Regards, Ivan
Posted on 02/28/2003 12:08:31 AM PST by MadIvan
Support for President Jacques Chirac's diplomatic war with Washington appeared to be cracking among some of his supporters yesterday, with politicians and newspapers voicing concern about the damage to bilateral ties.
A growing band of supporters within M Chirac's own political party are urging him not to use France's veto in the United Nations Security Council to try to stop military action against Iraq. But popular support for M Chirac's stand on the issue remains sky high, and few can predict what he will do next.
The pro-Chirac Le Figaro newspaper wrote in its editorial yesterday that he had already added the "missing page in his history" by reinvigorating French pride and standing up to America. But an accompanying article described the conflicting pressures on France.
"Renouncing its veto and fleeing into abstention would not only weaken positions defended by Jacques Chirac for the past six months, it would also make obsolete one of the essential levers of French foreign policy. But using it would spark a serious crisis with the United States and its allies," it said.
Le Point, a leading news magazine, said: "It's high time we weighed up the damage of an Atlantic rupture." It would be "wiser to save the UN and Nato from ruin" rather than let M Chirac enjoy any longer his "conviction that he's not a little mosquito biting the American elephant".
On Wednesday, M Chirac stopped a parliamentary vote on his handling of the crisis, saying he needed complete freedom of manoeuvre.
He wished to muffle the voices of some leading members of his party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, who say Paris cannot afford a permanent Franco-US rift.
Howard Leach, the US ambassador to Paris, said in Le Monde yesterday: "France's position could have long-term repercussions."
Regards, Ivan
I Don't know Howard Leach but his statement is very profound! Long term is an understatement.
We don't eat snails. ;)
Regards, Ivan
He wished to muffle the voices of some leading members of his party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, who say Paris cannot afford a permanent Franco-US rift.
So is this all about what Chirac wants and screw everyone else?
Chirac sure has a habbit telling everyone else to shut up
Now I'm wondering just how much Chirac himself is being paid off by Saddam?
...and we have a winner for "Understatement of the Decade"!
Yet another great post, MadIvan. Somehow I always end up finding my way onto threads you've posted or are posting on. Keep up with the informed posts. Got a whole VR world of respect for ya.
We have local mountain spring water and plain ole club soda, and we have good California cheeses, too.
What I was mainly interested in was a short list of British consumer products of any sort, not just food.
I love Schweppe's Bitter Lemon. They're British?
Regards, Ivan
Well, let's go to Baghdad and find out!
I don't want to give California my money, either. :p When I attended Berkeley, a public university, I had to pay MORE than I would have had to pay to go to Stanford (oh dear god the loans, the loans) because, although I lived there for six years, voted there twice, had a Cali driver's license, and was considered a Cali resident for virtually all legal purposes, the public school system STILL did not consider me a resident for *tuition* purposes. At the same time, AN ILLEGAL ALIEN could ATTEND BERKELEY at the in-state rate, which is 1/10th the cost.
Okay, I'm being facetious here, obviously, but I hate uppity Californians' attitudes (I have a lot of good friends out there, so don't get me wrong) -- I *know* their feelings on the WTC/Pentagon attacks -- they don't care because it happened in "Old America". Perhaps North Korea aiming nukes at them will change that perception. Plus, I just don't have time to make sure that every product I buy is definitely made in one place, or another, or etc. I saw earlier that you were buying Pakistani dates to support the Pakistanis...remember, that's still a dodgy government over there, your money may actually end up...in terrorists' hands. My point here is not that boycotting or supporting certain products is wrong, just that, if carried to the extreme, it becomes a little silly and can have negative effects on the U.S. (for instance, Honda builds most of their cars in the United States; if we got angry at Japan and wanted to boycott Honda products, we'd be...putting Americans out of work).
And you...want...to eat British..."food"? :p Have you EATEN a breakfast in the UK? I won't describe what the Brits interpret "eggs over easy" as here for risk of making you retch on your keyboard. ;-) I love the Brits, but last time I was there, their culinary arts left a *bit* to be desired.
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