France Has a Serious Problem...
"In the region there is of course a country such as Iran - a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region."
--French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy
Beirut, Monday, July 31, 2006
I know what you're thinking, 'Nahhh, he didn't really say that! Did he?' One wonders if France learned anything during World War II, or 8 straight years of losing the Tour d'France, or the Muslim riots last year. This might explain why France has tucked tail and run in almost every military engagement in recent memory. This might explain why France is only a power to be reckoned with by virtue of their nuclear program, though one might wonder if they could ever be pushed into actually using them.
from the mind of... Eric | 8:33 PM
5 Comments:
I think we may need to worry about France sending nukes to Iran! France appears to have lost its mind!
Gawrsh! Are we going to have to liberate them again?
EL, try thinking about the situation for a moment. What did you actually expect the French Foreign Minister to say?
Did you expect him to say "Hell Yeah! George Bush says your evil so if you don't sid down and shudap we gonna Nuke youre ass!" Maybe you missed the part where the Bush administration squandered all of the goodwill it had in Europe.
Did you expect him to say the same thing in nicer language? Maybe you missed the news last year that there were wide-spread muslim riots in France. Diplomatically insulting/chastising Iran would have strong repercussions back home for the minister.
Maybe you wanted him to snub the Iranian diplomat. Refuse to meet with him like Condoleeza Rice did. I'm sure that wouldn't cause Iran to add anymore wood to the fire in Lebanon.
The way it works is that the French Foreign Minister flatters Iran. Iran leans a bit on Hezbollah to get them to reduce the daily rocket attacks on Israel. France plus Brttain lean on the US and the US in turn leans on Israel to reduce the bombs being dropped in Lebanon. After a few rounds of this things are returned to the shaky keel the mideast has been teetering on for the last 4 decades.
The quote you have is the outward signs of backroom bargaining going on. You missed the part of the story where the foreign minister suggested that French troops might be a good choice for a International Force.
Anyway, what's with all this Irsaelli jingoism? I know the old testament had its share of violence, but I thought the New was pretty much "peace, love and harmony."
France is too worried about its own muslim problem to antagonize Iran or Hezbollah, or....
Also, French peace keepers? The U.N. has had peace keepers in Lebanon for the last 28 years, and they've managed to avoid keeping ANY peace for all that time. What makes you or anyone else think France, who simply adores the U.N. will perform any differently? Militarily speaking, the French have an abyssmal track record.
The New Testament was Peace, Love and Harmony? What God did to change men's hearts accomplished only that... the flesh is still weak, corrupt, and filled with violence. And every Apostle died a violent death preaching that message of Love, Hope, and Forgiveness-- with the exception of John who died in prison. Peace, Love and Harmony? Ideally, yes, but it's not the reality, and won't be until Jesus returns.
I think America needs to clean up its own back yard in terms of racism, war mongering and the shoving of white born again Christian fundamentalism down the throats of the rest of the world.
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