[Peace-discuss] No change

[C. G. Estabrook]

Actually, the FT, being Brit-based, often provides a perspective that exercises 
some slight corrective on the "idiocy" of US MSM (who of course know what 
they're doing).

For instance, their interview with [C.] Rice is reported without the tacit 
assumption of American media that the Republican and Democrats reperesent 
alternative, or even opposed, policies.

In general, the British press is more skeptical of ministerial effusions, and 
less mere stenographers of power, than the American. (Of course it remains 
corporate media.) This interview is rather flat-footed, it's true: it's rather 
as though the FT thought that what Rice was saying here was just conventional.

In their follow-up article, they note in rather miffed tones, "Soon after the 
FT's time with her came to a close, [C. Rice] was due to answer the questions of 
another interviewer: Venus Williams, the tennis champion ... her effort to 
burnish her legacy is complicated..."

They quote "Strobe Talbott, deputy secretary of state under President Bill 
Clinton [and now head of Brookings]" to the effect that she has recently become 
"a skilful practitioner of diplomacy."  Welcome, in other words, to the 
permanent government.

In fact, the "No change" subject line is probably wrong: the Obama adminitration 
will likely be worse than the (late) Bush administration.

     "The real issue, Ms Rice maintains, is whether Pakistan cracks down on 
'terrorism and extremism. They now know it will consume them if they don't ... 
This is a very tough problem for this civilian government.'  It is a concern 
that the incoming Obama team has identified as perhaps its biggest foreign 
policy challenge. It is also a sombre note to strike in an exit interview."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/08e85df6-cfca-11dd-abf9-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1


Robert Naiman wrote:
> This article could be used in journalism textbooks as an example of
> how to be a spectacularly idiotic journalist.
> 
> "Ms Rice's words could damp expectations that the incoming administration
> will represent a complete break with its predecessor on foreign policy."
> 
> Who would regard the outgoing Sec of State as a disinterested and
> objective analyst of the situation?
> 
> "Barack Obama might have little option but to follow George W. Bush's
> approach on a range of foreign policy issues, including Iran, said
> Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state.
> 
> Ms Rice told the Financial Times the new administration was likely to follow
> Mr Bush's lead in the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. During the
> president's second term, the US has co-ordinated its approach with the
> European Union, Russia and China."
> 
> This is like saying, "My opponent will be forced to admit that I was
> right when I claimed that two plus two equals four."
> 
> The big revelation is that "Obama might have little option" but to
> follow "Bush's lead" in co-ordinating its approach with the EU, Russia
> and China? Like, the Bush Administration wants to take out a patent on
> talking with other countries about Iran?
> 
> Next from the FT: Obama will have "little choice" but to follow Bush's
> practice of exiting a room by putting one foot in front of the other.
> 
> 
> On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 8:43 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>>        Rice says Obama likely to follow Bush on foreign policy
>>        By Daniel Dombey in Washington
>>        Published: December 21 2008
>>
>> Barack Obama might have little option but to follow George W. Bush's
>> approach on a range of foreign policy issues, including Iran, said
>> Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state.
>>
>> Ms Rice told the Financial Times the new administration was likely to follow
>> Mr Bush's lead in the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. During the
>> president's second term, the US has co-ordinated its approach with the
>> European Union, Russia and China.
>>
>> "When I talk to our allies they believe that that is the structure with
>> which this is ultimately going to be resolved," Ms Rice said, while
>> acknowledging that the Obama administration would generally "do things in
>> their own way".
>>
>> She said: "The reason why there might be some elements of continuity is that
>> what we've tried to do is to arrange or organise international groupings
>> that can first manage and then resolve these very difficult problems in a
>> multilateral way." She was referring not just to the administration's
>> efforts over Iran but also its approach to North Korea and the
>> Israel-Palestinian issue.
>>
>> Ms Rice's words could damp expectations that the incoming administration
>> will represent a complete break with its predecessor on foreign policy.
>>
>> They also highlight the obstacles facing the new team as it seeks
>> breakthroughs for problems the Bush administration has failed to resolve. In
>> an echo of the current administration's rhetoric, Mr Obama promises to use
>> carrots and sticks to push Iran to rein in its nuclear programme.
>>
>> But in spite of a sustained sanctions drive by the US and its allies and an
>> offer of talks, Iran has stepped up uranium enrichment and is widely
>> reckoned to be moving closer to nuclear weapons capability.
>>
>> While Mr Obama has promised a radically different approach to the outgoing
>> administration on issues such as climate change, and Guantanamo Bay, many of
>> his cabinet picks are centrists who have won praise from Republicans.
>>
>> Although Ms Rice has described herself as "especially proud" of Mr Obama's
>> election as the first African American president, she consistently declines
>> to say for whom she voted.
>>
>> Ms Rice expressed concern over the expected appointment of a series of
>> special envoys for world hotspots, saying it was important not to cut
>> ambassadors and diplomats out of the loop.
>>
>> Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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> 
> 
> 
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