The old Western cliché, “White man speaks with forked tongue,” may find application in current Bush policies as “White House speaks with forked appointments.” Condoleezza Rice at State, well received; John Bolton at the UN, bad move; Karen Hughes as ambassador at large, to win hearts and minds lost due to the war in Iraq; then Paul Wolfowitz – the architect of the war in Iraq – to head the World Bank, (and possibly lose those hearts and minds Hughes is supposed to win back). Can you say crossed signals or should we above all, beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Condi hits the ground running:
Still, President Bush’s vision of spreading democracy in the Middle East appears to be on a roll. Yes, Iraq remains a problem, but the rest of the region is moving as Bush’s second term policies are picking up momentum. Condoleezza Rice, who replaced Colin Powell, is the totem for this new era and she got off to a good start with the Europeans, patching up much of the damage caused by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the Iraq war period.
Condi has managed to bridge relations with “Old Europe” and her ground-setting tour for Bush went off relatively well. Even Rumsfeld was able to indulge in some rare public relation building during a visit to Germany, making light of his earlier comments saying it was the “old Rumsfeld” speaking at the time.
It is clear that the second Bush administration has adopted a different approach in dealing with foreign policy issues, realizing that the big issues of the day – fighting terrorism, preventing nuclear proliferation, and “spreading democracy” – can be achieved with more ease when working with the European than trying to go at it alone. Over the past few weeks, Bush has repeatedly referred to “our European friends.”
And now for something completely different:
If Rice’s nomination as chief US diplomat was well received in Europe, John Bolton heading to the United Nations was received, well, like a bolt of lightning. This is the same Bolton who once said the top 10 floors of the UN could be removed and no one would notice.
Bolton is a firm believer of America first. Democrats and Europeans see his appointment as a contradiction to Bush’s change of policy adopted by the second term administration. Bolton worries both friends and foes. Eurocrats in Brussels see in Bolton a serious enemy. Politicians in Paris and Berlin think Bolton is suspicious of European motives. They say he believes there is a Franco-German aspiration to build a super power that would rival the United States. His nomination hearing on Capitol Hill is sure to create a storm. Stay tuned.
Counter Bolt:
So we lost some hearts and minds (not to mention bodies and souls) and now we try to win them back. Enter Karen Hughes, one of President Bush’s chief advisers, nominated to be Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. This underlines the importance the Bush administration is giving diplomacy and the country’s image around the world in its second term.
Hughe’s nomination, say analysts, is in response to the often-negative perception of the United States, especially in the Arab and Muslim world. Both Rice and Hughes acknowledged that US public diplomacy efforts needed fixing. Rice admitted that the United States must do ‘much more’ to confront anti-US propaganda and increase exchanges with the rest of the world.
“Hostility towards America has reached shocking levels,” a report by Edward Djerejian, a former US ambassador to Syria, pointed out, urging a complete overhaul of efforts directed at the Middle East. “Our interaction with the rest of the world must not be a monologue,” Rice said. “It must be a conversation.” Agreeing with the secretary of state, Hughes said, “US public diplomacy should be as much about listening and understanding as it is about speaking.”
In her new job, Hughes will have a lot of speaking and listening to do. Her assignment includes engaging with the Arab and Muslim world. Probably one her first hurdles will be to explain why Bush selected one of the main architects of the Iraq war to fight poverty.
Wolfie to the World Bank:
Bush’s nomination of Paul Wolfowitz, current deputy secretary of defense, to lead the World Bank has had the effect of a mini-tsunami. Bush sees Wolfowitz as a “compassionate, decent man who will do a fine job.” Much of rest of the world seems to disagree, including many within the organization. They see Wolfowitz as the man who initiated the Iraq war, and all the troubles that came with it.
True, Wolfowitz comes with an impressive resume, yet many argue that his record as number two at the Pentagon was far from impressive. He is staunch neoconservative, who as a scholar headed Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington before returning for the third time at the Pentagon, where he put together the blueprint to topple Saddam. His reasoning was that Saddam had large caches of weapons of mass destruction. It was also Wolfowitz who argued that Americans would be welcomed as liberators.
Curiously enough, despite accusations of being anti-Arab and biased in favor of Israel, the 61-year-old Wolfowitz has been dating Shaha Ali Riza, a Tunisian-born gender specialist who has handled the bank’s external relations on Middle Eastern issues. She may have her work cut out. “The mood in the Bank is like a cemetery,” confided one bank staff member. “Everyone who can leave will leave.”
