So Condie was in Paris today to, officially, warm up the relationship between Europe and the US. Well. It did not start very well.

  1. She did not come to talk to people, she came to give a speech. One gives a speech when he/she has a recognized knowledge that the crowd is missing, or when his/her voice is so proeminently recognized as the most influential one the other people can only listen, and learn. That's the contrary of a dialog. France is - fortunately with Germany and a few others - the black sheep. And she's here to show it. Of course, she forgets that 90% of the population in Spain, Italy and Poland is against the US policy in Iraq, even if the political leaders follow Bush. Even in UK, a vast majority of people disagree with Blair about it.
  2. The room where she gave her speech was in "Sciences-Po" school of political sciences. 550 seats. But only 100 seats were open to students and teachers, 450 reserved for the US embassy... Well done. They did not need another way of showing they don't care about the dialog.
  3. She gave her speech before her talks with French officials, and that's _very_ unpolite in diplomacy.