KUWAIT CITY, March 14: Former US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, blamed Iran for rejecting the options provided by Russia for civil nuclear power, and “for supporting organizations that disrupt Middle East peace like Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Rice was making a speech at a symposium organized by National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) at Courtyard Marriot Hotel Sunday during her visit to Kuwait.
The former secretary of state was tackling the changing global geopolitical situations in the face of the current economic crisis. She was referring to Iran while listing out reasons for pessimism in the larger international context, “which is marred by the crisis.”
Rice began by focusing on the validity of the dominant economic model, “which encouraged economies to open up, become free, brought about low taxation and fewer regulations, and free flow of people.
“The dominant economic model showed us that the global economy can grow as a whole with more openness.”
Rice said that this model is under challenge, “with some even blaming the openness for the problems.” She then went on to defend the model saying that it has brought about the longest economic expansion after the World War, and has no alternatives.
Focusing on the crisis, she noted that it has impacted global diplomacy and politics. She explained how the European Union was beginning to make a transition towards greater political strength when the crisis struck. “Greece was troubled by fiscal crisis and set off challenges about the obligations of richer EU members to help the weaker ones. The Lisbon Treaty was setting the stage for greater economic and political integration of EU.”
Rice then moved on to Russia. She observed that Russia, following the crisis, was pushed further into extractive industrial economy that it already was. The economic slowdown in Russia opened fresh tensions in the country’s political system.
She recalled how Russia’s new president was stressing on the importance of emerging out of extractive industrial economy and becoming a knowledge industry.
Rice gave credit to the BRIC countries, especially Brazil and India, for their wise policies “that helped them weather the crisis better and be more resilient.”
She then raised the question of US and China, and the relative balance between them and the shift in the political weight between these two countries. Rice praised China’s economic achievements billing it a miracle. However, she criticized the country’s political system. “It is rigid and has problems in responding to change.”
China, she added, quoting a statement of Chinese president, Hu Jintao, needs to generate 25 million jobs ever year. “It has been creating these jobs from the 10 to 12 percent economic growth it enjoyed prior to the crisis. However, the crisis has affected those growth figures.”
Rice discounted China’s chance of upstaging the US geopolitically by citing other reasons including the rising number of riots in the country, the succession disputes, and the challenges to the political system in keeping pace with the rapid socio-economic changes.
Most importantly, she asked, “How can a country that is terrified of the Internet revolution play a constructive role among the international community?”
“Therefore, if the US continues play to its strength, it can weather the storm.”
Turning to the Middle East, Rice said that Iraq is getting towards democracy, and emphasized the importance of carrying forward the Middle East peace process, “as it is good for the region and the world.”
Rice strongly supported the two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, but conceded that solutions will not be easy to achieve.
As reasons for her positivism despite all these looming issues, Rice looked back into history and cited examples of the emergence of the US as a free nation, the fall of the Berlin wall, the fall of soviet union and the liberation of Kuwait. She pointed out the great odds against these events from happening. “Yet they happened, and in hindsight they seem inevitable.”
To a question on what she felt the Bush administration did not do right about Iraq, Rice admitted that the tribal structure in Iraq could have been made better use of for its stability.
Talking about America’s policy on foreign student programs, she said that following 9/11, “we closed ourselves, and the student numbers dropped, especially from this region.
“President Bush did everything to change this, and the number of students from here has now exceeded pre-9/11 figures.”
NBK’s Group CEO, Ibrahim Dabdoub, in his welcome speech, touched upon the key features of the crisis. He added that NBK continues to ride out the crisis and still returned a 4 percent increase in net profits, “the only positive increase amongst banks in the region.
“NBK was recently ranked 38th by Global Finance in the list of the world’s 50 safest banks.”