The Death of US Diplomacy?

Condi Rice is now in the Middle East, although why she bothered to make that trip is a mystery when she admits she's not offering any new proposals to deal with the Israeli/Palestinian issue:

"I think anything that is an American plan is bound to fail," she said.

It seems the roadmap is dead with the US opting instead to send 'rifles and cash' (to the tune of some $83 million) to Mahmoud Abbas in what can only be described as an attempted, behind-the-scenes coup of the democratically elected Palestinian government.

Underpinning the situation, we find once again that the involvement of Syria and Iran are a crucial factor in any further development of a peace process. But, since the US refuses to have any dialogue whatsoever with either country, with Rice flatly stating this past week that they (gasp) might actually ask for something in return (which is part of that whole "negotiations" idea), the Bush administration has once again opted for the Guns, Isolation, Money & Death style of diplomacy which has become its trademark of failure while it tries to outsource what should be its role as a mediator to every other country it can cajole and bribe into dealing with its stated enemies. Or, when all else fails, it just kills more innocent civilians and walks away whistling while blaming everybody else.

That's diplomacy - Condi style.

And with John "death squads" Negroponte set to be her new sidekick, things can only get worse.