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

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (5661)	7/14/2003 3:32:00 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15991

Since when has Lithuania and Latvia been of strategic importance to the US over France, Russia and Germany? And now besides the British even the Spaniards are having their doubts about Iraq. So where is the Bush leadership? The flip answer is "since now, my boy!". The old alliances are breaking up. Alliances are not set in stone, you know. They reflect countries with common interests. I don't consider France any kind of ally any more. There is a new alliance forming, the Anglosphere. The US, Britain and Australia are lead members. India and Israel are also members. Turkey may come along, and such European nations as care to join - Italy, Spain, Poland, etc. France is trying to set itself up as a leader of the rival coalition. Rotsa ruck, say I. As for Bush not being "in the same league" as politicians like Jacques Chirac, my serious answer is: I should hope not. I'm sure M. Chirac is better at choosing a suitable Bordeaux. But at leading a country for some purpose other than completely amoral self-interest? You must be joking. Did you see the latest piece of news on this piece of work? President Jacques Chirac negotiated a secret deal to protect Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general accused of Europe's worst atrocities since the Second World War, according to evidence submitted to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. M Chirac allegedly agreed to sabotage the extradition of Gen Mladic to face genocide charges for his role in the planned extermination of Bosnian Muslims, including the massacre of 7,000 men and boys in the UN safe haven of Srebrenica in July 1995. In exchange, Gen Mladic handed over two French pilots held hostage for 14 weeks by his forces after their Mirage fighter jet was shot down outside Sarajevo. telegraph.co.uk BTW, I was discussing politics with my old aunt the other day. She is European, both in origin and very much in cultural and political attitudes, so she doesn't like Bush at all. But she seemed surprised at American hostility to France - didn't Americans know that French politicians have been total shits forever (her words)? What was there to get so huffy about?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (5661)	7/16/2003 7:01:26 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15991

Not of any class with the European leaders. Thank goodness.. Since when has Lithuania and Latvia been of strategic importance to the US over France, Russia and Germany? Maybe you should be asking why France, Russia, and Germany considered Saddam's brutal regime to be of more strategic importance to THEM, than their good relationship with the US. And now besides the British even the Spaniards are having their doubts about Iraq. I guess they teach their children that tolerating genocide from brutal regimes, as well as maintaining regional turmoil in the middle east, is completely acceptable so long as they can oppose "US hegemony".. What really seems to be existing in Europe is utter contempt for the very human rights they claim to be espousing. Look at the story in the Washington Post this morning regarding rising institutional Anti-Semitism in France. France has double the rate of Jewish emmigration over last year as a result of French Jews now believe they are perceived as merely "Jews living in France". Hawk