Saturday, March 26, 2005

Rice Describes Plans To Spread Democracy

WaPo reports Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday set out ambitious goals for the Bush administration's push for greater democracy overseas over the next four years, including pressing for competitive presidential elections this year in Egypt and women's right to vote in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

Rice, in an interview with Washington Post editors and reporters, said she was guided less by a fear that Islamic extremists would replace authoritarian governments than by a "strong certainty that the Middle East was not going to stay stable anyway." Extremism, she said, is rooted in the "absence of other channels for political activity," and so "when you know that the status quo is no longer defensible, then you have to be willing to move in another direction."


That was as far as Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright quoted Rice. However, she went into greater detail, which one can read in the transcript of the interview itself:

The WaPo article also said Asked whether she hopes to see women vote in Saudi Arabia, where they are barred, Rice replied: "In terms of women, I hope they are voting everywhere." She said she recalled a photograph of the recent Saudi municipal elections "that was very striking to me": a man having his daughter put his ballot in the box, which she interpreted as demonstrating his hopes for his daughter.

In the above mentioned CQ blog, Captain Ed said Rice speaks extensively on democratization during the interview; in fact, it intertwines thematically in her answers to nearly every question the Post asks during the interview. Rice shows that she's clearly on board with George Bush and therefore represents him in a way that Colin Powell never quite achieved. People widely assumed Powell had less commitment to this foreign-policy philosophy, although it may have more to do with wishful thinking on the Left and abroad than Powell's actual views. However, no one can mistake Rice's commitment to Bush's policy, nor her erudite and skillful representation of it. Having Rice run State sends the clear message that Bush and the US remain totally committed to democratization as the primary focus of both its foreign policy and national security strategy.

Betsy Newmark blogged What is remarkable is how strongly she comes out in support of democratic movements around the world.

Not everyone liked the article. IsraPundit blogged The statements against Israel, which Condi ("Colin Powell, only worse") keeps spewing, should be note and then he quotes this from what Condi said

Rice denied reports from Israeli officials -- and some U.S. officials -- that the Bush administration had struck an arrangement with Israel that would allow for some settlement growth in Palestinian areas. Israeli officials had said that the administration would allow for growth within settlements as long as additional housing units did not exceed existing construction lines. The U.S.-backed "road map" plan for peace calls for Israel to freeze settlement growth.

Rice said the "only commitment or assurance" was made last April, when Bush announced that because of "new realities on the ground" -- existing settlements in Palestinian areas -- Israel could expect to retain some settlements as part of a final peace deal. She said that since then the United States has asked Israel for more detail on its settlement activity because "there is so much information, misinformation . . . that the picture was just too confusing."

After the interview, Rice called a reporter twice to expand on her remarks on the administration's settlement policy. The administration has had "discussions about steps toward a settlement freeze," she said in one of the phone calls. "But we've never reached closure on that. It's complicated."


What does IsraPundit want? Because Condi is not willing to endorse additional settlement in Palestinian areas (the U.S.-backed "road map" plan for peace calls for Israel to freeze settlement growth) she is "spewing statements against Israel"???

1 comment:

Don Singleton said...

You begin with an error: "Palestinian areas". Exactly what makes these areas "Palestinian" and what does "Palestinian" mean anyway? The existence of a "Palestinian people" is a hoax perpetrated by the Arab propaganda machine on the gullible west.

In 1923, the British divided the "Palestine" portion of the Ottoman Empire into two administrative districts Palestine and TransJordan.
(meaning "across the Jordan River"), subsequently renamed Jordan in 1946.

The 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 partition plan subsequently divided Palestine into a Jewish Palestinian State and an Arab Palestinian State based upon population concentrations.

On May 14, 1948 the "Palestinian" Jews finally declared their own State of Israel and became "Israelis" (either then or after the 19 month war). The "Palestinian people" are the people left in the Arab Palestinian State


The Roadmap demands explicitly that the Arabs dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and cease all incitement. Neither of these have been done, and Arafat II, the one in the suit, announced clearly that he will not. Is Israel the only country that must obey the Gang of Four ("Quartet")?

The roadmap is supposed to lead to a Palestinian State, which does not yet exist. I expect that Abbas will have to do his part before the US supports the creation of the Palestinian state, but that does not mean Israel should be free to grab even more land before that time, and hope to hold onto it.