The New World Order

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Sherman Yellen, 02.02.2009

Screenwriter, playwright, and lyricist

An investigation of the Bush administration must be undertaken by the Justice Department and by the Congress, not for the sake of history, but for the sake of all of us living now.

Katrina fried Rice - Condi tries to defend Bush's response to Katrina, but then Condi's no one to talk. (Be all that as it may, she might be right that his reasons for being so callous weren't so much a matter of ignoring their plight because they were black as ignoring their plight because they were likely Democratic voters in a state with a Democratic Governor.)

Oddly enough, Condoleezza Rice indirectly argued that the United States is not a democratic, multiethnic state.

Condoleezza Rice: "Well, you know that I'm going to have to object, because the United States has always kept to its international obligations, which include international obligations on the convention on torture. The United States, the president, was determined after Sept. 11 to do everything that was legal and within those obligations, international and domestic laws, to make sure that we prevented a follow-on attack. And information to prevent an attack is the long pole in the tent when you're dealing with terrorism. You can't wait until somebody's committed a crime and then go and punish them. ... [...] I was national security adviser, and, quite clearly, you would expect the policies of the United States to come through the National Security Council. But I absolutely was - believed and was told and continued to believe that we were doing so under our treaty obligations and under our domestic laws. And in those circumstances, I really do think that the president of the United States and those responsible, in positions of responsibility, have an obligation to try and protect the American people." (And some interesting diaries - check out the one on The Failure of the Great Globalist Vision.)

Even under the low standards set by the Bush administration, this is remarkably obtuse.

"Russia is a state that is unfortunately using the one tool that it has always used whenever it wishes to deliver a message and that's its military power," Rice told reporters en route to an emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers set for Tuesday. "That's not the way to deal in the 21st century."

Filed Under: Condoleezza Rice
Tags: Conid Rice, Russia

Eve Ensler, 06.21.2008

. . . . . Maybe there is something deeper all together. Whatever it is, in order for the third act to ring true, have meaning, and not be an insult to the intelligence of the audience, we need accountability. There is always the moment of confrontation in a play where the lead character is forced to reckon, in one way or another. You don't get to be a defender of rights that you are responsible for destroying without a comeuppance, without passing through a dark night of the soul, without admitting wrongs done.

But these days we live in bad theater. The world is run by people who get away with doing all kinds of horrible things, who seamlessly morph into new characters, with even more fabulous careers.

Good monologue. Bad casting.

Condi Rice gives her blessing to power-sharing pact with Hezbollah.

--Josh Marshall

Patrick Barry, 06.11.2008

If you try to square Rice's Marty McFly analysis in Foreign Affairs with the state of the world today, you end up with a catalog of faulty recommendations and squandered opportunities.

NO THANKS, WE'VE GOT ONE ALREADY...A League of Democracies, that is.

John McCain and others frustrated by the need to do diplomacy and work with other countries keep putting forth the idea of a League of Democracies. That would be the guys in the white hats who would agree with the United States and offer up their armies when the United States wants to depose another dictator. Or cooperate in trade sanctions. Or something.

But it turns out that we have had The Community of Democracies since 2000. You haven't heard much about them, because they haven't done much.

The Department of State's website doesn't list the members, just mentions 100 nations and 140 nations that were invited to previous meetings. Accomplishments so far include missions to East Timor and Tblisi, Georgia. No mention of what the missions were for.

h/t to Thomas Carothers in a WaPo op-ed.

Phony of the Day: Condoleezza Rice

As part of its investigation of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, McClatchy reports that the FBI has subpoenaed records concerning Bloch's 2004 ethics probe of Rice, who was cleared of charges that she timed some of her trips to boost President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.

Secretary of State Rice is branded 'Phony of the Day' for calling on Myanmar to let in more foreign aid workers, after having turned down an offer from Cuba to send some 1,500 doctors to the U.S after Katrina.

“Condi Tried to Clinch Firm Arab Commitments on Iraq but All She Got was This Lousy T-Shirt” from the blogosphere’s number one expert on all things Condi, Princess Sparklepony.

“The new U.S. Embassy complex does not have enough fortified living quarters for hundreds of diplomats and other workers, who must remain temporarily in trailers without special rooftop protection against mortars and rockets,” government officials told the AP today. The lack of housing may “further delay moving all personnel” into the embassy, already mired in construction delays, until next year. The issue has become increasingly relevant since Shi’ite militias “resumed steady attacks on the enclave in late March as part of backlash to an Iraqi-led crackdown.”

Condoleezza Rice: Never met a milestone she wasn’t willing to render meaningless

At The Washington Note yesterday, the estimable Steve Clemons wrote “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is speaking this morning to Grover Norquist’s weekly powerhouse gathering at Americans for Tax Reform of conservative associations, think tanks, and political operations.” What’s not business as usual about this?

It seems a major Republican operative told Clemons that it was an attempt to “secure her future in Republican politics and to position herself as a ‘otential’ VP candidate on the McCain ticket.” Full Story »

Contractor Named in Passport Breach

U.S. officials say two of the people who improperly accessed Barack Obama's passport files worked for the government contractor Stanley, Inc.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) passport files breached three times in the past three months. Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told “Sen. Hillary Clinton that the security of her passport file were breached in 2007.” In a State Department press briefing today, spokesman Sean McCormack said that Sen. John McCain’s passport info had also been accessed by one of the people who looked at Sen. Obama’s file.

Condoleezza Rice: War Criminal

In 2005, an “unprecedented 19 reporters” accompanied Condoleezza Rice on her first trip overseas as Secretary of State. Now, however, things have changed. The Washington Post reports that “vastly fewer reporters” joined Rice on her latest trip to the Middle East:

The three wire services–Associated Press, Reuters and Agence-France Presse–are on board. Bloomberg News and National Public Radio took seats. But only three newspapers–The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Washington Times–are on the plane, down from the standard five. And the networks did not even bother to send a camera crew, let alone a correspondent.

The media began losing interest in Rice last year. In mid-2007, every single major newspaper turned down an op-ed by Rice on Lebanon and in September, CBS and NBC declined a White House offer to have Rice appear on their Sunday shows.  4:10 pm | Comment (49)

The State Department has stopped processing visa applications from Iraqi and Afghan translators who have risked their lives assisting U.S. military units because “the current legal quota of 500 visas for the program this year is about to be reached.” A bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and signed by President Bush last month raised the quota for Iraqi translators to 5,000, but it has yet to be implemented.   February 29, 2008 3:00 pm | Comment (24)

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad remains plagued by”major deficiencies in the infrastructure,” according to a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from the House Oversight Committee. The finding raises “questions” about the State Department’s December decision to certify that the embassy compound was “substantially complete.” Waxman plans to subpoena Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte if the department does not provide documents related to the embassy’s construction.  February 29, 2008 3:46 pm | Comment (26)

It's really hard to comprehend it all...

WASHINGTON — The State Department's new embassy construction chief has cancelled his predecessor's certification that the $740 million new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is "substantially completed" and begun a top-to-bottom review of the troubled project.

The official, Richard Shinnick, said in an interview the State Department hopes that the sprawling embassy complex — originally scheduled to be completed last September — will be ready by March 31.

...

McClatchy reported in January that the embassy's firefighting systems are defective and that Shinnick's predecessor, in a rush to declare the new embassy complex completed, had ignored the concerns of the State Department's professional fire experts.

Arutz Sheva, Israel
Another Helping of Rice
May be One Too Many