Diplomacy has been defined as saying "Nice doggie" while reaching for a large rock - or was it a large stick? No matter.
In diplomacy, if something is expressed in a straight-forward fashion with no other possible interpretations then its the equivalent of punching the guy in the nose and spitting on him before he gets up.
President Bush delivered a message today. He is not from Mars. We are not from Mars. He didn't say "We all need to get along." He said you're with us or you're with the terrorists. Choose your side. And stop playing games like putting the Sudan on the Human Rights Commisssion while excluding the USA from their historic seat.
Fun and games are over. This is war. Time to break things and kill our enemies. Get it? Good.
If in fact, what Bush did was just "diplo-speak," and, Bush was just playing the usual game that was played by Clinton, and his ilk, for the past 20 years, I really think you are wrong. I may be naive, but I really feel that, perhaps, this time, we are past the games and diplomatic bullshit.
I still think that it was a very strong speach - not only the text, but the delivery as well. (granted - the translations to the UN morons probably lost something)
This is a dire state of emergency we're in and failure to speak strongly and to act even more strongly is not encouraging. If you folks would prefer to pretend that the President put the UN on notice about anything, then go ahead. I prefer to face obvious facts when they are staring me in the face.