Posted on 02/07/2005 5:50:32 PM PST by Timeout
PARIS, Feb. 7 - Ask the French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, about France and the United States, and he replies that the anger and distrust that tarnished the relationship for the last three years are history.
No matter that 18 months ago, when she was national security adviser, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was widely quoted as having said the way to deal with the three main opponents of the American-led Iraq war was: "Forgive Russia. Ignore Germany. Punish France." [Ha!]
The French have to coexist with President Bush for four more years, Ms. Rice is now America's top diplomat, and American-organized elections have taken place in Iraq. So for France, a new era of political realism is beginning, starting with Ms. Rice's visit to Paris on Tuesday and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's arrival in Nice the next day for a NATO defense ministers' meeting.
"The situation has changed," Mr. Barnier said in a recent interview over lunch at the Foreign Ministry, adding that Ms. Rice's instruction to punish France has been forgiven.
"The phrase was uttered in other circumstances," he said. "What's important now is neither to punish nor to give lessons. My line is to look ahead. I am someone who is very practical."
With practicality in mind, President Jacques Chirac, a lifelong politician and political survivor, sent Mr. Bush a handwritten "Cher George" letter congratulating him on his re-election. The French leader gave a speech expressing hope that 2005 will be a year of "trust" with Mr. Bush and congratulated him again after the elections in Iraq.
Mr. Chirac is helped in his reality offensive by Mr. Barnier. A low-key expert on European integration, the foreign minister lacks the domineering personality and romantic vision of France's greatness of his predecessor, Dominique de Villepin, which so infuriated State Colin L. Powell when he was secretary of state.
"I want to get to know Condi Rice, to establish a personal relationship with her," said Mr. Barnier, who has already been to Washington to meet her since Mr. Bush's re-election and pledges to visit the United States every three months.
He underscored that he is "different" from Mr. de Villepin, the man who emerged as the most vocal and relentless critic of the Bush administration's march to war against Iraq. Still, Mr. Barnier characterized his predecessor as "a friend" who is "passionate," not "arrogant."
But even as Mr. Chirac and his ministers adjust to the reality of a second Bush term, they hold fast to a belief that Mr. Bush and his team still have a lot to learn from France about running the world.
In a meeting a week ago at Élysée Palace with five American senators, for instance, Mr. Chirac repeated his conviction that a "multipolar world" with multiple centers of power is not a desire or an aspiration but "a fact," three participants said.
That description of the world enrages Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice because it seems to envision a power that competes with American interests and influence, even though Mr. Chirac also says the best way to make the multipolar world as stable as possible is by strengthening the trans-Atlantic relationship.
"He still doesn't like the idea of the unipolar world with the United States as top dog," Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Delaware Democrat, said in an interview after the meeting.
The senators came away from the meeting with Mr. Chirac and a meeting with Mr. de Villepin, who is now interior minister but still weighs in on foreign policy, convinced that France has not yet accepted that some of its dire predictions on Iraq may turn out to be wrong.
Both men have argued fiercely that the American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq has made the region much more dangerous. Now there is an effort to calibrate French policy while still asserting France's historic influence in the Middle East.
Mr. Chirac made clear to the senators that France had supported the American-led debt relief proposal for Iraq and had formally proposed to Iraq that it would train 1,500 Iraqi policemen, but outside Iraq. One of the main obstacles to improving the relationship between the Bush administration and the French has been chemistry. Mr. Chirac truly believes that his decades of experience in global politics have made him an expert on just about any place in the world.
On the other hand, he seemed taken aback by the high voter turnout in the election, criticized the Bush administration for disbanding the Iraqi Army and reaffirmed that French soldiers would not set foot in Iraq.
"My read of Chirac, as a plain old politician, is that he was saying, 'O. K., you did better than we thought you'd do,' " Mr. Biden said. "I think he was saying: 'I'm not ready to step in and do the heavy lifting with boots on the ground. But you might make it, so I want to get in on the deal.' He's calculating he wants to keep one foot on the platform and one foot on the train because the train might leave."
Mr. Chirac also seems to be struggling to explain his policy on Iran. France, together with Britain and Germany and with European Union support, began a negotiating process to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment activities in exchange for economic and political rewards.
Mr. Chirac told the American senators that if Iran did not comply with demands made by the International Atomic Energy Agency, France would support the Bush administration's demand to refer the case to the United Nations Security Council, where, if the United States has its way, Iran could face possible censure or even sanctions.
But Mr. Chirac made it clear, they said, that sanctions never worked and that he was opposed to them. He also suggested that Iran's Islamic Republic could not be trusted.
"Chirac told us he believes you can deal with the Sunnis but not with the Shiites," one participant in the meeting paraphrased him as saying. Iran's population is overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim.
Élysée Palace declined to comment on the conversation.
