“Don’t hold your breath.”
This started out as a post about how our Secretary of State treats valued allies but it’s turned into a post on comparative media sources.
But first, what did our chief diplomat do this week during her visit to Spain?
Something my children certainly would have known better than to do in public, much less while appearing as an official representative of the US government. Certainly something that I don’t expect to see during a joint press conference with Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Meeting with reporters after a long session, Moratinos and Rice tried to play down their differences by noting that they shared the goal of a democratic government for Cuba. But when Moratinos defended the Spanish approach of engagement with the Cuban government and suggested that eventually Rice would see the method’s merit, Rice rolled her eyes, turned to US reporters and silently mouthed, “Don’t hold your breath.”
What? Does she think she’s in 6th grade? That she can get away with making funny faces to her friends in the class when the teacher isn’t looking? As one colleague of mine noted, “Quick, someone get her a gift certificate to Ferragamo before she destroys our relationship with any more countries.”
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The Washington Post reported this behavior in the article, “Rice’s Stop in Spain Signals Thaw; Chill Over Cuba Persists”. And the Boston Globe carried the same story which noted that Rice’s visit is the highest ranking official visit since the election of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero who “openly rooted for a John Kerry victory in the 2004 election, calling the occupation of Iraq “a fiasco” and saying he looked forward to a period of “no wars for oil” during a Kerry administration. Bush refused to accept a congratulatory phone call from Zapatero after the election.”
The Washington Times omitted reporting the eye-rolling but did note the silent mouthing:
Mr. Moratinos countered that engaging the Castro regime is much more effective than isolating it. He said the Spanish Embassy in Havana has regular contact with political dissidents and has helped free some from detention. “I’m sure that after some time goes by, [Miss Rice] will probably be more convinced that the Spanish approach can have its results,” he said. But the secretary silently mouthed what appeared to be the phrase, “don’t hold your breath.”
The AP story which was picked up by ABC News did mention the incident sans eye-rolling but buried it in an article titled “Rice: U.S. Not Preparing for War Vs Iran”. Yep, just the article I’d look in to find out how the Secretary of State’s visit to Spain was going… Not. The last quarter of the article on page 3 had details about the visit to Spain, so it was there but well-buried.
When Moratinos predicted that in time Rice would see the value of his approach, Rice, listening to his remarks by translation on a headset, looked amused and unconvinced. As Moratinos continued to speak, she looked at the crowd of reporters and silently mouthed what appeared to be the phrase, “Don’t hold your breath.”
I looked for video of this press conference at MSNBC.com and CNN.com. No video and the articles also omit any mention of Dr. RIce’s performance. So then I checked further, no mention of Dr. Rice’s theatrics in the New York Times, UPI, and the AFP report.
CBS omitted the eye-rolling and silent-mouthing but saw fit to include the following nugget in their report.
Despite the harsh words, the two senior diplomats were all smiles at a joint press conference, calling each other “Condi” and “Miguel” and kissing each other on both cheeks. Both stressed that relations between the United States and Spain remain fundamentally positive.
So, the lessons from today’s venture into the news are as follows:
1 – Our Secretary of State needs some lessons on appropriate diplomatic behavior when visiting a foreign country as a representative of the United States of America.
2 – Choose your news sources carefully.
Finally, I did find some video that related to Dr. Rice’s visit to Spain though it was on a topic that I suspect she’d rather not discuss.
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Like you said, Violet, “what”?
Is this anyway to treat other countries with differing points of views than ours?
This little episode demonstrates her obvious lack of decorum. Although, I have to add that she fits in well with this current administration.
Condi Rice should never have been confirmed as Secretary of State. She is no more than an incompetent Bush crony. This is a SOS who said diplomacy is not about ‘making deals,’ and was called out in an op-ed in the LA Times:
It is amazing to think of a US Secretary of State showing this kind of mocking behavior. No wonder the rest of the world has a low opinion of America right now.
