Well, who woulda thunk the French would ever be in a position to lecture the USA on showing some backbone in the face of threats from tyrants. Claudia Rosett reports:
The setting was the special, summit-level Security Council meeting Thursday morning, chaired by Obama, in which the official topics were nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament for the entire world — but with no focus on any specific country. The meeting was advertised by the White House as “historic,” if for no other reason than that no U.S. President has ever before stooped to chair the often feckless and at times just plain sleazy UN Security Council — where the 15 members currently include Vietnam and Libya. For this particular occasion, Libya’s foreign minister attended (thus sparing the Council the risk of a replay of Qaddadi’s 96 minute performance the previous day on the General Assembly stage). The rest of the table was filled with presidents and prime ministers.
They began with Obama’s pre-packaged deal of unanimously adopting a “historic” resolution, which Obama said “enshrines our shared commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons,” etc, etc. etc (All very nice, but what does this have to do with the real world?). Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon kicked off the ensuing round of official self-congratulatory huffing and puffing (”…a historic moment…a fresh start towards a new future”). The canned diplo-speak continued, as each member spoke in turn – Costa Rica, Croatia, Russia, Spain, Austria, Vietnam, Uganda, China … and then it was the turn of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Here’s his wakeup call, in the UN’s translation from the French (boldface mine):
“We are here to guarantee peace. We are right to talk about the future. But the present comes before the future, and the present includes two major nuclear crises. The peoples of the entire world are listening to what we are saying, including our promises, commitments and speeches. But we live in the real world, not in a virtual one.
We say that we must reduce. President Obama himself has said that he dreams of a world without nuclear weapons. Before our very eyes, two countries are doing exactly the opposite at this very moment. Since 2005, Iran has violated five Security Council Resolutions. [Ed note: Sarkozy then listed international proposals for dialogue with Iran attempted in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.] I support America’s extended hand. But what have these proposals for dialogue produced for the international community? Nothing but more enriched uranium and more centrifuges. And last but not least, it has resulted in a statement by Iranian leaders calling for wiping off the map a Member of the United Nations. What are we to do? What conclusion are we to draw? At a certain moment hard facts will force us to take decisions.
… Secondly, there is North Korea — and there it is even more striking. It has violated every Security Council decision since 1993. It pays absolutely no attention to what the international community says. Even more, it continues ballistic missile testing. How can we accept that? What conclusions should we draw? …”
Let the record show that from this day forward I have retired “surrender monkeys” from my vocabulary.
France questions Bush=Bad
France questions Obama=Good
I am glad I can stop ordering “Freedom” fries now…
C’mon Kevin, you can do better than that! The issue isn’t about who is president, and you know that, right? France did not support the USA when it was necessary to take out an evil dictator. That was bad in my view, and I severely criticized France for being so weak kneed in the face of an international threat.
Now, the situation is almost completely reversed. We have The One going soft on Iran and we have a French leader calling him out on it. Sarkozy recognizes that the threat of a nuclear Iran must be met with action, not platitudes.
So, I am being completely consistent in my criticism. The point of my post was just that I find it odd to be criticizing the USA and agreeing with the French. Strange times indeed.
As I recall we were set to invade Iraq because they had WMD’s. We apparently had the evidence. France said that it might not be such a good idea. Obama said the same thing. I think we are still looking for those WMD’s. And I think we are still looking for a way out of there. Misson Accomplished, err., umm nevermind. But I think France deserves a break for not rushing into an ill-advised war with Iraq.
Really, I was just making the point that I find it interesting how all of the sudden what Sarkozy says is relevant. Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly actually imposed an embargo (this would be really funny if it weren’t true) on France a few years ago because they apparently didn’t support our war on terror. Now that channel is using Sarkozy’s words to further their attack on the president.
Iran and North Korea have been a problem for a long time. This issue didn’t just crop up when Obama took over. We’ll see how it shakes out but short of starting a war on another front with troops and money we don’t have, I think using strong language and rallying international support isn’t a bad play.
The only reason France hasn’t joined any policing or coalition effort for the past 3 or 4 decades is that they are French, period, end of story. All members of NATO, plus France know that if they drag their feet long enough they can have it both ways – get the security and needed police action and have someone else pay for it. The US can be relied on to spend their treasures to solve the worlds problems and keep despot’s in check, just as they have ever since. Moreover, those same treasures in blood and money will be spent to help the chicken-shits when they get into a sticky mess as well, and this of course would and has included France, not that they appreciate it.
France deserves recognition for being cheese nibblers and wine swillers and for allowing idiot wannabe terrorists to run the Tour De France anti-doping mafia. Not much else.
France actually has more than 240 separate certified varieties of cheese – more than the number of non-openly gay people serving in their armed forces, and California wine is ever bit as good as theirs. So where does that leave them? With a Tour de France mafia, seems.
The best thing about Sarkozy is that he doesn’t have French blood, seems certain. And he apparently has the gonads to prove it. Just good to see some other people waking up to who this Mr O really is.
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I have come to admire you, John, but I honestly do not know how you cope. Must be darts cold draft beer and Korean women. A man could put a lot of things out of mind if he were fortunate enough to have those distractions.