Condi's challenge

摘要

In the January 2000 edition of Foreign Affairs, two eminent Republicans outlined America's main diplomatic tasks. "There is work to do with the Europeans," wrote one. "Foreign policy in a Republican administration will most certainly be internationalist." "In pursuing a reinvigo-rated foreign policy," wrote the second, "the United States first needs to overhaul ties with its partners and allies." The two authors-Condoleezza Rice and Bob Zoellick-are about to become secretary and deputy secretary of state (subject to Senate confirmation). Their resolute-sounding internationalism is one reason why many people on both sides of the Atlantic are hoping, not for the first time, that the Bush administration's foreign policy may be about to change. As one European official has been quoted as saying, this is "the end of the period of war and the start of the period of politics".