Posted on 02/16/2006 1:24:53 PM PST by najida
Oh I could never hate you, but those cheese grits have already formed an image in my mind....(sigh) so enjoy them for me! :)
"They were very embarrassed by our discovery of their involvement with Iraq and some very lucrative oil contracts."
I assure you there was no embarrassment, no more than the US is embarrassed for propping up the despicable Saudi regime.
Modern states need oil. France's oil security lay partly in lucrative contracts in Iraq. The US and France were both keenly aware of those contracts before the war in Iraq, and there was a very tense negotiation about them. The American position was that no existing oil contracts would be respected under the new, American-installed regime (in other words, the US was going to enhance its oil security by adding Iraq's oil to its international "safe sources").
When it became clear that the US wasn't going to allow France to retain her Iraqi oil security, France became a strong adversary of the US war, and used its diplomatic power to do as much damage as possible to the American war effort.
The US seems to have learned from the experience, and in Lebanon and Iran, now, are working closely with the French.
Don't have a clue.
But I find it interesting all these numbers are coming out now. May be posturing to say "Hey, we don't need no stinkin' oil exports!"
But hey, what do I know :)
Thanks, happy belated Valentine's Day to you too!!
The discovery was accompanied by shrieks of outrage from France.
Then the SAM missiles manufactured in 2003 were found, French manufacture.
Yes, there was embarrassment.
bttt
LOL!!!!
Grassy-ass. :o)
"Yes, there was embarrassment."
Not really.
Oh, sure, the political establishment was shocked, SHOCKED! that anyone would say such a thing was going on involving FRANCE! Heavens forfend.
And the political damage in France?
The number of votes lost?
Zero.
The Arab world is a backwards cesspool of oppression.
They're going to kill each other - may as well profit from it by selling them arms (if we don't, the Russians will).
We all need oil.
So if the the US and Britain are going to rule themselves out of the market by absurd UN sanctions, well, that just makes for a sweeter deal for France.
Obviously if the US Administration are going to be so gauche as to start preening about having discovered French IMMORALITY (again, we're shocked!, Shocked, I tell you!), there will be French remonstration. Particularly when the US is up to its eyeballs in Saudi Arabia.
The whole "corrupt France breaking the sanctions" business is for American domestic consumption anyway. OF COURSE France breaks sanctions, and does whatever else she needs to do to preserve her vital national interests. Who doesn't?
Think everyone learned this time around. France included. IMHO, I believe the French didn't expect us to follow through on the threat to attack Iraq.
Maybe they made promises to Saddam? Just speculation.
"that anyone would say such a thing was going on involving FRANCE!"
LOL, that was actually funny.
Thanks.
Iran's supply of oil currently to the world market is 15%. That gives them strong leverage. That supply however is not going to last beyond 20 years.
Their unemployment rate is very high, their number of youth per older people is very high. They have an unsustainable economic system.
All the condition for a perfect storm. War.
Hey, I don't screw in parks like you do!!
France is threatened by a nuclear Iran as the latter has missiles in development that can reach that part of Europe. Of course even more worrisome is how much trouble they would cause in the region with nuclear weapons. Their funding of terrorists groups in the ME is now a threat to their Arab neighbors as well.
France is stating the obvious for world consumption. The Iranian mullahs are framing the nuclear issue as one of soveriegnty to pursue nuclear energy. Go to the BBC just a few weeks ago and you will see how many people speak to this issue in terms of the propaganda Iran exudes to the world.
It's both shocking and repulsive.
Don't ask me, I don't have a plan. I'm not John Kerry damnit.
I think the Americans and the French have learned how to work with each other again. Lebanon was really the testing ground. Also, the best counterterrorism outfit in the world is run from Paris, and the US and France have been closely cooperating on that since 9/11.
The US is in the position where it's out of gas. The US Congress isn't going to authorize an invasion of either Syria or Iran. So, we're in the world of posturing now.
If the US postures alone, it will damage the US credibility, because the Americans are in no position to act.
Iran's regime vis a vis France is a bit like Cuba's vis-a-vis the USA, partly because there is such a huge post-Revolutionary Iranian expatriate population in Paris.
I saw an oil analyst a couple weeks ago say that Iran would go bankrupt before we used all the oil in our SPR.
That's not what I heard. LOL
Iran has been a threat to France in many ways, including nuclear weapons, for a long time. Suddenly France is noticing this. I think the recent (pre-cartoon) riots of the mostly Muslim "youths", followed by the barbaric response to the cartoons, may be the explanation.
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