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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (184136)	3/26/2006 1:29:51 PM
From: zonkie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

<<<What if Hitler had fled into Switzerland or Argentina, been elected president and looked to be rallying support to rebuilding his Nazi power base and launching another war?? We'd have to conquer and defeat them. Would we let Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dawmer off the hook merely because they were elected governor of some state? No.. They'd have to be arrested.>>> Which brings us to the big question. Should we let george bush off the hook just because he is the president? The republicans say yes.

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (184136)	3/26/2006 2:15:09 PM
From: paret	Respond to of 281500

Chirac sulks as English drowns out French By David Rennie and Toby Helm in Brussels Telegraph.co.uk 24/03/2006) <Excerpt> A walkout last night by President Jacques Chirac from a summit of European Union leaders exposed not just the French leader's thin skin but the degree to which France has lost control of the EU, once its pet project. With riots consuming the streets of Paris and leaders of several free market-minded nations determined to give him a dressing down for his government's attempts to turn France into a protectionist fortress, Mr Chirac was never going to enjoy the summit. However, his fellow leaders were still stunned by his unscheduled protest. The walkout came after Baron Ernest-Antoine Seillière de Laborde, head of the main European employers' organisation, Unice, was invited to deliver the opening address of the summit, to heads of government and state from all 25 EU nations. Mr Seillière, a French steel tycoon, began to give his speech in English. Mr Chirac interrupted and asked why he was speaking in English. "I'm going to speak in English because that is the language of business," replied the former chief of the French employers' group, which has been at odds with Paris. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bowdown.gif) The president stalked out of the conference room. The French delegation then followed, forcing Philippe Douste-Blazy, the foreign minister, and Thierry Breton, the finance minister, to leave with as much dignity as they could muster. Mr Chirac and his ministers returned after Mr Seillière finished his address, when the soothing sound of French could be heard from the podium once more thanks to a speech from the head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, a Frenchman imposed on the bank after intense lobbying by Paris. The incident highlighted French sensitivities to the unstoppable rise of English in the EU, which welcomed millions of new citizens from the ex-Communist bloc in 2004 with little or no interest in speaking French but years of English lessons under their belts. Mr Chirac missed a scathing speech by Mr Seillière, who was privately educated in Britain. In a direct attack on French government policies to favour "economic patriotism", and shield French national champions, Mr Seillière told the assembled leaders: "Don't let us down." A spokesman for Unice said he had spoken in English because he represented 20 million companies for which English was the official business language. <snip> Mr Chirac speaks English but is sensitive about the decline of French as the working language of the EU - a decline that mirrors the dilution of France's influence.