Former Secretary of State, in Santa Barbara, says Ukranian war needs to end
EDITOR NOTE: The video report has been removed in accordance with a contractual agreement between Westmont College and Condoleezza Rice, which prohibits the use of event footage for news purposes. The college did not disclose this agreement at the time the report was published.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made timely comments at the Westmont College annual President's Breakfast about terms that would end the war in Ukraine.
She said both sides need to end the fighting and the loss of lives in what's become a "World War I" style war.
The number of casualties varies widely depending on how they are reported and different sources. Both sides have had significant losses.
Rice said, "Ukraine needs to secure an independent sovereign country." She said it needs to begin "rebuilding itself, rebuilding its democracy because it is losing people."
As part of the end of the conflict, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, "he can never again threaten Ukrainian sovereignty. Never again threaten the Ukrainian nation. That's going to mean some security guarantees, probably from Europe. "
Rice was also critical of information from China and specifically relating to how the COVID pandemic was explained to the world. "They didn't have investigative reporting. They didn't have hearings. We still don't know what really happened there. So it's a reason why Democracy's have to win and that's why we need to run very fast and very hard."
Rice is the director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University teaching about economic opportunity and prosperity. She says she is impressed with the next generation of leaders she's working with. "It takes time to develop talents. It takes time to become experienced and understand, to be great.And so that makes me tremendously optimistic. And the fact that we are so innovative and creative because of them, we're going to continue to be the most innovative and creative country on face of the earth."
The breakfast gathering drew a crowd of 700 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachside Resort.
Secretary Rice served on President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council staff, first as director, then as senior director of Soviet and East European affairs and also as special assistant to the president for National Security. In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rice was a special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
