March 12, 2003
ARE COWBOYS KNOWN FOR MEEKNESS?
France Fears No Reprisals In Using Veto Against U.S. (Wall Street Journal, 3/12/2003, subscribers only - sorry)Having done their best to block America's plans to wage war on Iraq, French leaders are assessing the cost of angering their mighty ally, and are coming up with a surprising figure: virtually nothing....That may prove a costly error.... "Even though France has been a friend of ours for many years, will be a friend in the future, I think [a French veto] will have a serious effect on bilateral relations, at least in the short term," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a television interview Sunday....
Far from expecting a bill for the veto, some in Paris think the stance may pay dividends on the diplomatic front, by enhancing France's influence in the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Chirac made a triumphal visit to Algeria last week, where he was cheered by crowds, and the Algerian president urged the French leader be put forward for a Nobel Peace Prize....
France could find its veto hits on the diplomatic front. "It is hard to speculate what form it will take, and it will probably not be economic, but there is sure to be some serious scar tissue after all of this," a U.S. official said.
In truth, the French are as convinced as Osama bin Laden was that crossing the U.S. will carry no penalties. They think we are cuddly as a teddy bear, even as they proclaim that we are reckless and murderous grizzlies. The truth lies between the extremes, as France will discover. "Beware the fury of a patient man." Posted by Paul Jaminet at March 12, 2003 1:21 PM
Yes, France must pay for its actions in the Iraq issue. And these need to be significant - kick them off the Security Council, out of NATO, no-post war deals in Iraq, etc.
All the more reason to get Iraq done to prove what France (and Germany) have been up to).
If Bush has the nerve to take on the Middle East alone he should have the nerve to smack France around also.
Delenda est Gaul.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 12, 2003 2:44 PMI like the idea of backing insurgencies in "Francophone" Africa to overthrow their puppet regimes. Left the French always end up backing the side of the staus quo tyrrany.
Hey, if things work out, maybe the part of Star Trek future in which French is a dead language will become a reality.
I always did like the inference in Star Trek:TNG that the British had invaded and conquered France, imposing their accent and language on the natives.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 12, 2003 5:14 PMRaoul -- we might have extra motivation to do just that, if the three dictatorial former French colonies, Guinea, Cameroon, and Angola, vote against us in the Security Council.
Posted by: pj at March 12, 2003 5:23 PMSweet Henny Youngman! So the world's only superpower is going to care what Cameroon does.
I guarantee you more Americans can find Iraq on a map than Cameroon.
pj:
Angola is a former Portuguese colony, so only two of the three were French.
MAC:
Delenda est Gallia
would be good Latin for 'France must be destroyed'.
Cameroon was a German colony before WWI, afterwards is was mandated to Britain (if I'm not mistaken) by the League of Nations and finally placed under trusteeship by the UN, before it became independent.
Posted by: Peter at March 13, 2003 8:35 AM