WJS reprinted a column by the editor of Le Monde.

Last couple of paragraphs must read as to why it's important that Kerry be president.

What's all the fuss over foreigners endorsing Kerry ?

It's utterly irrelevant, as they can't contribute or vote.

It might make some slim difference, if Kerry would name names, and they were somebody Americans recognized and respected.

Like maybe the Pope.

Bush has Vicente Fox's endorsement, so it can't be a Kerry play for Latinos...

I don't know if I've ever posted a comment before at this movable type site... I think I may have posted one at Orrin Judd's weblog. Did BrothersJudd.com/blog get comments on it rather recently?

Anyway, if Pakistan is backing Bush, then... Well, there is a major threat to the world from that regime - the threat from there to the U.S., and others, is likely much greater than any threat that Iraq has ever posed to us.

There's a significant threat from Pakistan, but the regime is temporarily useful in dealing with it.

OK, when they get to the Fleet (Bank of America) Center, Kerry's VP choice delivers his acceptance speech in German, the candidate himself accepts the nomination in French and then the audience uulates and renders their garments while pointing their campaign signs toward Mecca...

Not that I have my finger on the pulse, but placing Israel in the neutral/unknown category seems extremely suspect. This and not mentioning Poland.

But it's the Guardian, after all, whose motto might be, "Where lies the truth"....

Why would this prove surprising? Who do you think the 1967 Red Sox would have picked to start for St Louis in the 7th game of the World Series, Bob Gibson or Jose Santiago? That, little boys and girls, is why WE not THEM pick the President.

On a related note, you can forget about all the "substantive" foreign policy differences, where W would have looked to the "world" as no more "objectionable" than say Reagan or Thatcher. The reason they have never liked him is because they see him as "more American": religious, traditional, patriotic, monolingual, simple, family oriented...Can we not see the insult here?

Oops, I meant Dick Hughes or Bob Gibson above. As I am sure oj will point out, Jose Santiago pitched for the Sox!

Like most of the blogosphere I was ready to put this in the bad news for Kerry column. But then I've heard serious people arguing that we need the approval of other countries in order to get along. Perhaps that is due to my location on the liberal east coast but it is entirely possible that significant portions of the US, particularly the educated elite, think France's endorsement of Kerry shows Kerry should be president.

Americans just don't care what the rest of the world thinks. It must be galling for them. Kerry will soon find out the same.

AWW:

http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=7753

But then there's lies, damn lies etc...

http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=10681

At this rate it won't be long before you're all gathering together to munch snails and watch 'The Red Balloon'...

"Even now, only about half think favorably about France."

Bah, you're just a bunch of light-weight frog-bashers. You think one tiff over Iraq qualifies?

We've got centuries of practice. I visited St Paul's Cathedral recently for the first time in years. From Wellington to Nelson, it's full of marvellously ornate tombs for men famous solely for walloping the French in different locations around the globe.

The formula is simple: give the Frenchies a damn good hiding, put up a statue, and then charge their great-great-grandchildren seven quid for the privelege of looking at it.

It's interesting, though, that the French hate us for saving them much more than they hate you for defeating them.

(By the way, Paris is city as story, and the story is about being beaten by the English.)

Well, we made efforts to save them too...we're just not as rich, powerful and noisy as you any more. And therefore, not as resent-able.

The only people that hate the English now are the Scots, Welsh, Irish, Australians, Argentinians, the Asian sub-continent, Spanish hoteliers, all the Arab nations, all the former colonies and everyone else except maybe the Swiss. Who are neutral.

Free the Malvinas, lime-sucking scum!

Malvinas?

No, it's much more serious than that. It's about football.

Well. Let's have another look at that list. The idea that the Israelis are neutral would be comic except that even absurdity usually has some element of truth before it provokes laughter.

Germany is one election short of moving two groups down the list and that leaves only our active opponents France, the remainder of the Arab world and Latin America.

The opposition in Latin America derives from their desire to slow Bush down enough during his second term so that he doesn't enough time left on the clock to flip Castro, Chavez and send gunboats to Argentina to make them repay their European bondholders.

Hey. Now there's a thought for a UN wedge issue during Bush's second term in office. Why don't we sponsor a UN coalition to replace Argentina's customs bureau with an international agency that will collect tariffs which will then be used to repay international bondholders. I wonder then how many European nations would support the use of force in supplement to international law?

I can't wait for this one to sink in out here in flyover country. "I don't give a @#$ %^&* what those $%^ (*&^% think. Its our country. Every time they get in trouble we gott to go over and bail them out. They should just mind their own $#@&^ business. Get it."

Bullying small countries? Like Afghanistan and Iraq? What about the small people in these countries who were being bullied by the governments. I guess for the sophisticated internationalist, there are no small people, only small countries.

Actually, most of the "bullying of small countries" was waged by the elite Left in their attempt to demean countries like Albania, the Baltics, El Salvador, etc., who supported the war. (Maureen Dowd alone must have ripped apart half the small countries in the world if they dare support the war...) Heck, even Italy, Spain, Poland, and Japan had their "manhood in the world stage" questioned.

AWW:

Anyone who believes that global attitudes towards Kerry or Bush is the issue that will decide the campaign wouldn't have voted for Bush anyhow.