitate that country and that country's political system moving beyond where it is right now, which is really in crisis and chaos. If Zimbabwe continues down this road, it will continue spiraling downward economically as well as politically.

QUESTION: Sean, can I go to -

MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Unless I missed it, there wasn't any formal reaction on Friday from this building. Maybe there was and I missed it.

MCCORMACK: Well, Ambassador Khalilzad - Ambassador -

QUESTION: Well, right, but from here. Well, I just -

MCCORMACK: Well, he is part of the State Department.

QUESTION: Yeah. Well - yeah, but he's in New York and this is here, and you were on - you were at the briefing saying that people that vote - countries that --

MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: - voted against this would be on the wrong side of history, and you didn't see how anyone with - in any good conscience, could possibly vote against it. So are the Russians and the Chinese now on the wrong side of history?

MCCORMACK: I said it at the gaggle this morning. If you had been there, Matt, I -

QUESTION: Well, I'm sorry.

MCCORMACK: I did indeed say that.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MCCORMACK: Yeah, yeah, they - I believe that they were. Countries who voted against it were on the wrong side of history.

QUESTION: Okay. Thanks.

QUESTION: But what can you do to punish the Zimbabwean Government while not making the situation even worse for people on the ground who are facing, kind of, runaway inflation? What imaginative ideas do you think you can come up with?

MCCORMACK: Well, that's what we're trying to work out, Sue. I don't have - look, there is no one simple answer here. And in the wake of the Security Council vote, we are looking at what else might be done.

QUESTION: But I mean, the U.S. and Britain don't really have much sway when it comes to Zimbabwe, if one's realistic. I mean, what about South Africa? Has the Secretary reached out to South Africa in the last few days? I know that -

MCCORMACK: She has not. She has not, no. And part of - you know, part of the idea is to work with like-minded nations, not only to try to influence Zimbabwe, but try to influence those with influence on Zimbabwe and their decision-making apparatus.

Yeah, Charles.

This is the extract from the transcript of the Daily Press Briefing by Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US Department of State, Washington, DC, July 14 2008