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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (12344)	4/5/2004 12:13:06 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Dominique de Villepin: praised the US and UK "Libya is heading down the path of disarmament. It's a success for the entire international community. France acclaims the diplomatic efforts of Britain and the United States, which allowed this result to be achieved. " www.emjournal.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/a0046.html I think you need to straighten Mr. Villepin out and explain to him that Europe took the lead here and the US had nothing to do. Jean-Louis Turlin commented in right-of-center Le Figaro (12/22): "The Bush doctrine against rogue states has scored again.... FM de Villepin has saluted the accomplishment.... But the congratulations he is sending to Washington and London cannot hide the fact that Paris was not included in the negotiations. French diplomacy is now without a means of pressure against Tripoli in its own negotiations over the bombing of the UTA aircraft.... For Washington, the year is ending in an apotheosis.... Diplomacy was served by the show of force in Afghanistan and Iraq." Independent, liberal Stockholm morning daily Dagens Nyheter editorialized (12/23): "It certainly was a breakthrough when Libya the other day conceded that the country had WMD, offered to scrap them, and welcomed international inspectors. After the Libyan decision and the insufficient Iraqi concessions there might be reasons to regard future of arms control in a somewhat brighter light.... Behind Qadhafi's public admission there might be lessons learned from Iraq.... In order not to meet the same fate (as Saddam Hussein), the Libyan leader possibly realized that he better put all cards on the table, and displayed the weapons himself before someone else decided to do so.... The question now is how far-reaching conclusions one may draw from Qadhafi's cooperativeness. Was it just an unusually fortunate combination of matters that made several months of negotiations between Libya and the U.S. and the UK produce a positive result? Can Libya's decision make others follow? Perhaps additional states might be willing to disarm without the use of force. Perhaps international arms control now will take a major step forward." Boris Yunanov mused in reformist weekly Moskovskiye Novosti (12/23): "Colonel Qadhafi has put up a white flag in the Libyan Desert.... Libya is willing to cooperate with the IAEA.... And so is Iran.... Tehran is said to be planning to cut funding for Shia groups in South Lebanon.... Syria, reportedly, no longer wants to be a safe haven for Saddam's Baath party members.... We are sure to hear more of the same pretty soon. But even that is enough to make it absolutely clear that nothing of the above would have happened had the fear of sharing Saddam Hussein's fate not spread through all of the Instability Arch, the fear that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz counted on so much as he called for a military operation in Iraq. Of late, there have been many prognosticators speaking, not without gloating, of Iraq as America's second Vietnam, claiming that the capture of Saddam, won't help.... It turns out that Bush was not all that arrogant, coming up with his doctrine. Profound positive changes in the geopolitical landscape in the world's most explosive region prove that. The U.S. soldiers' sacrifices have not been for nothing. So Paul Wolfowitz might be right, after all." Right-of-center Die Welt of Berlin judged (12/22): "Fear teaches how to pray, including Libya's leader Qadhafi. The pictures of how the Iraqi army disintegrated and Saddam came out of his spider hole carried a message. Qadhafi had played with WMD and missiles. The British and Americans convinced him that they were the most dangerous for himself. And these were missiles that could not hit the U.S., but Egypt, Italy and Greece today, and Israel and southern Germany tomorrow. Now Qadhafi wants to do without these missiles. He is now seeking respect in his old days, to play the mediator and develop his oil industry. And for this purpose, investments and know-how from the West are more important than missiles and nuclear weapons. Qadhafi will not be the last who will learn the Iraq lesson." Antoine de Gaudemar wrote in left-of-center Liberation (12/22): "If one is to believe the Americans and the British, threat has its own advantages.... The agreement with Tripoli is one more victory for the Bush-Blair tandem.... It is also a victory for the international community.... De Villepin is not a sore loser: he praised the agreement. But the fact is that France was absent from the negotiations." Andre Bercoff commented in popular right-of-center France Soir (12/22): "As always (French) intellectuals are complaining about the way Saddam's arrest was portrayed. The alarm was sounded about reactions in the Arab world. Well the reactions are in: Qadhafi is falling in line, Iran is talking, Bachir el-Assad of Syria has no desire to end up like Saddam, and Saudi Arabia may look into Wahabism a little more closely. Fear of the Sheriff is working. Regional monarchs may even learn to spell the word 'reform.' The Americans, who are certainly no angels, and who have in past days supported their load of dictators, have nevertheless contributed in keeping Hitlerism, Stalinism and Muslim extremism from having the last word."