Rice Refuses to 'Interrupt Her Holidays' to Deal with Georgian Conflict

Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress at 8:01 AM on August 12, 2008.

When she should be traveling abroad to work with allies to deal with the ongoing fallout from Russia’s invasion of Georgia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has instead been “noticeably absent.” AP reports she is busy with other plans:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also been noticeably absent on the diplomatic scene, having failed to interrupt her holidays to fly to Tbilisi in support of the Georgian government.

Instead senior State Department official, Matthew Bryza, who oversees the Caucasus region was sent, two days later than planned, to join a joint EU-US mediation effort to win a ceasefire.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Rice made more than 90 calls this weekend to discuss the situation in Georgia.

Tagged as: russia, condoleezza rice, georgia, mathew bryza

Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report.