Word: rice
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Lucky Condoleezza Rice. After a round of bruising meetings in Russia, the Secretary of State was rewarded with a ticket to the Middle East and a mission to convince the region's leaders to come to Maryland next month to discuss the most bedeviling issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her daunting to-do list includes: Secure the support and participation of Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs skeptical of the purpose of the talks; Fashion an agenda that includes substantial discussion on topics that have flummoxed legions of diplomats, and which some of the participants would prefer to gloss over...
...Rice has certainly shown determination to meet the challenge - her schedule is relentless, her words forceful and urgent. And while doubts abound and crucial aspects of the conference are yet to be settled, Rice insists she wants real results. "We have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said Monday in Ramallah. Yet the nature of some of her meetings and the content of some of her statements hint at the serious limitations on what she - and those in the Bush Administration who support her efforts - can accomplish. Rice may insist that "Israelis...
...week prior to Rice's arrival, Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon opined that Israel should consider dividing Jerusalem, giving Arab neighborhoods to a Palestinian state and possibly ceding control over the Temple Mount. Predictably, the notion - last floated at the end of 2000 as the outgoing President Clinton sought to save the Oslo peace process - inflamed Israeli right-wingers. Some key coalition partners threatened to bolt Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's governing coalition, and some religious leaders vowed to mobilize mass protests. But the difficulties that the Israelis will face in even discussing the sharing of Jerusalem - a Palestinian bottom...
...Rice, it seems, took note of the potential of such moves to sabotage her effort. Shortly after her arrival, she said "We have to be very careful ... about actions and statements that erode confidence." At the same time, however, Olmert's office announced it had received assurances that Rice would not push Israel to do "anything that will not be acceptable to it." That came as Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas were sparring over the need for and nature of a document addressing the contours of a possible solution, including "final statutes issues" such as Jerusalem, the fate...
...head off such an outcome, the generals are waging a propaganda war to win back Burmese hearts and minds. Burma's state-run television broadcast footage over the weekend of military officers and their wives presenting gifts of rice and cash to an assembly of forlorn-looking, elderly Buddhist patriarchs in Rangoon. On Sunday, The New Light of Myanmar assured readers that the military was only targeting "bogus" monks and demonstration leaders with its purges. "Although authorities and security members pay respects to the real monks, they had to take action against those bogus monks trying to tarnish the image...