PARIS – In Europe, it’s hard for some to think of Condoleezza Rice without recalling the low points in trans-Atlantic relations that grew out of the war in Iraq.
After all, it was Rice who raised eyebrows last year with her Machiavellian suggestions for how Washington should treat European opponents of the U.S.-led invasion.
“Punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia,” Rice was widely quoted as telling associates in the spring of 2003.
Trans-Atlantic ties have since improved to some extent. But Rice’s reputation still precedes her.
“Condi Rice is a woman with character, that’s the least we can say,” French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Tuesday of President Bush’s trusted national security adviser nominated to become secretary of the State Department.
But Barnier underlined French hopes of rebuilding ties with the United States no matter who holds the post of chief diplomat. “If she is named … we will continue to have the same relations,” Barnier told Europe-1 radio. “With the United States, the moment has come, looking ahead of us, to rebuild, to renew this trans-Atlantic relationship.”
Many in Europe, Asia and the Middle East believed Rice will add a more conservative, hawkish bent to U.S. diplomacy after Powell, seen by many as a moderating voice in a Cabinet of hawks.
Israel warmly welcomed Rice’s naming to the post, with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom saying: “She is a true friend to Israel. Her friendship toward Israel is very deep and stems from religious feelings and deep faith.”
“With Yasser Arafat gone, and moderate and realistic leaders hopefully taking over, we hope that the American administration decides to solve that issue, especially that Rice has good relations with the Israeli leadership,” former Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali al-Baghli said.
Other Middle East analysts were less optimistic.
“The last citadel of American state has fallen into the hands of the new conservatives,” said Mohamed el-Sayed Said, an analyst at Cairo’s independent Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “This is a euphemism of hijacking American policy.”
In Greece, meanwhile, the liberal Athens daily Vima said Powell’s departure “raises concerns the United States will toughen its foreign policy.”
In Russia – a country whose language Rice speaks and which was her early area of expertise – analysts said she could prove a formidable opponent who understands the Kremlin’s power games.
“Unlike Powell, Rice knows Russia from within,” Yevgeny Volk, the head of the Heritage Foundation’s Moscow office said. “She has no illusions as to what’s going on here, and the U.S. stance is likely to toughen.”
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