The French are also convinced that the only way for what Mr. Barnier calls "a new relationship" with Washington to begin is if the Bush administration understands the urgency of making peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
For France, with its large Arab, Muslim and Jewish populations, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is not a far-away conflict but one that has struck the heart of Europe and is fought on a daily basis in its streets. Throughout France's diplomatic crisis with the United States over Iraq, Mr. Chirac and other French officials expressed the view that for France, the Palestinian crisis was much more important than the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Terrorist groups are moving throughout Europe and elsewhere, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the essential origins of terrorism in the world, one of the participants in the meeting with the senators paraphrased Mr. Chirac as saying. Mr. Chirac was said to have added that when militants are asked about their motivation, "they always come back to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one of the main drivers."
One of the main obstacles to improving the relationship between the Bush administration and the French has been chemistry. Mr. Chirac truly believes that his decades of experience in global politics have made him an expert on just about any place in the world.
At one point in the meeting with the senators, he said he would love to have some private time with Mr. Bush, without any aides present, when the two men dine together in Brussels as part of Mr. Bush's trip to Europe later this month.
"Several of us said that would be a great idea, to try to start over again," Senator Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said in an interview after the meeting.
But another participant said perhaps that was not such a good idea, noting that in some of their previous meetings, Mr. Chirac has pointed his finger at Mr. Bush and lectured him on what he does not know.
One serious observation: Note that Biden and Leahy were over there meeting (strategizing, more like it) with Chirac prior to the Condi/Bush visits. I seriously believe Biden (and maybe Leahy) has become a traitor to this country. I believe he's plotting with our enemies for Rat political gains (they think voters will be impressed that the world likes them better--Ha!)
Could Chirac be any more pompous, ego-inflated, offensive or infuriating? Well, perhaps if he were Monsieur de Villepin! LOL!
I think Condi is taking her leather whip to beat the french girlie men into submission.
Chirac has actually been quoted calling Saddam a close and personal friend.
The french poodle still yapping away and whining for a spot on the porch with the big dog.
Also- in France some corrupt politians have proposed making Chirac a Senator for life. In France Senators are exempt from trials. There has been some outcry, some want Chirac brought to trial
Forgive Russia. Ignore Germany. Punish France.
I love it, it's mine.
Where did that come from? It was nothing but "sanctions were working" before. We must have really scared the socks off that freak.
Let's see, we're dealing with crazy infidel-hating Mullahs, who haven't yet joined the EU post-historical multilateral way of doing things, and we want to solve things diplomatically, and if that fails, we're ruling out either sanctions or force in the last resort -- sounds like a real winner of a strategy to me!
Chirac stated that sanctions didn't work in Iraq. Hell no not when the FROGS were selling Saddam everything he wanted behind everyones back and taking a big cut out of the FFO program. If I was Bush or Condi when you shake his hand make sure you count your fingers after.
"...he (Chirac) said he would love to have some private time with Mr. Bush, without any aides present..."
Mr. Bush is smart enough and possesses enough integrity to keep any "Lewinski" incidents from marring HIS Presidency.
Well, wouldn't you call someone a close personal friend who sent checks to your favorite bank and to all your friends? If Sec. Rice and the President ever trust this den of vipers, they deserve to be bitten.
Mr. Barnier wants to visit the United States every three months? Sounds like a welcome wagon should be there to greet the back stabbing frog.
"They hold fast to a belief that Mr. Bush and his team still have alot to learn from France about running the world."
Very telling statement. Bush is not looking to run the world....but France is.
I will confess it is a complete and total mystery to me where this belief comes from. That isn't to sneer. I simply cannot fathom this blind, utter faith in some mystic French diplomatic revelation that is seemingly so absent a shred of real-world evidence.
What we got from the multipolar Great Powers geopolitical alignment was colonial exploitation, arms races, brinksmanship, World War One, and the fall of its major participants in the forms of the Romanov dynasty, the Hohenzollern dynasty, the Habsburg Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. I am a bit at a loss as to why this is considered preferable to the current unipolar configuration. Are we not killing enough people? Is that the problem?
o·le·ag·i·nous ( P ) Pronunciation Key (l-j-ns)
adj.
Of or relating to oil.
Falsely or smugly earnest; unctuous: oleaginous flattery. See Synonyms at unctuous.
Describes Monsieur de Villepin .
Sabotoging our diplomatic efforts seems to be the dems strong suit.
Chirac is so...French.
Well, isn't that special, Frenchy. We haven't forgiven you. Get out the cheese and put up the white flag.
a handwritten "Cher George" letter
Mr. Chirac is helped in his reality offensive by Mr. Barnier.
"I want to get to know Condi Rice, to establish a personal relationship with her," said Mr. Barnier
But even as Mr. Chirac and his ministers adjust to the reality of a second Bush term, they hold fast to a belief that Mr. Bush and his team still have a lot to learn from France about running the world.
You can't make this stuff up.
Would "Bad Rug" or "Leaky" sell out the country for partisan political gain?
Not unless there was a little something in it for them, too...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.