 NICE, France -- France's U.S.-friendly president sent a clear message Friday to the next American administration: Plans for a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe are misguided, and won't make the continent a safer place.
| Because after all, everyone knows that the Iranians don't have the bomb and aren't working on intermediate range missiles ... |
Nicolas Sarkozy also warned Russian President Dmitry Medvedev against upping tensions by deploying missiles on the borders of the European Union in response to the U.S. planned missile defense system.
| Quiet or Putin will cut off the gas for your continent ... |
Sarkozy's comments, at a summit with Medvedev, were the strongest to date by an American ally against the missile-defense plans -- and undercut the rationale behind U.S. President George W. Bush's European security strategy. "Deployment of a missile defense system would bring nothing to security ... it would complicate things, and would make them move backward," Sarkozy said at a news conference with Medvedev. Medvedev smiled and pointed his finger at Sarkozy in approval.
| It's like this, Nick: we're trying to help. We think Iran is a threat, and we think protecting Europe from that threat is a good idea that benefits all of us. But we're not absolutely wedded to the proposition, especially with Bambi about to take office, so if you Y'urp-peons can't be bothered to defend yourselves, we just might walk away and leave you to your fate. |
The remarks came at the end of a week in which the United States and Russia rejected each other's proposed solutions to the standoff over the missile plans, making it increasingly likely that it will not be resolved before U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Obama has not been explicit about his intentions on European missile defense, saying it would be prudent to "explore the possibility" but expressing some skepticism about the technical capability of U.S. missile defenses.
| At this point it wouldn't bother me if Bambi packed it in ... |
Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra said in a statement he "was surprised" about Sarkozy's remarks, made at an EU-Russia summit. "France never consulted with us such a standpoint," he said. "As far as I know a stance on the missile defense was not part of the French presidency mandate for the EU-Russia summit." France currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Sarkozy said he was worried about Russia's threat to deploy short-range Iskander missiles near Poland in response to the U.S. move. "We could continue between Europe and Russia to threaten each other with shields, with missiles, with navies," he said. "It would do Russia no good, Georgia no good and Europe no good."
| He's already set to make a trade, our missiles for the Russian missiles. France, of course, wouldn't give up a thing. |
Sarkozy said he would discuss the missile issue with NATO counterparts at a summit early next year and proposed a pan-European security conference after that, to include Russia. Medvedev welcomed the idea.
| Course he did. He and Putin have the Euros buffaloed completely. Putin will accomplish what Brezhnev never could do: he'll neuter the Euros and separate them from the U.S. |
edvedev stuck to Russia's stance. He suggested that the Russian threat to install missiles in the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad -- announced just hours after Obama's election -- was "a response to the behavior of certain European states that agreed to deploy new (missile defenses) on their own territories without consulting anyone."
Friday's summit made a key step toward rapprochement between Russia and the European Union: The EU announced the resumption of partnership talks with Russia that had been put on hold because of the war in Georgia. Critics, including the United States and Georgian governments and human rights groups, say it is too soon to forgive Russia, in effect, when Russian troops remain implanted and unchecked in the two breakaway Georgian provinces at the core of the war.
Sarkozy, temporarily in charge of the 27-nation EU, insisted that the resumption wasn't "a sign of weakness."
| They have so many other signs of weakness this one wasn't necessary ... |
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