condoleezza rice

bruno

est malade
Condoleezza Rice

an interesting lady, ms. rice. i tended to lump her into the bush 'total war' camp, but have been intrigued by her declarations as of late. a few examples, all regarding u.s. foreign policy:

1

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared last summer that decades of American foreign policy toward the oil-rich Middle East had been a failure.

For 60 years, she told a Cairo audience, the U.S. "pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region," achieving neither.

2

[on her way to chilean inauguration]

Under current administration policy, nations that ratify the ICC treaty without also agreeing to an exemption for U.S. citizens can lose U.S. military aid.

Chile, where Rice is to spend the weekend for the inauguration of that nation's first woman president, stands to lose aid this year unless it wins a waiver from President Bush.

“We are looking at the issues concerning those situations in which we may have in a sense ... (been) shooting ourselves in the foot,” Rice said.

...

"The relationship with Chile is emblematic of the kind of relationship that I think we are pursuing throughout the region," Rice said. "A very positive agenda."

She added that the U.S. relationship with Chile's left-of-center government also serves as evidence that the United States has no problem working with government's from across the political spectrum.

...

On the trip, Rice also will meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales.* She said she is very much looking forward to this meeting and pointed out that his election reflects that indigenous people are moving up into the mainstream political positions of Latin American societies--a development that she said "will be a very good thing."

am left wondering how much of this is her own thinking and how much' official' bush policy. i ask because with colin powell we saw a similar 'voice of moderation' which served the bush administration in its interface with the press and foreign governments, but which was essentially ignored by the administration's actions in real life. obviously the all-time low popularity of the bush administration is forcing some sort of change of attitude, and in the case of latin america, when you are surrounded by people who are not of your ideological spectrum, you can't afford to alienate everyone. just wondering how much weight one should give to this lady's words.
 
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