Thursday, January 19, 2006

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...only because no one believes Chirac.

Mitch (ip:207.140.21.5) 19 January 2006 - 19:00 uur

*****Not all French are cheese eating surrender monkeys.*****

What a seemingly misleading statement! Surely, I misunderstand your meaning here. In your blog you talk about democracy, bemoaning the fact that Dutch politicians are so unresponsive to popular opinion. Why, then, do you bemoan one of the few European leaders that had the balls to stand up to the Goliath of the USA and the irrational policies of the Bush administration in its illegal invasion of Iraq?

Chirac did little more in his opposition to the invasion of Iraq than reflect the overwhelming popular opinion in Europe at the time. Polls before the 2003 invasion showed that every country in Europe, with the exception of Poland, opposed unilateral action against Iraq without a UN mandate.

Or does democracy only count in your book when it reflects the values that YOU consider important?

Matrixx8 (ip:80.61.62.195) 19 January 2006 - 22:46 uur

I am sorry, but you are creating a strawman, and I don't feel like debating stuff I didn't say. In my previous post I bemoan bad POLICY which has LED to discontent. It is not a post about which politician is more virtuous in the pursuit of democracy. Had I included Villepin's little dash around Africa in 2003 in that, I am not sure if France's democracy score would be higher than the Dutch one, considering the internal French problems that anti-American sentiments offered a nice distraction from. But yet again, that wasn't an issue I was trying to address, nor did I discuss the probable reasons (according to Dutch radio, anyway) for Chirac's sudden forceful language: the fact that his job is in peril due to populist foreign secretary Sarkozy. That's right, Chirac's own interests, not those of the people. Well, the fact that the 'S' comes first in 'SPQR' already offers some indication that representative democracy is mainly about the interests of said representatives, and I guess those are the same self-absorbed characters the world over. Which is probably why I didn't discuss the issue you are addresssing: the results of such an overview would have been very depressing, irrespective of the countries chosen.

Also, you might want to overhaul your irony detector.

Arjan Dasselaar (ip:84.245.41.171) 19 January 2006 - 10:15 uur

Sorry about that. I seemed to have been misled by the the phrase "surrender monkeys". It smacks of freedom fries and the neocon, pseudo patriotic tendency to equate criticism with anti-Americanism.

Do you recall that, after 9/11, it was a French newspaper, Le Monde, that published the famous headline, "Maintnant, nous sommes tous Americains"?

I think the criticism one finds in France or most other European countries is more likely anti-Bushism than anti-Americanism.

But, it seems, I misunderstood the thrust of your comment. And I promise to adjust my irony detector. Something seems to have got lost in translation.

Matrixx8 (ip:80.61.62.195) 19 January 2006 - 19:42 uur

Olivier Guitta, an expert on terrorism financing, says the real reason behind Chirac's speech, is that Paris is under imminent threat of a terrorist strike sponsored by Iran (via a proxy, like Hezbollah.) Guitta also said the speech was related to the recent 'missile threat.' You can read more here http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200601\SPE20060123a.html

Guitta is supposed to be writing something for the Wall St. Journal on this this week.

Of course, Chirac has political considerations as well, like criticism for inaction.

Mighty Mouse (ip:149.2.103.61) 19 January 2006 - 2:09 uur

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