Condoleezza Rice. Photograph: Dennis Cook/AP
Condoleezza Rice's testimony this week to the US senate's foreign relations committee did, however, give some clues to the Bush administration's specific second term thinking as she cast Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe as "outposts of tyranny". There is some debate on who is in and why (this Financial Times article suggests Burma and North Korea are there to pressure China, ditto Belarus for Russia) and there are surely some Washington neocons lamenting Syria's absence.
At least committed smokers will have some sympathy for Cuba's inclusion, as the home of the cigar now joins Ireland, Norway, Italy and Bhutan among governments placing restrictions on public smoking. Fidel Castro, who gave up in 1986, is growing concerned about the number of deaths linked to smoking, according to reports. It may not be why the presumptive secretary of state considers him a tyrant, but for some of those who become angry at politicians meddling with an issue they see as personal it would probably be enough.
