Italian Commentary Discusses Rice's 'Encyclopedic' Approach To Geopolitics

Xignite World News ^ | 11/17/2004 | Commentary by Massimo Introvigne

[Cutterjohnmhb]

[FBIS Translated Excerpt]

I met Condoleezza Rice several years ago, before politics had totally stolen her from university work and when she was still a frequent speaker at international conferences dealing also with the kind of topics that I know best: freedom of worship that is under threat in so many countries around the world, and the slow spread of democracy. I was always struck by the encyclopedic knowledge of this political scientist whose original field of study was the Soviet Union but who was capable of citing the dates and histories also of obscure political movements in the remotest of countries by heart. To put it in plain speech, no European politician has the global geopolitical culture of this Afro-American lady.

But the breadth of her culture is not enough to explain the personality of Condi Rice. Like Francis Fukuyama or Samuel Huntington, equally famous colleagues who hold her in high esteem but with whom she is not always in agreement, Ms. Rice has succeeded in escaping the "death through specialization" that is such a feature of academic life in the United States. [passage omitted]

Rice's vision can be summed up in a simple and specific concept around which all the rest revolves. The World Wars (One, Two, and Three against communism) have always been won by democracies. But the peace following on from the World Wars has only been won when the victors have fostered the birth of democracy in the loser countries, as happened in Italy, in Germany, and in Japan after World War II; while that peace has been lost when democracy has failed to gain a foothold among the losers, as happened after World War I

[Cutterjohnmhb]

It seems that some observers and commentators respect Dr. Rice, more than our own leftist.

[In veno, veritas]

Excellent read. BTTT

[jokar]

bump

[rabidralph]

And for newspaper writers to hold themselves out to us as intellectuals, they've missed the entire point about the substance of Dr. Rice.

[ORECON]

The Republicans respect Dr. Rice’s intellect and brilliance. Other countries respect her or fear her. Only the American Democrats want to portray her as a house slave. It shows their true bias against the minorities that they keep down to maintain their power base. If they truly supported minorities, they would praise anyone that moved up in any endeavor. I seriously hope she runs for President and wins. That comes from an old redneck, country music loving, gun totting man born in the first half of the last century in a very small town in Eastern Oklahoma. Why can’t the educated fools get it?

[Terabitten]

Ping. Thought you might be interested.

[terabyte]

Very cool! Thanks for the heads up. Gee what an interesting race THAT would be...Hillary and Condi

[sandalwood]

Gee what an interesting race THAT would be...Hillary and Condi

I guess either way we'd have "The First Black Woman President" < /sarcasm >

I am heartened to see positive editorials about this amazing woman we are so honored to have as our SoS.

I am ashamed of what some have said, and I can only imagine the pain these images have brought to her friends and the countless other black women who hope to emulate Dr. Rice's success.

Where's the outrage at the NAACP? or NOW? or any other so-called black and/or women's rights orgs?

[eleni121]

BUMP for later. Looks real good.

[headsonpikes]

All that historical geopolitics, and still she finds the time to make fine pancakes, too!

[Dominus Vobiscum]

Shhhhhh. Don't tell anybody I told you this, but the intellectual elitists on the Left?

They're not....very....smart.

[pkok]

I guess either way we'd have "The First Black Woman President" < /sarcasm > I expect you're wrong. Ironically, Legacy Media would protray the contest as between the truly representative black Hillary, as opposed to the fake white Condi... (or whatever I'm trying to say.)

[Wallace T.]

Condi Rice has never held public office. As with Henry Kissinger (disqualified from the Presidency due to his foreign birth) or John Foster Dulles, the characteristics that may make her an effective Secretary of State do not translate well into domestic politics.