ANOTHER ONE HE'LL OUTLAST:

France's Next President? (DAVID TWERSKY, August 8, 2006, NY Sun)

One can almost see President Chirac getting off a plane, waving a piece of white paper, and describing the draft Security Council resolution aiming to halt hostilities in Lebanon as " peace in our time." But imagine if the current crisis in Lebanon could have occurred on the watch of a different French president, a leader wedded to neither the reflexive anti-Americanism nor the pro-Arab policies of Mr. Chirac.

Impossible? Not really. The French elect a new president next spring, and under the Fifth Republic, all foreign policy powers are vested in the presidency. As it happens, at least one serious contender is significantly more pro-Israel and pro-American than the rest of the pack. That candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, has maintained a position on the Lebanon war completely different than the others. [...]

As opposed to the pathetic comments of Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy about Iran, Mr. Sarkozy insisted that "There are more than suspicions about the links between Hezbollah and Iran [and that] Iran is not the only country concerned." Instead of repeated calls like that of Mr. de Villepin for an "immediate cease-fire," Mr. Sarkozy, urged, Israel "to maintain levelheadedness and restraint."

Finally, the July 20, 2006 Le Monde carried a report of a public meeting at which the visiting Israeli minister recounted his meeting earlier with Mr. Sarkozy. According to the report, Minister Zeev Boim said that Mr. Sarkozy asked him, "How much time does the State of Israel require to complete the work?"

Given how isolated W was supposedly leaving us by attacking Iraq without the permission of other Western states it's pretty amusing to watch them all elect leaders who follow his political line.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 8, 2006 8:12 AM