Posted on 06/09/2004 8:29:29 AM PDT by kattracks
Perhaps too busy still mourning the loss of his business partner Saddam Hussein, chief French quisling Jacques Chirac is not only refusing to attend former President Ronald Reagan's funeral on Friday, his government doesn't even list a representative who will attend.Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are the only G-8 leaders who have confirmed plans to attend. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected as well, along with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin says he will not attend and is sending Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is expected.
Others on the list for the ceremony include former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Irish President Mary McAleese, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Acting Lithuanian President Arturas Paulauskas, former Polish President Lech Walesa, former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Australian Governor General Maj. Gen. Michael Jeffrey, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Slovakian President Rudolf Schuster, Grenadan Governor General Sir Daniel Williams, former Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlueter, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Lars Engqvist and Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.
I've got you beat. My family left France too, a little bit closer to the 1640 date you mentioned earlier, via settlements in Montreal and the rest of Quebec/New France.
Let's see if France actually sends anyone to represent them at the funeral. I generally trust New Max's sources, so if Chirac has said that he is refusing to attend, it must mean that he was invited.
We'll see. I detest France, and even if they send a representative it won't change my mind. My dad was stationed in France during WWII. He was not a prejudiced person, but boy he hated the Vichy French.
The failure of the French to attend will be pointed out by Kerry as a another failure of Bush diplomacy.
/sarcasm
The French have probably been alerted by their business partners in the Mid-East NOT to attend.
With a list of dignitaries like that I hope Homeland Security (or whoever) has the place totally sewn up. What a target for terrorist.
Consider it done, they already have.
This is a serious breech of protocal, and a deep insult to the people of the United States
Indeed it is ....naaaah, screw em !
Tell them to call somebody else the next time they get overrun and have to be liberated.
Welcome back. Your commentary has been missed by many.
Precisely. Bush has some nice carrots to dangle to the Chinese, Russians and Germans in order to make it happen.
Oh, Fox News just said that Chirac says he has 'prior committments', that's why he won't be attending the funeral.
Rubbish. A legitimate excuse would be that he is meeting another world leader due to a vital negotiation. However, France has no such vital negotiations in play, and all the other world leaders are going to the funeral! Another excuse would be to meet politicians in his own country, but if he can't postpone a meeting with one of them for 24 hours, then that certainly speaks poorly for the power of the French presidency. Worse, apparently Chirac doesn't even have the power to compel a lieutenant to attend!
This is a snub on the part of the French. A very poor one, mind you - because no one who cares for President Reagan minds they're not attending.
Regards, Ivan
She taped it months ago as her health has deteriorated and she wanted to do it the best she could.
Chirac is obviously still miffed about that unfortunate little accident of us bombing their embassy. :)
If we had not known before what a great President Ronald Reagan was, we know now.
Shalom.
Reexamine your trust in NewsMax. They rewrite other newspapers' articles and represent them as their own.
Considering the screwing we've gotten by the French government, it's easy to jump to conclusions. On one hand I don't care if anyone shows up from their lousy country. On the other, if indeed they don't show up, it's just another smack in the face from them to us.
If News Max is jerking us around, we'll find out soon enough.
Prior commitments. Yeah right. Isn't that what you say to get out of a date or dinner party?
George Bush must have privately handed his ass back to him at the D Day Memorial. Hahaha! Just wait Chirac, the best is yet to come. I think he's banking (offering up feverish prayer is more like it)on Kerry becoming the next president, and all their dealings with Saddam will be swept under the carpet.
I still don't understand why PM Martin isn't forcing one of his useless cabinet ministers to attend, as per past practice. The governor general technically represents the Queen of England, Canada's head of state, not Paul Martin.
Thanks for your comforting words, but I still can't get over the fact Chirac chose not to go. That man really has no manners, no morality, no nothing. For what it's worth -and alas it's not worth much - I sent an e-mail to the Elysée website to vent my anger at this tactless behavior.
John Kerry will be going as Chirac's representative, he's speaks French you know.
I didn't know they engaged in plagarism. I'll pay more attention to articles posted from that site.
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