Whereas Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice really hasn’t proved much good at diplomacy over the last two years,* and is widely considered to be seriously out of her depth in trying to employ it, since the arrogantly contemptuous style of diplomacy went out of style several centuries ago,
and
Whereas, like any ranking member of President Bush’s Cabinet, she has considerable experience in various forms of skullduggery and black arts and secret ops, including dealing with terrorists (since turning a blind eye can be called dealing, especially in Bush-speak), and extortion too,
now
Therefore she has resolved to take her own advice and see if she can’t make some headway on America’s most pressing diplomatic problems by employing the previously verboten tactic of opening ourselves up to extortion.

Back in January, Madame Secretary was very clear in her mind — and not shy about saying so, either, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — that we simply couldn’t afford to hold serious discussions with Iran and Syria about anything:

If we try to engage them on Iraq, they will insist on talking about other things too. Iran will bring up our opposition to their nuclear program. Syria will bring up “the loss of (their) position in Lebanon”. Desperate as we are to achieve progress in Iraq, allowing Iran and Syria to bring up these topics is, in the analysis of Dr. Rice, “a price that we cannot pay”.

In that same appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, La Rice also used the word extortion to describe the stupidity of engaging with Syria and Iran:

On Jan. 11, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sat at the witness table in Hearing Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building explaining why “those who talk about engagement with Syria and Iran” are all wet. “That’s not diplomacy — that’s extortion,” she said.

Just a month ago, Rice — and all the running dogs of the Bush regime — jumped on Nancy Pelosi with hob-nailed boots for talking to Syria.

So naturally it comes as no surprise that Rice has now decided to hold serious talks with both Iran and Syria.

The United States is looking forward to talking to Iran at the forthcoming international conference on Iraq in Egypt this week, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

The United States and Iran have not had any meaningful contact in a generation, even though the country has a central role in four major crises confronting America in the Middle East, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in comments delivered at the British think-tank, Chatham House.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Egypt on Thursday or Friday, a senior Iraqi official and a senior Arab diplomat said on Wednesday.

It would be Rice’s first meeting with a Syrian foreign minister since she took over at the State Department in 2005.

The two sources declined to be named and the United States has not confirmed that a meeting will take place.

After failing to win his way with the Syrian government during his first administration, U.S. President George W. Bush decided that dialogue with Damascus was futile.

A meeting with Moualem, a former ambassador to Washington, would be a reversal of that policy, reflecting the gravity of Bush’s predicament in Iraq.

Of course, if these talks actually produced any positive results, Condi would never be able to live down her previous staunch refusals to engage with Iran and Syria. So darned if she has no incentive to do as her husb— boss seems to believe she will:

“Should the foreign minister of Iran bump into Condi Rice, Condi won’t be rude,” President Bush said Monday. “She’s not a rude person. I’m sure she’ll be polite.”

Well, let me tell you. If the foreign minister of Iran tried to bump into me, I’d slap his bloody face is what I’d do. I mean, creeping up on a head of state to massage her shoulders is one thing, but bumping into a madame secretary? I mean, please!

* Dr. Rice, whose Ph.D. is from the University of Denver (fancy that!), has been Secretary of state since January 2005.