Mark Steyn - Welcome to Anglo-Saxon reality

National Post ^ | Thursday, April 10, 2003 | Mark Steyn

[Restorer]

My suggestion would be to eject Quebec from Canada. Let them stew in their own juices.

(Non-Quebec) Canadian provinces are very welcome to enter into closer relationships with the US, if they wish. If they prefer to be independent or even antagonistic, they're welcome to do that, too.

[thinking]

Canada's fearless leader.....>

[beckett]

The Western oil company with the closest ties to the late Saddam is France's TotalFinaElf.

Very interesting stuff, but I wish we knew more about the "close ties" between TotalFinaElf and Saddam. What were the contracts? What did they mean to TotalFinaElf's revenues and bottom line? What other oil companies are similarly positioned in Iraq, if any? "Close ties" doesn't cut it. More info is needed.

[SpookBrat]

You know, I was thinking about this "war for oil" yesterday. It's a stupid argument. As high as gas is right now, we still have the cheapest gas in the world. Why would we declare war on Iraq for more oil? How lame the left can be sometimes. So stupid and shallow.

Thanks for the great article.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

(Non-Quebec) Canadian provinces are very welcome to enter into closer relationships with the US, if they wish. If they prefer to be independent or even antagonistic, they're welcome to do that, too.

We could add more stars to the flag, that would be nice!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Info for the "Iraq war is all about OIL" crowd!

Bush Doctrine Unfolds :

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Bush Doctrine Unfold , click below:
	click here >>>	Bush Doctrine Unfold	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[headsonpikes]

O'Reilly and Don Cherry could co-host a Canadian Special. ;^)

[FierceDraka]

Hmmm. An independent Quebec. Interesting idea. And then when they get uppity (being French at heart, they certainly will), it would take all of two weeks to invade and subdue the country. No moving troops and equipment halfway around the planet - we could use the interstates. Hell, I could drive to the battle! Weeeeeeeeee!

One more thing - the idea of the Quebecuois being French is as laughable as the idea of Americans as Brits. The French themselves think of the Quebecuois as inbred hicks with funny accents.

[etcetera]

"I just emailed it to O'Reilly with a plea to do a show on it."

Brilliant move! This is just the kind of story the Big O likes to do. I can't wait...

[headsonpikes]

"...Chretien...is a very corrupt, scheming, lying $hithead!!"

You could just say he's a Liberal, and be done with the polite names!.

[Democratshavenobrains]

I know why Democrap Underground never mentions Steyn, its because they know he's way wittier than any liberal could ever be.

[expatpat]

Of course, it is typical for socialists to accuse their enemies of actions and motives for which they, the socialists, are the guilty ones.

[Canadian Outrage]

whoops!! Okay but Liberal somehow doesn't quite describe THAT man's depravity.

[Pokey78]

Steyn Ping

[knighthawk]

Ping

[ambrose]

bump

[gcruse]

Those Blue-eyed Arabs

O, Canada
You've stepped in it this time.
All of your sheen is turning into slime.
"It's a war for oil," brought your blood to boil,
Now the truth is out, 'twas just a foil.
O Canada, your PM's hands are red.
O Canada, the oil was yours instead.

[MeekOneGOP]

Great Steyn article ! Thanks for the post and the ping ! . . .

Since "Anglo-Saxon" is the preferred French shorthand for the Bush-Blair view of the world, we may as well keep things simple and designate the Chiraquiste alternative as "French." The "Anglo-Saxon" view -- the Bush Doctrine -- thinks that liberty will do for the Middle East what it's done for Eastern Europe and Latin America. The "French" view is that it's much easier if relations with the world's dictators are managed by a sleazy transnational elite. If M. Chirac and M. de Villepin and TotalFinaElf can live with Saddam, why can't the Iraqis live with Saddam, 24/7, forever and ever?

In the last year, we all had plenty of time to make our choices. Eastern Europe chose "Anglo-Saxon." The British and American left voted "French": in the Sixties, the peaceniks thought the Communists would transform South Vietnam into an agrarian utopia; this time round, it didn't bother going through the motions of even rhetorical progressivism -- they marched to keep the Iraqi people in chains, and they were happy to do so. A week ago, a European poll revealed that a third of the French people wanted Saddam to win the war. If he makes it out from under that rubble with his moustache intact and manages to hop a fishing smack to Marseilles, maybe he should try running for a seat in the National Assembly.

[Dark Wing]

ping

[MeekOneGOP]

Yep !

Let's see if I've got this straight: TotalFinaElf's largest shareholder is a subsidiary of Montreal's Power Corp, whose co-chief executive is Jean Chrétien's son-in-law, Andre Desmarais. Mr. Desmarais' brother, Paul Desmarais Jr., sits on the Total board.

For months, the anti-war crowd has insisted that "it's all about oil," that the only reason the Iraqi people were being "liberated" was so that the second biggest oil reserves in the world could be annexed in perpetuity by Dick Cheney and Halliburton and the rest of Bush's Texas oilpatch gang. Instead, it turns out that, if it is all about oil, then the principal North American beneficiary of the continued enslavement of the Iraqi people is the family of the Canadian Prime Minister -- that's to say, his daughter, France Chrétien, and his grandchildren.

What a delightful footnote to the Chrétien-Chiraquiste war effort. This is a victory not just for the Iraqi people but for "Anglo-Saxon" reality over Franco-Canadian postmodern cynicism.