October 25, 2004
France thinks the status quo will be better
Oui. Oui. Everything will be beaucoup better even if nothing is different.
"Imagine that John Kerry becomes president and asks us to send troops to Iraq. We would say no," a senior French diplomat told Le Monde newspaper.(Empases mine)"It's already proving extremely hard to explain that our refusal is not directed against America. In those circumstances it would be impossible."
Others have pointed out that many of the points of difference between France and the United States - such as the International Criminal Court, trade barriers and the Kyoto protocol on global warming - predate the Bush era and are unlikely to be resolved quickly by a Democrat.
...
The over-riding hope is that even if Kerry were unable to articulate radically different policies on Iraq or other matters, he would be less ideologically driven than Bush and more inclined to seek international sanction.The tone of trans-Atlantic relations should change, in other words, if not the substance - but that would itself be a major step forward.
"John Kerry's accession to power would bring a significant change. We would once again be dealing with people who treat Europe as important, ..." said Pierre Moscovici, a former Socialist minister.
I'm at a loss at how to comment on that. 'Treat Europe as important'. It's so 'me, me, me'.
Hmmm... A song came to mind. Very 'me, me, me'.
I could be your sea of sand I could be your warmth of desire I could be your prayer of hope I could be your gift of everydayI could be your tide of heaven I could be a hint of what’s to come
I could be ordinary I could be the oneI could be your blue eyed angel I could be the storm before the calm
I could be your secret pleasure I could be your well wishing well
I could be your breath of life I could be your european dream
I could be ordinary I could be the oneI would lie here in the darkness I would lie here for all time
I would lie here watching over you Comfort you Sing to youI could be your worry partner I could be your socialite
I could be your green eyed monster I could be your force of light
I could be your temple garden I could be your tender hearted child
I could be ordinary I could be the oneI would lie here in the darkness I would lie here for all time
I would lie here watching over you Comfort you Sing to you
...
Aarrrghh, E-nough! already. I'm getting really good at wasting time. :( Posted by Valerie at October 25, 2004 03:55 PM
And I though I got off on blogging tangents!
Seriously, imaginative post!
Posted by: AlphaPatriot at October 26, 2004 12:34 AMLOL Alpha:
I think it was something I ate.
Or a sincere desire to do absolutely nothing constructive this afternoon.
Or I thought I was taking a global test.
Or I was channeling St Crispin.
Or, like, I freaked out, like, totally.
You decide.
Posted by: Valerie at October 26, 2004 12:41 AMIT IS easy from afar to caricature France's foreign policy. The country's pretensions to exert significant global influence are overblown. Its forays into the Middle East, Asia and Africa often seem designed to promote not a worthy alternative view of the world but its own commercial interests, especially defence sales, spiced with a nostalgia for la Francophonie. And too much Gaullist bluster, most recently on Iraq, appears to be motivated by the desire to upset and undermine the United States, still France's most important ally.
Maybe "Europe" would be treated as important if "Europe" fixed the attitudes above (Economist via No-Pasaran).
Posted by: Doug at October 26, 2004 08:29 AM
