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| Europe |
| Chirac lashes out at East Europe |
| 2003-02-18 |
| Jacques Chirac last night launched a furious attack on east European candidates for EU membership, saying they had behaved "recklessly" in making pro-American statements on the Iraq crisis. Is there a French equivalent of the "How to Make Friends and Influence People" course? Speaking at the end of the emergency Brussels summit, the French president astonished diplomats and dismayed the European commission and other governments by accusing the incoming and aspirant members of "infantile" and "dangerous" behaviour. "How dare zey think for zemselves! What do zey suppose zey have now, a democracy or zumthing?" Letters signed by Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, with current EU members Britain, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Portugal, and by the so-called Vilnius 10 group of EU and Nato candidates were "not well-brought-up behaviour," he complained. "They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet. When you are in the family, after all, you have more rights than when you are asking to join and knocking on the door," Mr Chirac said, warning Romania and Bulgaria that they had been particularly incautious since they were still seeking EU membership. That is about the most audacious thing Chirac has said so far, and that's saying something. Mr Chirac's fury betrayed France's anxiety at the way the club it helped to found is set to change beyond recognition when it admits 10 new members next year - and anger at the distinction made by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, who dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe" compared with the pro-American easterners. Rummy mashed on a nerve allright, far better than anyone knew at the time. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 Go to Little Green Footballs to view this: A jaw-dropping photograph from 1975, showing Saddam Hussein in France visiting a nuclear reactor. At far right: Jacques Chirac. Explains a lot, doesn't it? |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-02-18 15:54:49 |
| #10 OMG, I can not believe he said that. Maybe he realizes that military action is inevidable so he has to sabotage his countries position to save face. On the other hand, maybe he is a concieted ahole who can't realize his countries sphere influence extends about 50 feet in any direction. |
| Posted by: Jon 2003-02-18 15:35:41 |
| #9 You know the diplomacy game is over when it is played out on the front pages of the press. Chirac doublecrossed Powell and Bulgaria doubles Chirac. Touche! For a moron, GW sure knows how to play. Daschle and Chirac need to compare notes. |
| Posted by: john 2003-02-18 15:21:09 |
| #8 Hey, Frogman. Napoleon's dead. Get over it. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-02-18 11:50:13 |
| #7 You have to do a lot better than that, Jacques, if you want to impress countries that spent the last 50 years under the soviets. Not even close, froggy boy. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-02-18 09:59:00 |
| #6 Another wonderful tidbit about J Chirac. During the 70s he had a lot of contacts with Iraq. He facilitated the contracts that led to the building of the Osirak reactor (called by the Israelis the O'Chirac reactor). This reactor was supposed to cost Iraq about $150M but actually cost about 4 times that and undoubtedly, J Chirac got some nice souvenirs from the construction company. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-02-18 08:50:58 |
| #5 France is a rogue nuclear state. It clearly wishes to dominate its neighbors, and acts in an aggressive, cowboy-like manner whenever it wants, i.e. African adventurism and bombing the Greenpeace ship for two examples. The nations of Europe should be worried about having such a dangerous and unpredictible nuclear armed nation as a neighbor. Disarm France! Make Europe safe for democracy. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-02-18 07:47:40 |
| #4 Of course this won't stop the French deriding Bush as a politically inept cowboy for one minute... |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-02-18 05:50:22 |
| #3 sounds like an abuseive father berateing his step-kids.Bet that whent over real well with East Europe. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-02-18 05:27:15 |
| #2 Chirac is a big-time crook who spent more than two decades plundering Paris, and successfully avoided jail thanks to his political leverage, some kind of a french Andreotti, only much more sordid and less connected (unless you include his links with Rafik Hariri, the late Hafez El Assad or Hassan II,...). He got re-elected because he ultimately faced an aging populist left-over from post-WWII fascism (his first turn score was the lowest ever) and has only regained some popularity now thanks to his anti-US stance. France really is sick, and Chirac is one of its many symptoms, nothing more. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-18 05:13:01 |
| #1 OMG, I can not believe he said that. Maybe he realizes that military action is inevidable so he has to sabotage his countries position to save face. On the other hand, maybe he is a concieted ahole who can't realize his countries sphere influence extends about 50 feet in any direction. |
| Posted by: Jon 2/18/2003 3:35:41 PM |