Diplomacy is often about making deals. It’s about figuring out what other nations want and then taking that into account in selecting options for your own nation to take. Nations ‘trade’ and ‘do deals’ all the time. Unbelievable. Our chief diplomat is unclear on the concept of diplomacy. How sad.
Perhaps the problem with diplomacy is that it’s too diplomatic. Here we have the Spanish coddling a dictator, the worst dictator in the past half century and you guys are calling out Rice for stating the obvious. It’s no wonder that Sentator Kerry is Senator Kerry today and not President Kerry.
The point, Henry, is that the US does not get to make the foreign policy decisions of other countries. The point is that we are not twelve year olds who roll our eyes and make snide comments when we don’t like those decisions. What’s next for this administration? Spitballs?
I can’t imagine a leader of another country coming to the US and showing a similar lack of decorum and have it go unchallenged, can you? It’s stunning that you don’t hold our leaders to at least the same standard as most of us expect of our grade school aged children.
This post is not about who has the right policy toward Cuba. It’s also not a defense of any country’s polices. It’s about this administration’s arrogance in our relations with other world leaders.
I really don’t think there’s a chance that Sec. Rice will ever be accused of being too diplomatic, Henry. You have to try something before you can ‘overdo it’. Ms. Rice has a right and an obligation to state our position, but it would be helpful if she could try to do it in a manner befitting her position, and not like a ten year old.
So, what is your solution, Henry? That we only talk with people who agree with our foreign policy decisions? Is that any way to resolve our differences? That doesn’t seem to be working very well for this administration, now does it?
Actually, Henry, there are a couple items I’d like to review in your comment.
First off, Spain, in case you’ve forgotten, was one of the original coalition partners that did send troops to Iraq. So the comment about not standing against a dictator is illogical.
Second, Spain has also suffered an attack by Al Qaeda that caused a massive loss of life in the Madrid train bombings. I doubt very much that their commitment to finding and defeating Al Qaeda members in their midst and elsewhere is any less than that of the US.
As for diplomacy, let’s turn to the dictionary.
From Encarta:
1. international relations: the management of communication and relationships between nations by members and employees of each nation’s government
2. skill in international dealings: skill in managing communication and relationships between nations
From the compact Oxford English dictionary:
• noun 1 the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations.
From Merriam-Webster:
1 : the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations
2 : skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility :
From answers.com dictionary:
# The art or practice of conducting international relations, as in negotiating alliances, treaties, and agreements.
Whether one is skilled or unskilled in the conduct of diplomacy, the point is that as long as there are separate governments and entities on this planet that have different goals, there will be relationships, peaceful or not, between those governments and entities.
The management of those relationships is called diplomacy and one can choose to do it well or poorly.
In this case, it looked pretty poor.
Many points to dispute here.
Violet, the Spanish participation in the coalition was under the leadership of the conservative PP not the current socialist Zapatero government. Times passes and faces change and policies change, not necessarily for the better, so don’t tell me what’s illogical.
Actually, on one point, you are right they suffered their own attack on the eve of election day and it’s what swept the Socialists into power. The fact is that by doing so, the Spanish voters sent a message to terrorists “we won’t stand up to you.” Zapatero kept his campaign promise to withdraw Spain from the coalition in Iraq.
He also was instrumental in removing some weak sanctions that the EU had put in place regarding Cuba. The sanctions were put in place because Cuba arrested 75 dissidents, human rights activists and independent journalists in the Spring of 2003. They were all sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for crimes such as “dangerousness”. Also contributing to the EU’s decision to place sanctions on Cuba was the summary trial and execution (in just 5 day, talk about swift “justice”) of three afro-Cuban men who attempted to hijack a launch (an action in which nobody was hurt). Yet even these weak sanctions (that involved inviting dissidents to official embassy functions in Cuba) were blocked by Zapatero and Moratinos.
So the Zapatero government has clearly shown a willingness to coddle Castro despite his many continuous abuses of Human Rights. To deny this is to deny a TRUTH no matter how undiplomatic it may be.
