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| Europe |
| French Press Finally Criticizing Chirac Over Mugabe? |
| 2003-04-22 |
| In the run-up to the one-and-a-half day Franco-African summit, French officials were confidently predicting that — whatever the British press and politicians might say — the presence of Robert Mugabe in Paris would not spoil the party. Zimbabwe, after all, is largely seen in France as a post-colonial, British problem. Unlike the Ivory Coast. The suffering of the expelled white farmers is viewed with pity, but not anger. They're only British descendents, not French.... But when he opened Friday's edition of Le Monde, the French leader would have read an editorial that could have easily come from one of the more moderate sections of the British press. "Mugabe's presence in Paris for this summit is an insult to all the victims of his regime," the paper wrote. "Did Jacques Chirac really think that ticking him off — in a corridor — about democracy and human rights, would really change the mind of this ageing autocrat?" C'mon, this is the same guy who thought that telling Eastern Europe that they acted like ill-bred children was proper manners..... And if the rest of the French media has been less explicit in its criticism of the president, it has been noticeable that most newspapers — including the pro-Chirac Le Figaro — have filed reports this week about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. President Chirac may have broad public support in France at the moment, but — on this issue — he is on more dangerous ground. We have been told that Mr Chirac expressed Europe's concerns to Mr Mugabe at the state dinner on Thursday night, but the Elysee has given no further details. And, with Mr Mugabe's wife, Grace, indulging her shopping habit and the president and his 20-strong entourage staying in a luxury hotel, the French have failed to convince the rest of the world that they have administered a diplomatic rap over the knuckles. The French have pissed off so many Americans, they're happy for every tourist they get, even odious dictator types. At the closing press conference of the summit, Mr Chirac was asked what he made of the criticism he had received for hosting several leaders, with dubious democratic credentials. He shrugged it off with the bland phrase: "France is committed to the fight for mutual respect, law and morality." OK, sorry about not issuing a drink alert at the start of this article. My bad! But will the Mugabe row cause anything more than temporary irritation for the French president? After all, the French television news — and indeed many of the papers here — have given more coverage to the special French edition of the British tabloid, the Sun, with its photomontage of "Chirac the worm", than to Robert Mugabe's presence in Paris. So the answer is, probably not - but it may make Mr Chirac think twice before inviting the Zimbabwean leader again. Depends on how much his wife dropped at Chanel..... |
| Posted by:Baba Yaga |
| #4 Enable javascript (the SPAN tags are inserted via a js on the page) or just do a "view source" and copy/paste the little suckers in manually. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-04-22 14:29:34 |
| #3 Bulldog -- that's what I've been doing. It still won't highlight when I post for some reason. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-04-22 12:16:23 |
| #2 When the French realise they've had it ALL topsy-turvey, I'll call it progress. Then they can start on their apologies. Till that happens, and Chirac's receiving the spittle he deserves from the French Street, they're going to remain in the 'traitorous imbeciles' camp. Has anyone seen French press reports on the Rolands, the promised oil contracts? Do they even know how much Chirac colluded with Saddam? "He shrugged it off with the bland phrase: "France is committed to the fight for mutual respect, law and morality."" It's as though he feels spouting outrageous lies and hypocrisy is his expected duty. They like this guy! Unfathomable. Btw Baba Yaga, you need to highlight the whole phrase, then click 'highlight'. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-04-22 05:51:01 |
| #1 See my (ever-timely) rant CAPTAIN SHORE-WREQUE'S SWAN SONG IN BEAST MINOR (Sun. Feb. 23) |
| Posted by: Malthusiast 2003-04-22 02:10:26 |