US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threw her weight yesterday behind the Israeli blitz on Lebanon with a call for "a new Middle East," on a visit that has stood in sharp contrast to past multi-city US peace shuttles to the troubled region.
Following a surprise visit to Beirut the previous day, Rice met yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and was later to travel to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, before heading to an international conference on Lebanon in Rome.
Rice said it was "time for a new Middle East," after talks with Olmert, underlining US backing for the Israeli bombardment that has drawn widespread international criticism and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.
PHOTO: AFP
On the current mission Rice has already said there will be no repeat performance of the days-long peace shuttles of previous US administrations, which carved diplomatic lore and forged peace deals with exhaustive diplomatic bartering.
In the 1970s, Henry Kissinger spent weeks shuttling between Middle Eastern capitals trying to end the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
Interestingly, his tactics were often seen as an attempt to separate the idea of a ceasefire from deep fundamental problems which helped spark the conflict.
Rice says an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah would simply freeze problems and leave the militia in place to regroup and cause future conflicts.
"We cannot return to a status quo ante in which extremists at any time can decide to take innocent life hostage again by using their rockets or using their capabilities," she said side-by-side with Olmert.
"I have no desire to be back in three weeks, or three months or six months when once again the extremists have decided to use their advantages to destabilize the peace," said Rice before meeting Olmert.
More recently, during the Clinton administration, peace envoy Dennis Ross kept up an almost continuous Middle East shuttle, devoted to heading off flash points as they developed and targeting progress in Palestinian-Israeli talks.
Part of the reason for the differences is cultural -- from its first days in office, whether it be on the Middle East, or North Korea, the Bush White House has regarded anything resembling its predecessor's approach with disdain.
Rice has signaled her tactics are different, and in keeping with the "new" Middle East, where democratization is supposed to flourish and the old truths where the balance of power is dictated in Damascus or Tehran no longer hold.
"I could have gotten on a plane and rushed over and starting shuttling around and it wouldn't have been clear what I was shuttling to do," Rice said, anticipating criticisms of her mission on Friday.
She has also dismissed charges that Washington is unlikely to get any progress unless it sends a high-level official to Syria -- along with Iran, one of the states Bush aides say sponsor Hezbollah.
The idea that Washington did not talk to Syria was a "false hobby horse" she complained, adding that the problem was the Damascus government did not do as it was told when people did talk to it.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes bombarded Hezbollah's stronghold in south Beirut yesterday, as aircraft pounded south Lebanon towns and villages, killing 12 civilians.
At least five blasts shook Beirut as warplanes fired missiles at the southern suburbs of the capital, witnesses said. Thick smoke billowed into the sky over the area.
Lebanese security forces said Israeli aircraft launched more than 100 strikes on towns and villages in south Lebanon yesterday as fighting raged between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas at the frontier town of Bint Jbeil nearby Yaroun.
also see story:
Israeli ground forces facing stiff opposition
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from