Posted on 07/22/2005 5:29:40 AM PDT by OESY
Condoleezza Rice is driving this return to diplomacy, and the deal with New Delhi reflects the extraordinary U.S. diplomatic activism that has characterized her brief time in office: a commitment to ease the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, where she has just spent two days; intense efforts to promote a successful Israeli withdrawal from Gaza; a systematic strategy to increase international support for Iraq; a renewed diplomatic presence in Asia through a series of bilateral visits to the region by the secretary and her senior colleagues; a resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program; full support for the EU-3 attempt to persuade Iran to cease its acquisition of nuclear weapons; improvement in the Transatlantic relationship; and so forth.
Diplomacy is the effort to influence the policies of other governments through negotiation, whether unilaterally or with coalitions. This can be by persuasion, threat, or coercion short of force. Such effective American diplomacy requires at least five elements.
• First, there must be a trusting relationship between the president and the secretary of state, an instinctive agreement regarding the objectives and methods of U.S. foreign policy....
• Second, the celebrated secretaries of state knew what they wanted to accomplish (under presidential guidance) over the longer term....
• Third, the secretary must be a skilful diplomat. This does not mean always being the essence of congeniality....
• Fourth, a successful secretary of state must put together an all-star team. This Ms. Rice has done, recruiting the best talent at State in decades.... Bob Zoellick... Nick Burns... Bob Joseph... Karen Hughes... Josette Shiner... Philip Zelikow....
• Fifth, the secretary must be an eloquent public voice of U.S. foreign policy. During her short time in office, Ms. Rice... clearly has more than a knack for it....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I must admit to having zero inside information - but I was never ever convinced the Colin Powell was worth the press he always seemed to be getting. I suspect that Secretary Rice is going to leave little memory of Powell's own term.
Powell always seemed a little too interested in making sure the MSM liked him - he was always undercutting the administration in very very subtle ways.
I hope Rice gets the press and notice she deserves.
Rice - 2008'
Ah, if only we'd had Dr. Rice as Secretary of State during the first term.......
Powell and Tenet were Bush's weakest links.
...very unlikely, the LMSM, just loves/fears sHILLARY ('06/'08)...and don't you forget it.
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