Since I routinely criticize the Bush administration for its disastrous foreign policies, I should also note when they seem to do something right.

All too often in US politics, administrations ignore evils committed by "allies", while loudly attacking significantly lesser evils by "enemies".

 What's more, they use the sociopathic benchmark of "what is good for US interests" being the sole criterion on which category a country is in.

 In this case, the US has refused, even when every other country in the world objected, to condemn even the most brutal, vile actions taken by governments of Israel...even when the PEOPLE of Israel were mostly horrified by their own government's behavior.

One ongoing evil is that a small, racist minority in Israel has continued to try to ethnically cleanse the area around Jeruselem, which is legitimately part of Palestine, but which they wish to claim as part of an empire.

One of the ways they're doing so is by taking over whole neighborhoods, replacing the people there with "ethnically appropriate settlers" from Israel.

A new wave of this ethnic cleansing is soon to start...but Condoleeza Rice has actually spoken out against these settlements.

Ethnic cleansing by foreign occupiers is among the greatest of evils. When it's not by outright slaughter, this does not make it OK, any more than rape is acceptable simply because it's not murder.

Kudos to the Bush administration for actually getting something right, for at least a moment.