Posted on 08/21/2007 5:12:04 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
PARIS: After years of shunning involvement in a war it said was wrong, France now believes it may hold the key to peace in Iraq, proposing itself as an "honest broker" between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.
The shift was one of the most concrete consequences yet of the thaw in French-American relations following the election in May of President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose administration no longer feels bound by the adamant refusal to take a role in Iraq that characterized the reign of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
I guess with the switches last year in Germany and this year in France it is OK to work with ‘Old Europe’ as well as continuing to work with the ‘New Europe’ to the East, and the improved northern Europe. In fact only Italy and Spain have temporarily gone the wrong way. In addition we have our old Canadian friends under Harper, with even the leader of the Quebecois giving the WOT more support than the traitorcrats.
It is a shame how Bush has gotten the whole world to line up against us — right?
“It’s gonna take a little more than posturing...”
Selling of oil drilling privileges coming soon. France positioning itself for some favorable deals.
This better not be the end of belly girl. Where is she anyways? Anyone?
the French move carries the personal mark of Kouchner, who was one of the few French politicians who backed the forcible removal of Saddam Hussein before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and whose longstanding and close relations with Kurdish and Shiite leaders have earned him credibility in the region.
Yep. It brought this guy to power.
Actually, Sarkozy is in the same party as Chirac and that weasel Villepin. One of the lessons of this is the importance of working to nominate the best possible candidate for your party. When you do that, the general election more or less takes care of itself.
Do you think the term “nips” is an acceptable term to use on this Forum?
Money is always involved, make it work for you.
Things can change. Let is not be so entrenched that we miss good opportunities.
Wow! How did they end up being so politically different? Or should we (the U.S.) be waiting for the other shoe to drop?
I thought George W. Bush was “alienating” all our traditional allies.
Oddly enough, those same allies have been replaced with politicians more friendly to the US.
In the last couple of decades the right and center in France have consolidated into the coalition party these folks all are members of. Similarly the left has almost completely joined under the Socialist banner, with the Communist party nearly going out of existence, and voting with the Socialists in runoffs.
So France has been slowly evolving into a two-party political structure, with broad coalitions making up the parties. The Sarkozy faction defeated the Chirac - Villepin faction. It's the same process as Rockefeller vs. Goldwater in the GOP (not using a modern day contest, which would lead to topic-hijacking by partisans here at FR).
Ha ha ha ha I didn't before the war and still don't.
To Little to Late
“Nips” has historically been a deragatory term for Japanese and your use of it only gives FR’s enemies ammunition to use against us. You can use it if you wish and mods can delete your posts if they find it offensive, but you could save everyone a whole lot of trouble by thinking first before you post.
As far as “frogs” I thought it had something to do with eating frog legs...something I do on occasion with relish. Maybe some astute FReepers could enlighten us on the history of this term.
PARIS: After years of shunning involvement in a war it said was wrong, France now believes it may hold the key to peace in Iraq, proposing itself as an "honest broker" between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.
Welcome the new boss, same as the old boss. This is a slight shift in public appearances for what is in essence a continued strategy of the Chirac regime. Divide and conquer, and find deals and influence for French business interests in the churn.
Ping
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