February 12, 2003
MAMA'S GOT A SQUEEZE BOX:
Old Europe/New Europe: Rumsfeld ruffles feathers (Allston Mitchell, Tiscali Europe)The US Secretary of Defense has been called "happy go lucky" by some and accused of having an impressionistic approach to human rights by others but nobody would be foolish enough to credit him with possessing an overabundance of tact and foresight.The French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder recently used a glittering celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty to announce their joint opposition to war against Iraq, much to the surprise of some other European leaders.
Donald Rumsfeld, responding to this united front offered by Chirac and Schroeder in refusing to be bullied into a war they deemed precipitous, dangerous if not entirely unnecessary, dubbed France and Germany the two grandes dames of Old Europe. This was not a compliment. They were countries that had missed the train and which remained reluctant to bend themselves to the new US golf-cart diplomacy where the grim details of foreign diplomacy amounted to Slovakia and Slovenia being much the same thing.
"Going to war without France is like going on a deer hunt without the accordion," said one senior Washington defence official derisively. This set the tone.
The journalistic ethics are dubious, but they even provide a helpul hint as to who the accordionist was:
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 12, 2003 1:10 PM
The blogosphere tells me the current foreign minister of
Germany once threw a molotov cocktail at a police officer, nearly killing him. Ribbentrop was involved with bottles, too, but his were filled with champagne.
It isn't easy to look bad compared with a Nazi heirarch, but a few manage.
Boy, that's a great picture for a caption contest.
Here's my entry:
"Then I grabbed Chirac by the ears and WHAMMO! Headbutt!
Nice post.
Posted by: Charlie Murtaugh at February 12, 2003 3:52 PMActually, the accordion comment was made a month ago by former deputy undersecretary of defense (Reagan admin) Jed Babbin. But it got a lot of circulation in Washington and has no doubt been repeated by many senior officials.
Posted by: pj at February 12, 2003 6:36 PM