Posted on 01/03/2010 11:10:43 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has gone cold on his US counterpart Barack Obama, the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday.
Sarkozy, whose pro-Washington stance has seen him nicknamed "Sarko the American," stressed that France and the US were "the same family" during his first face-to-face meeting with Obama in April since the US elections last year.
But the French president has clashed since then with his US counterpart on a series of issues, raising the question of whether Sarkozy is reverting to the anti-US posture of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.
"He has now shifted from a pro-Bush position to an anti-Obama position," the FT quoted Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, international affairs spokesman for the opposition Socialists, as saying.
Obama's irritation with his French counterpart began when Sarkozy tried to grab the limelight at the G20 summit in London in April and talked condescendingly of the US President in private.
Sarkozy told colleagues that he found Obama to be inexperienced and unbriefed, especially on climate change, according to The Times of London.
In September, the French president expressed his frustration over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions and the priority that Obama attaches to the long-term goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. The French government also refused a US request to send more troops to Afghanistan, while several other European allies are planning to do so.
The French press often publishes Sarkozy's unflattering comments about Obama's lack of prior government experience, his alleged difficulty in reaching decisions or his domestic electoral setbacks.
"The paradox of the situation is that in terms of the relationship with the US, he can do a Chirac in that he can criticize the Americans but he can do it from a position that is 180 degrees different from Chirac," the FT quoted François Heisbourg, an adviser to the Foundation for Strategic Research, a Paris-based think tank, as saying.
"He can play to a habitual anti-American standpoint but not from a position that is fundamentally anti-American," he added.
Le plus faible!
Your link claims that 3% of CO2 is man made but This paper from FReeper palmer says that we don't have any accurate way to measure the human CO2 contribution. He thinks 3% is too high.
“No doubt Sarkozy disapproves of Obama’s positions on defense, the economy, and other international issues. But he must also resent the constant stream of personal insults. You just don’t do that to your major allies. Not if you are supposed to be POTUS. Because your every move is scrutinized. One slip of etiquette might be a mistake, but were’s talking about hundreds of slips at this point. And they’re clearly not slips; they’re deliberate insults.”
This crap started with the dvd boxed set to g. brown (or arguably the churchill bust before that, though that wasn’t personal against a foreign leader), and has been non-stop since then.
My personal un-favorite was using the 70s anniversary of the soviet invasion of poland to can the missile defense deal. I just wonder if the russians asked for that date in particular or it was his own idea.
“I can cut some slack to the urban blacks who voted for the zero but not to the so-called educated class who did.”
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Polls say that Obama’s biggest support other than the ninety some percent of the black vote came from the least educated and the MOST HIGHLY educated. I find that very troubling, is it not possible to obtain an advanced degree without losing contact with reality?
Actually, the biggest insult to Brown was that when he made his first visit to Washington, as the head of America’s closest and most important ally, Obama said he was too tired to invite him for dinner at the White House. That was absolutely unheard of.
Obama has a constant stream of dinner parties for his elite pals, but he is always too tired or bored to throw a party for important heads of state, or to do the honors properly when he travels abroad.
The only exception I can think of was when he finally gave a dinner for India. But that was after having snubbed India repeatedly for most of a year.
I didn’t realize he had snubbed him on a state dinner.
To the degree these same euro leaders who kissed up to his red-carpet campaign tour are getting what they deserve, it is amusing. Unfortunately we are stuck with him and his policy decisions too.....which is a nightmare.
I actually haven’t seen the breakdown. It would be interesting to see the stats.
Oh thank you for that! I tried to read it, I put my curser on each line to try to keep my place. Finally just gave up.
I grew up on the street, had many a fight on the street, did many years in the military and have been boxing for about 15 years and now teach it and I’ll tell you what.
If I could ever get any of my boxers doing a face like that in the ring I think they would win without a punch being thrown because in all my life I can honestly say that os one of the most scariest faces I have ever seen
If France ever wanted to break their losing streak in wars, now would be the time to declare war on the US. No doubt that zero would declare unilateral surrender immediately.
we are now finding out that our allies are saying piss off to bozo.
Never have I seen so many of our allies being pissed on in such a short time and yes while some might say so what who cares etc the fact remains we do need allies like the UK.
I have family over in Europe and the word is that they think obama has no leadership, could not point Europe out on a map, has no clue what so ever about international events and he is way over his head.
Not bad seeing as this phony said the world would now love us.
still he cares about islam and the muslim nations
you seen this Joe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCAffMSWSzY&feature=player_embedded
Wow, Mrs. Obambi giving the evil eye to Carla....
Would anyone in the world want Michelle Obama to gaze upon them with that evil eye?
At least we know that Barack married a tougher man than he is..... maybe Michelle needs to replace Janet Napolitano at DHS..... at least she could make nasty faces at terrorists?
Good grief, talk about an invasion of personal space!
I’ve found from living around the country that the majority of obama voters are the upper class elitist snobs.
They live in their mc mansions, mostly white neighborhoods and then they preach diversity.
It’s these people who live in their bubbles and have no clue what they are voting for except to say they voted for him thinking it was cool to do so.
Got to Boston or manhatten and WOW they’re so up their own arse they will never see the light of day.
What gets me is that they think folks like me want to be like them which is so far from the truth.
Even if I had a million dollars I’d neevr live amongst them but would rather get a few acres and have a nice log cabin in the middle of the land
I would not blame the Brits for pulling their troops out while bozo is in charge.
they have lost many men and women helping us and have proved to be a solid ally and yet this clown treats them with contempt
Those fools include; dead fools, incapacitated fools and fictitious fools.
Shut down COI (fmrly ACORN), shut down SEIU and shut down the New Black Panthers.
A first class nation cannot tolerate third world election tactics!
is it not possible to obtain an advanced degree without losing contact with reality?
Sure it is when the kids in college are being taught by socialists! A large number of college professors today, are teaching left wing socialist crap. This is part of the reason BO is POUS. Young college educated voters can not distinguish fact from fiction!
How about a French PM who is PRO-American for once?
Obama alienates all our pro-American allies every chance he gets.. One question.. Why is France having so my trouble with continued rioting by Muslim youths? http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60010D20100101 This goes on and on and on year after year after year..
“We are right to talk about the future, but before the future there is the present, and the present is two major nuclear crises,” he said, referring to Iran and North Korea.. “We are living in a real world, not a virtual world.”
Maybe we can trade with France. They can have Zero and the First Wookie, and we can have Sarkozy and Carla for the next three years.
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