If you receive the weekly "Washington Whispers" note from US News & World Report, then you may have seen this.
If not, it's an inadvertent yet rather scathing critique of W's general incompetence.
Grade-A Beef
Call it a diplomatic game of rock, paper, scissors. In one story making the rounds in Washington, the new leadership at the State Department is so miffed at Japan for banning imports of U.S. beef (over fears of mad cow disease) that Japanese diplomats told friends that Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick had briefly banned them from entering Foggy Bottom. Zoellick's boss, Condoleezza Rice , persuaded President Bush to call Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on March 9 and demand that he reopen Japan's markets to U.S. beef. The next day, Koizumi dropped a not-so-subtle hint to Bush when he publicly suggested that Japan should explore diversifying its central-bank reserves away from the dollar. As the already weak greenback plunged further, Bush aides got the message and dialed back the rhetoric. On Rice's recent visit to Tokyo, everyone was all smiles.
Anyone home?
So many key staffers have fled the State Department's once high-profile Office of Counterterrorism that folks are wondering who's left to mind the store. Among those deserting ship: longtime spokesman Joe Reap , followed by the top dog himself, Cofer Black . Now Black's deputy, William Pope, has left, leaving in charge their No. 3, Karen Aguilar . How bad are things? Her website bio misspells coordinator ("Office of the Coodinator"). "It's like the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles when I call over there," complains one counterterrorism pro.
US News Washington Whispers
Considering that China owns considerably more T-bonds than Japan, & China is now the US's largest global competitor for oil imports...
