World>Terrorism & Security
posted February 9, 2005, updated 12:45 p.m.

Europe appreciates visit by Rice

But pundits say new US secretary of State has only set a tone, not a direction, for rebuilding relations.

By Jim Bencivenga | csmonitor.com

As she nears the end of an eight-day tour of Europe and the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to bury differences with Europe over Iraq. She also strove to establish a consensus on the appropriate Western response to Iran's nuclear program.

Aides to Ms. Rice characterized her efforts as working from a playbook where a good offense is the best defense. These aides told the New York Times that her intent was "not to dwell on whether Europe and America loved each other or whether they were culturally from different planets, but to issue a kind of call to arms" for gobal freedom.

What was the European reaction to this approach?

The feisty former national security adviser to President Bush and now reserved, top diplomat, gets A for effort but only C-plus for results.

Editorials in major European papers indicate she won appreciation, rather than agreement for her efforts from European allies, reports the BBC.


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But even as Rice urged Europe to put aside differences with Washington, her message came across in European capitals – especially France, Germany and Spain – as an extension of the main theme in President Bush's inaugural address last month - spreading freedom and democracy around the globe, including in the Middle East.

European newspapers viewed this policy, as, at best, "half-a-loaf."

The Spanish daily La Razon writes in its lead editorial Wednesday, that Rice offered "a half-baked reconciliation to the EU countries which split with Washington after the invasion of Iraq. ...Those who expected an outstretched hand found it, but with conditions: to join Bush and his allies to end dictatorships and export liberty."

El Mundo offered praise for Rice's "undoubted bravery" in choosing Paris - "the epicenter of opposition to the Iraq war" - as the locale for her first speech as secretary of State.

But praising bravery is one thing. Critiquing substance, another.

El Pais, the leading national newspaper in Spain, wrote her speech "communicated great emotional tension but suffered from a lack of content beyond the call to strengthen the transatlantic bond and overcome profound disagreements about Iraq."

Le Monde saw Rice's address (given to students, political figures, and intellectuals at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris) as "a clear turning-point in a French-American relationship deeply damaged by Paris's opposition to the Iraq war and its subsequent refusal to support the endless occupation."

The French daily Liberation, was less convinced about "the depth of Washington's apparent conversion," reports the BBC. In its lead editorial on Wednesday it rhetorically asked whether Mr. Bush has

'really undergone a strategic conversion to the virtues of multilateralism and dialogue', ... or is this 'a mere tactical adjustment resulting from his difficulties in Iraq?'

In Germany, the Frankfurter Rundschau played down Rice's tour, seeing her efforts as but "the prologue to the actual play" - Mr Bush's visit to Brussels later this month. It ended its editorial with what American pundits would call "serving up crow":

Clearly, the time when Condoleezza Rice advised her boss to ignore Germany and punish France is now past.

The Washington Times pointed out in its lead editorial that girding Rice's first foray as the chief spokesperson on US foreign policy, and a principle reason her "trip went so well," was "the momentum from Iraq's successful elections 10 days ago."

But it is also possible that some [Europeans] may be rethinking the reflexive anti-Americanism that has been so pervasive in Europe's dealings with Washington - particularly over the Iraq issue.
Europeans, at least for the moment, are seemingly more receptive to the foreign policies of the Bush administration. By any measure, Miss Rice's trip is turning out quite well.

While in Ankara at the beginning of her European tour, Rice only partially addressed Turkey's biggest concern, the possibility of a resurgent Kurdish independence movement, editorialized the Turkish Daily News.

Ankara is worried that tension in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, an ethnically-mixed city with rich oil reserves, could lead to clashes that could pave the way even to an eventual disintegration of the neighboring country following a civil war.
The United States has been silent in the face of Ankara's simmering anger as Kurdish groups have moved tens of thousands of Kurds to vote in provincial elections in Kirkuk on Jan. 30.

Rice's message to her Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul "was that Kirkuk is an issue for Iraqis to sort out, although she emphasized that Iraq's unity remained a top priority for the United States." It left much unsaid, and was seen as a starting point to " mend fences."

The paper quoted Rice as saying that "mutual disagreements should not cast a shadow on the strategic partnership between Ankara and Washington."

On an issue of great sensitivity to Turks – the spreading of anti-Turkish sentiments in US television and movies – Rice, as if explaining the political facts-of-life in a nation with a Constitution protecting free speech and a free press, told Mr. Gul,

'the United States had no influence over Hollywood and if it did the Bush administration would not have allowed the making of Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11.'

Itinerary

By any measure, the new Secretary of State's first diplomatic venture was an ambitious one.

She left Washington for London on Thurs., Feb. 3.
Fri. - Met British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in London; talked with Germany's Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin.

Sat. - Talked with leaders in Germany, Poland and Turkey; met Russian foreign minister in Ankara.

Sun. - Met Turkish government, then went to Israel to meet Ariel Sharon.

Mon. - Talked with Mahmoud Abbas in West Bank.

Tue. - Met with Italian counterpart in Rome, then went to Paris to deliver speech.

Wed. - Talked with French ministers, then met Nato and EU officials in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Thurs. - Feb 10, returned to Washington