Posted on 11/28/2004 9:22:01 PM PST by quidnunc
Paris – U.S. diplomats here respond to Jacques Chirac's continued Yankee-bashing following George W. Bush's re-election by saying the French president is out of step with his people, who are not nearly that anti-American. But thoughtful Frenchmen believe President Chirac is mining a deep vein of sentiment among fellow citizens that transcends President Bush.
During a week in Paris, I encountered none of the rudeness I had been warned to expect because of my nationality. However, the question goes beyond amenities to visitors. One French intellectual described anti-Americanism to me as "a cancer that is sweeping across the country." It may not be as deadly as cancer, but it surely is not healthy for France.
The chronic nature of French hostility toward the United States contradicts claims by Bush's domestic critics that his unilateral policies caused deterioration of Franco-American relations. It is less the U.S. with a French problem than France burdened with a serious American problem.
On his recent visit to London, Chirac pressed for "multipolarity": a return to international rivalries that produced the carnage of the 20th century. He also suggested there was no point trying to repair his country's difficulties with Washington and taunted British Prime Minister Tony Blair because "our American friends" do not "pay back favors." Mocking Donald Rumsfeld's designation of France as "Old Europe," he pretended not to remember the secretary of defense's name and referred to him, sarcastically, as "that nice guy of America."
State Department officials thought Chirac would reach out to Washington once Bush was re-elected, and U.S. diplomats here say he has misread French opinion. On the contrary, playing the anti-American card is seen in political circles here as Chirac's strongest position as he prepares to run for a third five-year term in 2007. …
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(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Let them continue to suffer from their multipolar disorder. They are going to, anyway.
All very well sums it up doesn't it? France is playing a very dangerous game right now. We should be concerned that they are heading toward fascism and appeasment strategies with our islamic enemies. They recently supported us on the Iranian enrichment program, but really who cares? Iran already has plutonium from the Russian nuke plant...
"Chirac is a crook who was on Saddam's payroll. His unilateral intervention in former colonies is the height of hypocrisy. And he is behind the forged yellocake documents that caused us so much consternation.
However, he was clearly the superior candidate in the last run-off election as the other candidate was, all kidding aside, a fascist.
The idea of representative government is dying, and quickly, in Old Europe. Though the European elites won't admit to it, this is the whole point of the European Union. Oswald Mosely, Britain's most notable fascist, saw
this quite clearly decades ago, and hence his support for the idea."
Sir: Thank you for your service.
that is great---all of the French people are not like their govt.(same as here, at times)--those in the Normandy region are mostly appreciative of what we did long, long, ago and far, far, away (in what seems now to be a distant galaxy)sorry Star Wars--my sincere best wishes to your uncle
only way to go in almost any foreign land---see the 'real people' not the city 'snobs'---then again, our big cities have the same type of 'so called superior snobs' in them-
only way to go in almost any foreign land---see the 'real people' not the city 'snobs'---then again, our big cities have the same type of 'so called superior snobs' in them-
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