Condi Rice Takes Charge; Nudges Past Rumsfeld

NewsMax ^ | 7/31/05 | Carl Limbacher

[wagglebee]

During President Bush’s first term, the axis of power clearly tilted toward the Defense Department and Donald Rumseld.

But since Condi Rice has taken the helm at the State Department, the second term has seen a shift of power back to Foggy Bottom.

Just week’s after taking her new office, Rice subtly demonstrated her new influence when she hosted a meeting at the State Dept. between Rumsfeld and Japanese officials.

The Washington Post described what followed: "When Rumsfeld began to speak, Rice gently cut him off. The message was clear: I'll take the lead, Don. Both Japanese and U.S. officials noted the decisive nudge.”

After six months as the globe-trotting Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice has wrested control of all the reins of U.S. foreign policy, reports the Washington Post.

Gone already in the whirlwind of the most traveled secretary of state in history, the retooled, more aggressive Rice has shed her image during Bush's first term as an adviser who struggled to mediate among the heavyweights competing to mold foreign policy.

Along the way, she has been racking up the diplomatic points:

* Rice badgered North Korea back to six-nation talks.

* She bartered a European pledge to support U.N. Security Council action against Iran if nuclear talks fail.

* She hammered out a deal with India to sell peaceful nuclear technology that will bolster U.S.-India relations.

* Her department helped draft a U.N. resolution supporting an international probe into the bloodied Sudan.

Such victories were not won with smiles and handshakes, points out the Post.

Rice has proven a tough customer.

* The no-nonsense Secretary cancelled a visit to Egypt and temporarily suspended $200 million in aid to register protest over the arrest of a pro-reform politician.

* She nixed a visit to Canada when it passed on participation in U.S. missile defense.

* In Saudi Arabia, she read the Riot Act to the sheiks, demanding the enfranchise women.

* On a tour of the West Bank, where she noted new Jewish settlement construction, she warned Israel that more building might violate an agreement it had cut with the U.S. a year earlier.

* Rice warned the European Union not to lift an arms embargo on China, telling diplomats they would regret it - if U.S. troops ever confronted European-armed Chinese forces across the Taiwan straits.

* She gave the first speech by a senior U.S. official on Arab soil that challenged Arab leaders to embrace democracy.

If all this sounds a bit bloodthirsty, the edge is taken off by what Rice’s colleagues call her "velvet hammer” effect, referring to the chief diplomat’s talent to say very direct things to foreign governments in a way that is not confrontational.

Case-in-point: When Rice visited Paris in February to address leaders on U.S.-European relations, French Ambassador Jean David Levitte said, she "really changed the atmosphere - of the media, of public opinion - about the Bush administration. It was really a turning point.”

Because of her impact generally after first six months, he concluded, Rice is "probably the most powerful secretary of state in decades.”

[peyton randolph]

My guess is that the the U.S. Supremes overturn Roe by '07 and kick the abortion issue back to the states to decide. This will seriously reduce the issue with respect to a presidential candidate.

[ChildOfThe60s]

How is she doing cleaning out the State Department? I don't think I've seen anything on that in a while.

Sheet, that's like trying to rid the house of cockroaches squashing them one at a time. She'll have to be running State for the next 25 years.

[Tom Bombadil]

My guess is that the the U.S. Supremes overturn Roe by '07

Is it possible that SCOTUS could return large portions of Roe back to the States (i.e. parental consent,informed consent, waiting periods etc.) while at the same time insisting that abortion itself is still a right?

[tessalu]

Wait a while before you speak, and see how wise she is about the Gaza strip, and see if it will bring peace to Israel, and see if it pacifies the Palestinians in any way.
I do not think that it will, but I would love to be wrong
about this.

[peyton randolph]

Is it possible that SCOTUS could return large portions of Roe back to the States (i.e. parental consent,informed consent, waiting periods etc.) while at the same time insisting that abortion itself is still a right?

Possible. If in the interest of federalism, they defer to the states by overturning Roe, little will change substantially. Only a couple states will have outright bans (Utah?)...the rest will be a mix of permitting all types (California and the New England states) and some restrictions, such as those you mentioned, will be enacted in the South and Midwest.

The issue they've been ducking is whether abortion is a right because it is nowhere to be found in the Constitution...even by leftist inference as a 'living document.' Currently, the majority on the high court holds their noses and pretends that the Constitution says something that it does not. Judicial jujitsu requires them to imagine this right as existing but also finding exceptions to this imaginary right. Strait jackets would be put on people in the real world who acted like this.

My guess is that if the issue is handed back to the states, leftist justices on state supreme courts will find a similar abortion right under state constitutions. If not found, it will be placed there in Blue states by amendment.

[rantblogger]

Condi is vying for WORST SecState EVER.



As for me, once she became SecState, Condi has gone further than any royal Saudi's proctologist has ever been.

I used to be a Condi fan.

Lair gave up Coke for movie advertising abuse. I may give up rice.



It's mean, but Condi doesn't have kids, so maybe she doesn't think about the next generation of Israelis or Americans.

Today, Abbas referred to Gaza as only one step in the jihad. Our State Department and Chief of Staff allows NO accidental photo ops. What the hell is Condi doing in a photo op featuring Arafat?

Abu Mazen declares in Gaza: The Great Jihad has begun August 20, 2005, 9:25 PM (GMT+02:00) The Palestinian leader demanded Saturday that Israel hand over fully evacuated land in West Bank too, after Gaza. He set the Palestinian general election date for Jan 25, 2006. DEBKAfile: Abbas is increasingly borrowing from Hamas threatening rhetoric. It is now promising to carry on its terrorist campaign in the West Bank. In an earlier speech Friday, Abu Mazen told Gazans: We are marking a h historic celebration. Israel’s Gaza withdrawal was bought by the sacrifices of the Palestinian people and the blood of its martyrs.

---

Joel Mowbray's book concerning how badly the State Department is compromised by Saudi connections makes it crystal-clear: Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Endangers America's Security

For the impatient, here are some Mowbray essays featured in Townhall and National Review:

• State Department's Favorite Mullahs
• State Department Undermining President Bush
• Saddam�s Doctor Selected by State Department
• State Department Giving Baghdad to House of Saud?
• State Department aids Saudis, again
  "the activities of the Saudi mouthpieces�who are paid upwards of $200,000 each per month"
• The State Department's spin machine

Michelle Malkin referred to Mowbray as WhistleBlower of the Year.

I've detailed how James "F* the Jews" Baker III is now beloved of the left wing loons. Ask yourselves why?

Think, dhimmis, think. Before it's too late.

[rantblogger]

I'm running a poll:

U.S. State Department
1. Serves American Interests
2. Never Accomplished Anything
3. In Arab Pockets Since WWII
4. Quisling, Benedict Arnold… State Department - Birds of a Feather
5. Mixed Positive and Negative Achievements
6. Combination of 2, 3 and 4

[Diddle E. Squat]

Proof that any idiot can set up a blog.

[rantblogger]

ad hominem is evidence that you know little and accomplish less.

point me to your blog, achievement, counter argument or stfu.

[Diddle E. Squat]

KMA. Your silly overreactionary slander of her isn't worth wasting any more of my time. So she takes a different position than you on one issue involving Israel, big deal. Get a grip.