Posted on 11/20/2003 1:00:30 PM PST by presidio9
,,, good to see ya Iggy! I'm picking it's their insurance policy. Their country was trampled over in WWI and WWII, so it may be a "we're in the nuke club" peace of mind sort of thing or less likely, a stab at "monde" prestige - maybe a mix of the two.
Good to see you as well. I saw the thread title and knew you'd be around here somewhere.
I remember a party I went to near Vic that winter. A junior French attache was there for some reason. Handsome enough guy but he was treated like a pariah. I chatted him up for a few minutes and discovered he was oblivious to it all. New Zealand was a low prestige posting and he was just punching his ticket. "Like we care what Kiwis think!" was the remark which stuck in my mind.
Pretty much typified French arrogance - especially in that part of the world. He was groomed well for his role.
,,, we've got a Prime Minister who thinks the same way. She spends a lot of time offshore and way too much time in the Sorbonne's toilets, in my estimation.
And the nice thing about the UN is that the US doesn't even have a veto over appointments. In fact - just the opposite.
She'll be right at home. The nightlife will doubtless be more agreeable.
,,, as if New York hasn't had enough! Nah, she's not that important.
Lange actually took Mitterand at his word. Instead, if I recall correctly, they were given heroes' welcomes in France, and a Legion of Honor award to boot. Lange was left with a bit of egg on his face. In the end I'm not sure what Mitterand accomplished beyond increasing Greenpeace's standing in the South Pacific, since the protests continued anyway. They would have been better just off boarding and seizing the vessel during a protest - like the Soviets used to do. Might have made a nice target for the next test.
New Zealand unfortunately doesn't have a lot of muscle to make good any threats, unless they want to recall their ambassador and cut off trade. If they did I'm not sure France would notice much.
Come to that, we really haven't been able to punish France all that much ourselves - save in their pride. Though our informal boycott has hurt.
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