I am not a diplomat. I can call a spade a spade and I will. Spain has the most leverage to call for change in Cuba since it’s the country that’s most invested there, yet it’s the country that’s least invested there. If the tables were turned and it was the US highly invested in a Right Wing dictatorship and making a favorable foreign policy that was conducive to the continuation of that dictatorship, all of the liberals in America would screaming about it and applauding any foreign diplomat that was condemning it.
As for Dr. Rice acting like a 4th a grader, what about the journalist who asks whether her opinion will change after the visit with the Spanish foreign minister? The United States has a position on Cuba, does anyone think that a day visit in a foreign country that has shown itself to be a friend of the Castro regime is going to change that American policy? The 4th grader is the journalist that would ask such a silly and lazy question. Par for the course, I suppose.
Secretary of State Rice has damaged her own credibility. She made a case for going to war with Iraq, when there was no national security threat to the nation. She drew a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9-11 knowing that there was no connection to make. Her comments that there would be a “mushroom cloud” if we didn’t invade Iraq were misleading and false. She refuses to acknowledge that we have a civil war going on in Iraq.
She poorly managed the conflict between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel. She has mismanaged the war in Iraq, which is no surprise due to the poor job she did as the National Security Adviser to President Bush. She has continued to defend a failed foreign policy in Iraq. She repeatedly claimed that Iraq had WMDs which it didn’t. The administration cherry picked the intelligence to have it fit the policy of preemption.
The secretary of state doesn not manage the war or in Iraq or any other war.
Posted by Henry Gomez | June 3, 2007 12:35 PM
Cuba maintains good diplomatic relations with about 160 countries, including strong ties with Canada. Are you advocating that the U.S. cut ties with all countries friendly to Cuba or do you believe Condi Rice, as SOS, should roll her eyes in the presence of any of these 160 leaders?
Posted by Henry Gomez | June 3, 2007 5:55 PM
Is the SOS responsible for negotiating peace as Kissinger did or is SOS Rice correct when she says diplomacy isn’t about deal making?
I think Condi Rice’s record as SOS is atrocious.
Rice Attacks Pelosi For Syria Trip Hours After Meeting With Syrians
Iran, Syria invited to Iraq ‘neighbors meeting’
Seems to me Rice is trying to have it both ways.
“The secretary of state doesn not manage the war or in Iraq or any other war.”
She may have not “managed” the war, but she bears responsibility for making the case for war when she was the National Security Adviser for President Bush. She went in front of the American people, and in front of Congress to make a case to invade Iraq preemptively, so she bears responsibility. As Sec. of State she has represented our country as the chief diplomat. She makes trips to Iraq that don’t amount to anything. They are nothing but photo-ops where no concrete progress is made. Diplomacy is more than smiling in front of cameras and shaking hands.
Because she made the case to go war with Iraq over non-existent WMDs she has very little credibility in the international community. Maliki has made promises that he has yet to keep. We have no law regarding the distribution of oil in Iraq. The Shiite squads have still not be disbanded. The surge is not working. Under her watch the Middle East peace process has all but collapsed. The violence continues to get worse, yet she refuses to acknowledge the civil war our soldiers have been put in the middle of. In the last 2 days we have lost 14 soldiers in Iraq. It is her job to make sure there is political progress in Iraq. There has been insignificant progress. As the chief diplomat it is her job to make sure there is diplomatic progress in Iraq. We haven’t seen any.
Great scoop, Violet. I had no idea about this incident until I read it here. In a sense, Sec. Rice is merely acting on behalf of her boss. You could say he has been rolling his eyes at the entire world for 6 1/2 years.
Condi Rice has been around Bush too long. I’m sure rude comments like this fly around the White House all of the time. She’s mirroring the arrogant attitude and lack of diplomatic skills of her boss. Not that she isn’t responsible for screwing things up in her own right.
According to Joe Biden, he was pegged to be JK’s Sec. of State. I’m sure he’d have made great progress by now, working to unravel the tangled mess which is today’s Middle East. He’d have hit the ground running with all his facts on hand and have been a sorely needed resource. Competence matters!!