In her first 100 days as US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice has set a blistering pace. Already she has logged 54,158 air miles in a rush of “transformational diplomacy” she is modelling on the cold war but aiming at the Middle East.

But while she may have won over sceptical audiences in France with eloquence, style and bridge-building efforts, Ms Rice has alarmed civil servants and critics back home. She is seen to be concentrating policymaking in the hands of a few, and zealous in her approach to bringing about change in the Islamic world.