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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (4652)	2/25/2003 6:14:05 PM
From: Ish	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Outstanding!!

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (4652)	2/25/2003 8:41:01 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15987

What Does France Know? Christopher Ruddy Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 France’s actions to obstruct the U.S. war effort against Iraq should raise an eyebrow or two. France has gone well beyond the pale of legitimate criticism of and opposition to U.S. policy. As we know, French President Jacques Chirac has taken the worldwide lead to oppose America. We should have expected this from Russia or China. While the French have long had a sneering contempt for the U.S. and our policies, this open hostility against us has never been seen before since World War II. When Chirac recently warned former eastern-bloc nations that France may block their membership in the European Union, he crossed a clear line behind friendly dissent, and passed over to the enemy camp – as far as America is concerned. But why is France, our old ally (at least nominally), doing this? There may be several levels to the answer. One is the French government, at least, has little respect for President Bush. The socialist Francois Mitterrand opposed many initiatives of Ronald Reagan. Yet Mitterrand would not have dared to openly flout and challenge U.S. policies around the globe. He obviously feared Reagan. Still, another reason for French desertion may be hard to comprehend. Perhaps the French, with their close ties to Iraq, know something we don’t know. After all, it was France that helped Iraq build its Osirak nuclear reactor that was bombed, thankfully, by the Israelis in 1981. Since then a trail of commercial and cultural ties between the two countries has continued to this day. Still, with the U.S. the lone superpower in the world, surely the French recognize how quickly we will crush Saddam. And, after doing so, don’t the French see that our hegemony over the Mideast, and even Europe, will be greatly enhanced? But maybe the French don’t see it that way. Perhaps they think, or know, that something will go terribly wrong with American war plans. Last night Robert Kagan, an expert on Europe and international matters, appeared on CNN. Kagan told CNN’s Aaron Brown: “They [the French] also think - and I've heard French officials say this, and they're absolutely convinced - that the war is going to go badly. The aftermath of the war is going to go badly. Bad things are going to happen. The United States is going to look bad, and they're going to be vindicated in the eyes of the European public.” At the end of the day, Kagan says, many leading French officials believe that France could emerge as the dominant power in Europe. “They're playing for a strong position within Europe on the Iraq issue, but then to translate into other issues as well.” Kagan noted that Chirac’s comments were not made from anger, but from strategic thinking. He said that “the way Chirac gave a little spanking to the Eastern European countries, telling them they should shut up, is for the future. It's to tell them in the future, you watch out what you say and you don't cross France. This is about the leadership of Europe.” So the question is why is France acting so oddly and boldly against us. What do they know that makes them think they will end up on top when the dust and sand in the Mideast settle? For instance, do the French know that Saddam will use some horrific weapon against our troops? Are they aware that Saddam already pre-positioned weapons of mass destruction in U.S. cities? Maybe France’s unusual and sudden divergence from more than a half century of pretended friendliness or cold neutrality to open hostility against America is based on principle alone. I doubt it. A great statesman remarked that there are no eternal friends or enemies, just eternal interests. Obvious the French see their interests better served with little Iraq. Such a notion should be worrisome to us. Either the French have gone mad, or they know something. newsmax.com