November 15, 2004
PUPPY ENVY:
Backing Bush has won you nothing, Chirac tells Britain (Charles Bremner in Paris and Philip Webster, 11/16/04, Times of London)
JACQUES CHIRAC dealt a blow to Tony Blair’s attempt to heal the wounds between the US and Europe last night by saying that the Prime Minister had won nothing for supporting the war against Iraq.As Mr Blair used a keynote speech to present Britain as a “bridge across the Atlantic”, President Chirac doubted whether anyone could play the “honest broker”. Speaking before he visits London on Thursday, he said that it was not in the nature of this Administration to return favours.
Mr Blair suffered another setback when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State and the administration figure most trusted by Europe, resigned. There were doubts over whether his successor, possibly Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Adviser, would be as accommodating.
M Chirac, speaking to British journalists, including The Times, soon after General Powell’s announcement, revealed that he had urged Mr Blair to demand the relaunch of the Middle East peace process in return for backing the war.
“Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see anything in return. I’m not sure it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favours systematically.”
Especially amusing here is his insistence that Tony Blair is his lap dog, not George Bush's. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 15, 2004 10:36 PM
Chirac is just too much. Does he really want to provoke the British? Not everyone in the world acts in response to bribery.
He must know that Powell's memoirs will not be kind to him. And what if Powell winds up President someday?
Posted by: jim hamlen at November 15, 2004 11:00 PMAnd backing Saddam got Chirac . . . what, exactly?
Posted by: PapayaSF at November 15, 2004 11:03 PMSpeaking of returning favors, when do the French plan on returning the favors we did for them during the 20th century? Perhaps they could start by repaying their Marshall Plan debt.
Posted by: Karen at November 15, 2004 11:10 PMCan we please bomb France? Or at least an embassy? Those in Iran or Syria would be nice, but pretty much anywhere will do...
Posted by: brian at November 15, 2004 11:33 PMNo need to bomb them; just let them wallow in their freakish misery.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 15, 2004 11:54 PMAnd what will the Froggies give them? A chance to increase British subsidy payments to French farmers?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 16, 2004 1:13 AMNormally I'd be the first to criticize Chirac, but in this case, he should be cut some slack since he's still in recovery-from-deep-grief mode following Yassir's unexpected and tragic demise.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at November 16, 2004 1:47 AMChirac is simplying stoking the anti-American fires in lieu of all those EU constitution referendums coming down the pike. The only hope they have of passing them is to generate enough hate towards the US in an attempt to forment a feeling of European "nationalism". Sort of like Kerry banking in anti-Bush sentiment to put him over the top. We can all see how well that worked out.
Posted by: MB at November 16, 2004 1:55 AMChirac assumes that Blair was bribed to participate in a moral enterprise.
How French.
Posted by: Randall Voth at November 16, 2004 3:47 AMChirac is a caricature of the ugly Frenchman. What does he bring to the table exactly? Not even Germany listens to him any more and after their next election, whoever becomes German Chancellor will ignore him completely. The French economy is smaller than Britain's or Italy's. The French military is a bad joke and a decent burp gun strategy will chase them out of Cote d'Ivoire.
In the past few years, he's continuously insulted the US, he's insulted Poland and other Eastern European nations, he's insulted Italy and he's now insulting Britain. Since the days of Hugh Capet, the single most important aspect of French foreign policy is the avoidance of encirclement. Chirac is encircling himself with enemies. One would like to open up Cardinal Richelieu's tomb at the Sorbonne just to watch his cadaver spin like a jet turbine.
Posted by: Bart at November 16, 2004 5:18 AMChirac has a point - favors are done for favors. Blair took huge risks to help Bush. Even if Blair thought the war the right thing to do, the US should visibly show some favors in return. I think Bush had done a few things to accomodate Blair, but can Blair actually show a big prize?
Let's be honest - a less skillful politician than Blair would have already been sacked as PM by now. The war is very unpopular in Britain. If he went down, the Bush administration would lose face. A bone needs to be thrown.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at November 16, 2004 10:48 AMEspecially amusing here is his insistence that Tony Blair is his lap dog, not George Bush's.
It's just another round of French-vs-English one-upmanship. Been going on ever since the two countries split after the Plantagenets.
Posted by: Ken at November 16, 2004 12:40 PMChirac has a point - favors are done for favors. Even if Blair thought the war the right thing to do, the US should visibly show some favors in return.
And we thought we had banked a few already. But tell you what here is one. Ditch the EU and we will let you into NAFTA.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 17, 2004 2:37 AM