Condoleezza, a sinking star?

12 Aug

Posted by MacRanger as Lebannon, hezbollah

First let me say that I like Secretary Rice, but her recent moves on foriegn policy have me shaking my head, along with some other conservatives, like Michael Rubin.

“Rice reversed course on Iran, and even offered this terror-sponsor nuclear reactors. Rather than moderate Tehran, her move signaled weakness and further emboldened the Islamic Republic. Ayatollah Khamene‚Äòi responded to the offer by asking, four days later, ‚ÄúWhy don‚Äôt you just admit you are weak and your razor is blunt?‚Äù

*Remember Iran‚Äôs centrifuges? They‚Äôre still spinning.

*North Korea defied international consensus to launch missiles, one of which was aimed at the waters off Hawaii. Japan sought robust UN action. The US sided with China against our ally, Japan.

*She agreed to a ceasefire resolution that rewards terror, justifies hostage-taking, and resurrects the legitimacy of Hezbollah claims to the Shabaa Farms.

*Remember the UN Brammertz Commission investigating Syrian complicity in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri? No reaffirmation of it in the UN Resolution or subsequent statements. Score one for Syria.

*Her sense of timing leaves much to be desired.

* For the sake of well, not much, we‚Äôve wholesale abandoned liberal allies and democracy activists in Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere.”

The lastest “tail between the legs” action has the Macranger pissed as well as you can see by the two previous posts. But until I see some improvement, Condi’s off my 2008 list. Foreign policy be damned, it’s time for Hawks not Chickens.

al qaeda lamont terrorism bush

No Response

crosspatch

August 12th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
1

I believe the Iran deal was mostly European, not Condi’s doing. It will probably be moot in any case because Iran seems to have rejected it out of hand.

As for North Korea, I believe people aren’t patient enough. The fact that China even signed on to any sanctions at all against the NorKs is a first and not unnoticed in Pyongyang. China signalled that they were becoming tired of the NorK antics and they were starting to cause China enough trouble with her now signficant trading partners that China might next time be forced to make a choice and the NorKs might not like that choice. In other words, it was a clear “knock it off” bark from China. If the NorKs do it again, expect a stronger response and expect China to be on board with it. My feeling is that China needed to give North Korea at least one very clear and very public warning before China supports active measures that the NorKs have said they would take as hostile.

As for the Syrian thing, look, we can’t drive the UN to be simply a reflection of US policy. People have this notion that if you can’t get your desired result immediately, then you have failed. Diplomacy can take years. Sometimes you might need to take baby steps. Sometimes you take two steps forward in one direction, then need to give back one of those steps in order to gain a step in a slightly different direction but the overall impact is slowly and broadly getting to where you want to go.

I think Condi is doing just fine. Much of those so-called failures or setbacks are due to the actions of other people. Overall, I believe we are moving forward.