D-Day, Chirac Style: How France and its allies liberated Germany, and other E.U. fantasies.

The Weekly Standard ^ | June 21, 2004 | Irwin M. Stelzer

[quidnunc]

Ronald Reagan would be proud of George W. Bush. The president so many Americans are now so fondly remembering had to face down a contemptuous foreign policy establishment for years, when the received wisdom was that his policies were a failure. Reagan didn't win the Cold War without setbacks; Bush is now going through a similar rough period with his Middle East policy.

Early on, Ronald Reagan was told by the foreign policy establishment not to upset the status quo in Europe, but to stick to the established policy of containment. He declined, choosing to upset the long-standing policies of his predecessors and go for victory, rather than a standoff in the Cold War. George W. Bush was told by the foreign policy establishment not to upset the status quo in the Middle East, but to stick to the policy of containing Saddam and dealing amicably with the corrupt dictators of the oil-rich region. He declined, choosing instead to go to war to unseat Saddam, and to launch a program to destabilize the region by introducing democratic and economic reforms. Reagan won his bet that the Cold War could be won, and it now looks as if Bush could win his bet that a reformed Iraq can serve as a model for other countries in the Middle East.

But Bush's tenacity, even including his ability to wring from the Security Council a resolution endorsing his Iraq policy, will in the end do little to bring back what are misremembered as the good old days of multilateral cooperation. The president may have taken to calling German chancellor Gerhard Schröder by his first name, and to giving joint press conferences with Chirac, but those moves are designed in part to make nonsense of John Kerry's charge that America is isolated in the world. Franco-American relations remain just about where they were before the June 6 celebrations of the anniversary of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy.

-snip-

[Dallas59]

"No more unipolar world, say the French, even though the Europeans will continue to direct the bulk of their resources to their welfare states rather than to their militaries."

The EU will never get it up. They spend to much on "lazy" Europeans...

[jnarcus]

Yup that was my take on CHirac's "speech" at DDAY too...what a loon

[ABrit]

I didn't see Chiracs speech, but I did watch a live report on SKY just afterwards about the reaction to the speech.

The reporter said that British veterans (ie 80 and 90 year old men)were visibly upset by Chiracs speech, and some were openly swearing at Chirac.

(sarcasm on)Naturally that was the first and only mention of hostile reaction to the speech (/sarcasm off).

[ellery]

Dear President Reagan is having a good laugh somewhere up there that even in death he upstaged the carefully planned anti-American Jacques-and-Gerhard follies. :)

[gakrak]

I think it's about time the Euro's defend themselves. We removed most of the threats to them and as we know they turn and bite us in the $ss.

[zip]

ping

[Jim Noble]

[hershey]

Euro doesn't get it. America is the goose that lays the golden eggs. If they screw up that relationship, they have nothing...and here comes Islam, bomb-making kit in hand. Of course, they're counting on the status quo, that we'll eventually go along to get along. Well, sooner or later the insults and contempt emanating from across the sea will take a deadly toll. We'll think twice about bailing them out of whatever military misadventures they've gotten themselves into. That is, unless Kerry's president for eight years, in which case, Europe can go back to sleep.

[Dutchgirl]

By way of reciprocation, Schröder thanked "France and its allies" and "Russia" for--in the words of CNN's Christiane Amanpour--"liberating" Germany from the Nazis. No mention of America. The implication that some foreign body had imposed Hitler on an unwilling German populace, and that France had "liberated" Germany probably came as no surprise to experienced CNN and Amanpour fans

Loved this...

[yoe]

Christiane Amanpour starts talking and you know fact and truth will be nowhere in her reports.

Boycott France and boycott CNN and Amanpour - stay with FOX for truth and facts.

[Kozak]

bump for later

[MonroeDNA]

In the spirit of Reagan, Bush should leave Europe's defense to the Europeans. Socialism cannot support a welfare state, and a military. Socialism will colapse under its own weight.

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[jnarcus]

I watched the DDAY anniversary on CSPAN so I missed the Sky News follow up...Chirac basically said it was the Free French and the United Nations ( yes he actually used those terms) that solved the unpleasantness of WWII. He thanked the Poles and the Dutch and a bunch of others and left out the UK and the US. He was arrogant and snotty and his usual self...what a maroon