Over on the HNN homepage I posted an account last night of a lecture by Vassar historian Robert Brigham:

http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/30895.html

Brigham contends that Secretary of State Rice has hopes of arranging an old-fashioned 19th century deal (think: Congress of Vienna) to settle the Iraq mess.

She's playing Kissinger in other words. Instead of getting China and Russia to help out with Vietnam, she gets Syria and Iran to help out with Iraq.

If she pulls this off she will have outdone Kissinger, who never had to contend with non-state actors as key players. All of the groups fighting the Americans in Vietnam were controlled by Hanoi.

What I want to see is how she'd sell this deal to the American public. She and Bush have employed such idealistic rhetoric in defense of their policies that it is hard to see how they could turn around now and settle on an openly Machiavellian approach. Maybe they won't admit what they are doing. But then what will they say in public about their approach? They have to say something.

It will be fascinating to watch.