"[5] Another aspect of the emphasis on regional solutions is the implementation of small, agile, "rapid-response" teams to tackle problems like disease, instead of the traditional approach of calling on experts in an embassy.

The Secretary emphasized the need for diplomats to move into the largely unreached "bustling new population centers" and to spread out "more widely across countries" in order to become more familiar with local issues and people.

Rice states that her Transformational Diplomacy is not merely about "influencing" or "reporting on" governments, but "changing people's lives" through tackling the issues like AIDS, the education of women, and the defeat of violent extremism.

[14] Gideon Levy, reporter for an Israeli newspaper, complained Rice had accomplished little: "in what was considered the 'achievement' of the current visit, Israel also promised to open the Karni crossing.

Rice lauded the turnout and congratulated President Abbas, while informing the victorious Hamas that it would "have to make some difficult choices," saying, "Those who win elections have an obligation to govern democratically ...

It now inherits the obligations of a Palestinian government, authority, that go back now for more than a decade to recognize the right of Israel to exist, to renounce violence, to disarm militias, as is the case in the roadmap, and to find a peaceful solution in two states.

"[18] In response to the Hamas victory, Israel withheld funds belonging to the Palestinian Authority, and reinforced restrictions on movement in and out of the Gaza Strip and within the West Bank.

[24] Rice arrived in Cairo, Egypt, March 4, 2008, in the latest diplomatic effort to revive a Middle East peace process sidetracked by violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

[26] "The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza," Rice said in a statement.

[29] In mid-July 2006, the Middle East peace process encountered a new obstacle on a different front when Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon launched rocket attacks into Israel and ambushed Israeli convoys, kidnapping two soldiers and killing three, sparking what has become known as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Before the major fighting began, Rice demanded that both Israel and Lebanon "act with restraint to resolve this incident peacefully and to protect innocent life and civilian infrastructure."

"[40] Mohammed Habib, an Egyptian Brotherhood official, stated: "Hamas's victory made the U.S. take a contrary position to promoting democracy in Egypt and favor a hereditary succession.

"[48] Criticisms in the report include a 2002 incident in which Saudi religious police stopped students from leaving a burning building because they were not wearing mandated Islamic dress; 15 schoolgirls perished.

"[52] In February 2006, Rice addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and called for funding to aid democratic reform in Iran through television and radio broadcasting, through helping pay for Iranians to study in America, and through supporting pro-democracy groups within the country.

He certainly could never have predicted that nearly four decades later, war between Europe's major powers would be unthinkable, or that America and the world would be harvesting the fruits of his good decisions and managing the collapse of communism.

But because leaders such as Acheson steered American statecraft with our principles when precedents for action were lacking, because they dealt with their world as it was but never believed they were powerless to change it for the better, the promise of democratic peace is now a reality in all of Europe and in much of Asia.

Rice asserted that insurgents were mainly responsible for American casualties; Senator Chuck Hagel stated, "Madame Secretary, your intelligence and mine is a lot different.

"[77] In December 2007, Rice made her eighth visit as secretary of state to Iraq, making an unscheduled stop in Kirkuk before proceeding to Baghdad, where she called on Iraqi leaders to urgently implement a national reconciliation roadmap.

[79] On April 20, 2008, Rice made yet another unannounced trip to Baghdad, this time to promote what she called the "coalescing center" of Iraqi politics around Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"[80] On June 9, 2008, senators Carl Levin and John Warner, in a letter to Rice concerning U.S.-Iraqi negotiations on a strategic framework and status of forces agreement, demanded that the administration "be more transparent with Congress, with greater consultation about the progress and content of these deliberations."

After the first phase of the 5th round of talks, which took place November 9–11, 2005, North Korea suspended its participations in the negotiations because the United States would not unfreeze some of its financial assets in a Macau bank.

On May 1, 2006, Rice stated that North Korea needs "to return expeditiously to the talks without preconditions, to dismantle its nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and to cease all illicit and proliferation activities.

Following the missile test, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting and strongly condemned the actions, though no official sanctions resulted at the time.

[101] While Rice consistently affirms that the United States will not preemptively invade, attack, or topple the North Korean regime, she emphatically assured Japan during an October 18, 2006, visit that "the United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range—and I underscore full range—of its deterrent and security commitments to Japan," which many have interpreted to mean that America would not hesitate to use its military might should North Korea attack one of America's allies.

I think it is a very good development" because, she said, nations in the region now have joined in a diplomatic process to persuade Pyongyang to give up the weapons it built.."[104] Rice expressed hope February 27, 2008 that the arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa would not damage Washington's relations with Tokyo.

[111] Rice soon responded ""Everybody understands that with a growing Iranian missile threat, which is quite pronounced, that there need to be ways to deal with that problem and that we are talking about long lead times to be able to have a defensive counter to offensive-missile threats"[112] In April 2007, Rice indicated that Russia's concerns over the missile defense system were "ludicrous;" Putin responded by suggesting imposing a moratorium on an arms control treaty that NATO countries had long refused to ratify.

[citation needed] Secretary Rice was scheduled to travel to India on December 3, 2008, at the request of President Bush in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the White House said.

"[117] During a six-day tour of the African continent in February 2008, President Bush directed Rice, who was with him, to break off to go to Kenya, where Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, was trying to broker a power-sharing deal.

A senior administration official said that the main purpose of Rice's trip would be to step up pressure on Kenya's president, warning him that he risked losing American support if he did not compromise.

"[121] During Rice's confirmation hearings, she commented on Chávez: "We are very concerned about a democratically elected leader who governs in an illiberal way, and some of the steps he's taken against the media, against the opposition, I think are really very deeply troubling."