(NYT) Rice, on Tour, Finds Egypt Unreceptive to Hamas Aid Cutoff

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/international/middleeast/22rice.html?pagewanted=print

February 22, 2006

Rice, on Tour, Finds Egypt Unreceptive to Hamas Aid Cutoff

By JOEL BRINKLEY

CAIRO, Feb. 21 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday began a four-day visit to the Middle East, where she hoped to persuade Arab leaders to cut off financial aid to Hamas. But she ran into trouble on her very first stop.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister, told her that Egypt believed funds to the Palestinian government should continue for an indefinite period, to give Hamas "time to develop their own ideas." Egypt gives little if any money to the Palestinians. Still, Washington considers Cairo's view to be influential, one reason Ms. Rice stopped here first.

"The Egyptians," a senior administration official said, "carry significant weight with the Palestinians and are watched by the rest of the Arab world." Administration officials said they had hoped that Egypt would back the American position.

Egypt's refusal to endorse the aid cutoff follows European misgivings and statements of concern late last week about cutting off funds and could significantly complicate Ms. Rice's mission.........





....

[rodeodance]

1. I would have Karen Hughes had this all ironed out before Condi went

to Egypt!!


Jesting.

[LynnTheDem]

4. Hughes coulda got em to cut off funds to that DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED govt.

Yep, shoulda sent Karen in first.

Heh. :rofl:

[LynnTheDem]

2. Heh.

Too fucking funny.

WHY do I know so much more about the ME than the supposed US Secretary of State "girl wonder"???

[marmar]

3. Condiliar's tour looks to be a successful as Karen Hughes' was...

:nopity:

[LynnTheDem]

5. Gee I wonder what the world thinks when they hear bush chant "SPREADING

DEMOCRACY"...

...and then watch as he orders the overthrowing & kidnapping of the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED president of Haiti (2004) and watch as he demands the world cut off funds and ignore the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED government of Palestine...

...as he praises the UNELECTED DICTATOR of Pakistan, among many other unelected regimes bush calls his good buddies.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. That's what you get

when you put insane people in charge of something they hate.

[xchrom]

7. i hope the egyptian response is just the beginning

of a very rude awakening for that tapeworm we call the secretary of state.

mutant parasite that she is.

[Benhurst]

8. Why don't they let the poor, silly bitch come home where she

can do something productive, like shopping for over-priced shoes?

[saigon68]

11. she can curl her lower lip too

[rodeodance]

9. Neocon Architect Says: 'Pull it down' (Fukuyama Recants)--this is a

related story that was posted earlier on DU

Tue Feb-21-06 06:47 PM

Neocon Architect Says: 'Pull it down' (Fukuyama Recants)

ALEX MASSIEIN WASHINGTON

NEOCONSERVATISM has failed the United States and needs to be replaced by a more realistic foreign policy agenda, according to one of its prime architects.

Francis Fukuyama, who wrote the best-selling book The End of History and was a member of the neoconservative project, now says that, both as a political symbol and a body of thought, it has "evolved into something I can no longer support". He says it should be discarded on to history's pile of discredited ideologies. In an extract from his forthcoming book, America at the Crossroads, Mr Fukuyama declares that the doctrine "is now in shambles" and that its failure has demonstrated "the danger of good intentions carried to extremes".

In its narrowest form, neoconservatism advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace autocratic regimes with democratic ones. Mr Fukuyama once supported regime change in Iraq and was a signatory to a 1998 letter sent by the Project for a New American Century to the then president, Bill Clinton, urging the US to step up its efforts to remove Saddam Hussein from power. It was also signed by neoconservative intellectuals, such as Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan, and political figures Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and the current defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

<snip>

Mr Fukuyama, one of the US's most influential public intellectuals, concludes that "it seems very unlikely that history will judge either the intervention itself or the ideas animating it kindly". Going further, he says the movements' advocates are Leninists who "believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States".

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=266122006

[darkonc]

10. Isolationist

This Administration is so isolationist that they can't see what is so obvious to the rest of the world.

If Europe was having problems with the idea of cutting off funds for Hamas as the democratically elected government of Palestine, then why should any sane person expect Egypt to be even close to receptive?


Hamas was elected, in part, because most of Palestine saw them as the best alternative to the US-accepted massive corruption of Fatah -- and they were willing to accept the censure that came with that lesser-of-two-evils choice. If Bush and co. succeed in uprooting this government, then they will be seen as committed to soviet-style "democracy" -- i.e. any government as long as they like them. The worst is that they are blind to the fact that this is not a real democracy.

The rest of the world -- and most especially the rest of the middle east probably see this as a test of the US's commitment to real democracy. So far, this administration failing with flying colors. As a result it will probably take decades for the US to get any sort of respect from the people of the middle-east.

[Laelth]

15. Good point.

And, welcome to DU! :patriot:

-Laelth

[ConcernedCanuk]

12. Condi batting 1000 in failure over there

.
.
.

From the posted Article:

" Another of Ms. Rice's major goals for this trip — to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — is to lock down commitments from the Arab leaders to stand firm against Iran's nuclear program. But once again, Egypt disappointed her.

Standing next to Ms. Rice at a news conference, Mr. Gheit reiterated a view Egypt offered during talks at the United Nations nuclear agency early this month over reporting Iran to the Security Council. Mr. Gheit said Egypt supported applying the same standard to all Middle East nations, not just Iran. That was a well-understood reference to Israel's secret nuclear weapons program."

Gonna be a lot more "Yankee Go Home" after she leaves the ME

George just shoulda sent her to Rodeo Drive in CA to shop

At least she'd only piss off a few shop owners . . .

[cliss]

13. This is interesting....

Let's see how CON-Liar Rice likes to be told "No" at every stop. Maye this will deflate her currently overblown ego. I guarantee you she will meet with complete failure.

At every stop, ME leaders will ask her, "So, Miss Condi, are you aware that the Palestinian election was democratic?"

CON-Liar: Well, yes I know but (starts to squirm in her seat) but this is different.

Leader: How? How is it different?

CON-Loser: Hamas is different, you know. They're terrorists and we musn't support them.

She'll walk away with nothing. In fact, worse than nothing because these leaders will see her as full of shit, a blowhard who does nothing but jerk people around. She'll occasionally have some money held out, but it's always tainted money, it's on a fishing line and she reels them in....

[Laelth]

14. It's pretty bad when a pseudo-democracy ...

... like Egypt starts lecturing us about supporting Democratic governments. We claim to want democracies in the Middle East, but it's obvious to everyone that we prefer puppet dictatorships.

-Laelth