Pluck The French
by Geoff Metcalf
October 22
Consequences of Irrelevance
The French personify an arrogance that is only thinly replicated
by Ivy League snobs and Hollywood glitter-nobility. However,
the French are overdue for a reality assessment of their relevance
or lack thereof.
In his September 12, 2002 speech to the UN General Assembly
President Bush said, "Will the United Nations serve the
purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" Subsequently
on February 9, 2003 he cautioned, "It's a moment of truth
for the United Nations. The United Nations gets to decide
shortly whether or not it is going to be relevant in terms
of keeping the peace, whether or not its words mean anything."
Likewise, France, having squandered whatever global clout
they may have once enjoyed, is frankly no longer relevant.
The pretentious pontificating and chronic itching and moaning
is sound and fury signifying nothing.
Long since having abandoned any pretense of being part of
the solution, the French have inexorably become part of the
problem.
France has not only been wrong but obstructionist and divisive
on virtually all significant contemporary issues: Israel;
Iraq; NATO; and the European Union.
French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin has been parroting
the Jacque Chirac French Whine.
· The US pursuit of forcible regime change is not
a viable or safe policy in the dangerous world that exists
after September 11th.
· Any military action against Iran over its alleged
nuclear weapons would be "absolutely ridiculous".
· Despite Thursday's UN Security Council resolution
giving the US-British force in Iraq a mandate, "the conditions
for real progress on the reconstruction of Iraq are not complied
with today".
· "Reconstruction has to have a partner, you
have to have real sovereignty in Iraq if you want to have
the Iraqi people working with you."
Not being inclined to permit facts that contradict the preconceived
opinions and prejudices, De Villepin declined to commit France
to providing reconstruction assistance at next week's donors'
conference in Madrid.
While stressing France's alleged desire to make nice with
the US and to work with it on a range of international issues,
the foreign minister also picked at the scab of Israel's US-backed
security policies.
"I think that Israeli policy during the past months
and years shows clearly that if you are going to imagine that
only through security you are going to find solutions, you
are mistaken... We think that using force, on the contrary,
is going to... give new reasons to some people [like al-Qaida]
to oppose us."
Yoh, Dom
guess what? Some people [like al-Qaida] don't
need new reasons to oppose us. They HATE us
and yeah,
YOU TOO. The deep-seated, unbridled antipathy terrorist Islamaists
hold is not a 'reasoned' anything. It is visceral and inculcated
from cradle to grave. You cannot reason, negotiate, or appease
your way to an equitable resolution.
The forces that oppose us, do, and will lie, kill and
accept
ANY concession or appeasement as a sign of weakness to be
exploited. Remember your buddies in Nazi Germany? Did you
read about Stalin?
The French 'vision' of a radically different approach to
foreign policy De Villepin outlined includes differences of
culture; society and religion should be weighed alongside
questions of security.
"You have to be respectful of sovereignty.", he
said. But it depends who is doing the disrespecting
like
in Kosovo.
"So in rare situations, we have to address these kinds
of problems by military means." DeVillepin said. His
remarks underline the continuing differences between France,
which led European opposition to the Iraq war, and Washington
and London.
To the annoyance of the Bush administration, Britain, France
and Germany have offered to supply civilian nuclear technology
to Iran in return for its abandoning any ambition to seek
nuclear weapons capability. Bullfeathers! And just how is
old Europe going to stop Tehran from converting nuclear fuel
into nuclear weapons? Can they say "North Korea"?
Geopolitical myopia being insufficient, Charles DeGaulle
pretender Jacques Chirac has blocked the European Union from
issuing a statement condemning Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, who said recently "Jews rule the world by proxy."
EU leaders had considered issuing a statement that
would have denounced Mahathir's remarks "false"
and "offensive," but Chirac led a move to block
any criticism. Apparently Chirac wants to save any denouncements
and censure for the country that saved him from having to
speak German.
France is an insignificant and incomplete shadow of itself.
Like Avignon, after the Vatican moved back to Rome, the French
are a sometimes-interesting historical anomaly.
Beyond the French proclivity for wanting to sell nuclear
power plants to Iraq, Iran and other wannbe bad guys with
deep pockets, they are as significant as a small yellow hole
in a snow bank in North Dakota.
©
2002 Tocqevillian Magazine