Guy Dinmore of the Financial Times of London reviews Condoleezza Rice's first 100 days as U.S. secretary of state, and reports that the radical ideologues pretending to be "conservatives" who guide the Bush administration's thinking in international affairs on the whole are pronouncing themselves pleased. -- "She's doing a great job," according to Danielle Pletka at the American Enterprise Institute. "Policies have not changed . . . There's a real effort at better communications with our allies, and no retreat at all on our priorities." -- As Dinmore notes, Rice was trained in the realist school of international relations (Brent Scowcroft became her first powerful mentor, in 1985), but, when Dick Cheney revealed himself to be the dominant force in the Bush administration, she defected to Cheneyesque neoconservativism (as Colin Powell did not). -- Dinmore places her conversion to neoconservatism post-9/11, but this is wrong. -- James Mann has shown that Rice, always attuned to where power lies, shifted to the Cheney camp before 9/11. -- "In mid-2001, not long after the editors of the Weekly Standard had excoriated the new president for his handling of the spy plane dispute with China [April 2001], Rice quietly reached out to the neoconservative movement that the magazine represented. Come by my office some time, she told William Kristol, the neoconservative leader [and chairman of the Project for the New American Century]; let's talk, instead of merely reading each other's quotes in the newspapers" (Rise of the Vulcans: The History of the Bush's War Cabinet [Viking, 2004], p. 316). -- Rice's conversion to neoconservatism was probably influenced by her connection to Philip Zelikow, a Machiavellian Univ. of Virginia philosopher of history whose role in many of the most troubling aspects of Bush administration policy orientations is still far from understood. -- In essence, though, Zelikow has turned his expertise in the creation and maintenance of what in a 1998 address he called "public myths" or "public presumptions," defined as "beliefs (1) thought to be true (although not necessarily known to be true with certainty), and (2) shared in common with the relevant political community," to the task of actually creating and maintaing such myths and presumptions. -- Zelikow believes such noble lies are necessary in order to harness what he calls "history's narrative power," which can be generated by 'searing' or 'molding' events [that] take on 'transcendent' importance." -- It was to the author of these words that were given such key tasks for the U.S. national security state as the drafting of the Sept. 17, 2002, "National Security Strategy of the United States of America" and executive directorship of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission. -- Now, as Guy Dinmore notes, Zelikow has been elevated by Rice to the position of "special counsellor" -- the perfect title for an éminence grise. -- The key to future developments probably lies in the Cheney-Rice relationship, about which surprisingly little is known. -- Some tension is believed to exist. -- Although Rice is said by Dinmore to have "prevented" John Bolton's promotion to the number two position in the State Department, she was unable to prevent his nomination to the key diplomatic post of U.S. ambassador to the U.N. ...
World
TRANSFORMING MIDDLE EAST KEEPS RICE ON THE MOVE
By Guy Dinmore
Financial Times (UK)
May 4, 2005
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/68c44a18-bcce-11d9-b1e3-00000e2511c8.html (subscribers only)
In her first 100 days as U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice has set a blistering pace. Already she has logged 54,158 air miles in a rush of "transformational diplomacy" she is modelling on the cold war but aiming at the Middle East.
But while she may have won over sceptical audiences in France with eloquence, style and bridge-building efforts, Ms. Rice has alarmed civil servants and critics back home. She is seen to be concentrating policymaking in the hands of a few, and zealous in her approach to bringing about change in the Islamic world.
Although journalists may find they have less access to certain officials these days, Ms. Rice is not media-shy herself. And in interviews the former national security adviser has been crystal clear about her role in carrying out the priorities of President George W. Bush.
Dismissing the suggestion that the biggest test of the administration would be North Korea's nuclear arsenal, Ms Rice replied: "I think the biggest test is the Middle East and the evolution of a stable and democratized Middle East. That's really going to be the historical test."
She compares the spread of democracy in the Islamic world with the end of the cold war and the collapse of Soviet totalitarianism, which she experienced on the national security council of President George H.W. Bush. "You know, one day German unification looked impossible and a few days later it looked inevitable. And in a sense, what you're seeing in the Middle East is that what looked impossible, what looked frozen . . . now people believe it's possible and they're acting on that possibility."
Later, asked about the reluctance of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, to adopt reforms, she admitted the analogy was imperfect, as Europe had been "more fully cooked" in 1989 than the Middle East is now. But then, referring to Mark Twain, she added: "History doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes."
"She's doing a great job," says Danielle Pletka at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington policy group. "Policies have not changed . . . There's a real effort at better communications with our allies, and no retreat at all on ourpriorities."
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, is delighted at Ms Rice's outreach towards Europe. "It's a permanent conversation, which is very good," he said.
While she clocked her first air miles as secretary of state in Europe, analysts say Ms. Rice's strategy of rebuilding transatlantic relations was directed at her main objective of promoting democracy throughout the broader Middle East and North Africa particularly Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.
The promotion of Elizabeth Cheney to run democracy-building in those countries effectively put the daughter of vice-president Dick Cheney on a level with David Welch, the assistant secretary who is left holding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Ms. Cheney is also close to Elliot Abrams, the deputy national security adviser in charge of "global democracy." In spite of his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, for which he was pardoned by George Bush senior, Mr. Abrams also commands the Iran portfolio.
"They believe they are on the precipice of change in the Middle East," says one official, noting there was little concern that democracy might send the region into the hands of Islamists. Elections in Iraq and the Palestinian territories are considered a success that must be replicated.
Ms. Rice has brought in colleagues who also cut their teeth on the cold war namely Robert Zoellick, her deputy, and Philip Zelikow, her special counsellor and former Harvard University professor with whom she co-wrote Germany Unified and Europe Transformed. But al-Qaeda's devastating strike against the U.S. on September 11, 2001, shook Ms Rice out of the more traditional "realist" Republican mould into the transformationalist. Today her confidants also include non-proliferation hardliners.
Outside this tight-knit camp, there is a sense among lower officials that internal dissent and talking to the press are both unwelcome.
Such officials -- the foreign service professionals who are not political appointees -- feel cut out of decision-making, looking to the media to learn the latest policy developments in the regions they cover. While there is nostalgia for the old days under Colin Powell, who was generally popular as secretary of state, conservatives still resent him for undermining Mr. Bush's policies during his first four years. State Department staff say Richard Armitage, the former deputy secretary and a friend of Mr. Powell, is among those orchestrating a campaign to undermine the nomination of John Bolton, the outgoing hardline under-secretary for arms control, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. They also believe that Ms. Rice prevented Mr. Bolton's promotion to deputy secretary, and that it was Mr. Cheney who insisted on sending Mr. Bolton to the U.N.
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