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2004-12-16 Home Front: Politix
French FM makes lightning visit to US
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Posted by Seafarious 2004-12-16 11:11:10 PM|| || Front Page|| [11129 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Who was that masked man?...
Posted by mojo  2004-12-16 12:15:41 AM||   2004-12-16 12:15:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 acceleration of efforts to reach a final solution. Unfortunate turn of phrase.
Posted by phil_b 2004-12-16 12:26:37 AM||   2004-12-16 12:26:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 "repair US alliances bruised by Iraq war"

Strawman argument which should generate a hail of jeers every time it's used. In France and Germany, Chirac and Schröder cravenly used anti-Americanism as their campaign hooks and demonized Bush & America well before there was an Iraq war. They did the bending and breaking of the "alliances" which, upon any serious reflection, must be viewed as diplo bullshit, a mere habitual reference devoid of substance for some time, now. As a test of any bidirectional alliance, let's figure out when the last time was that the US asked of either government any action (that was granted) which was not obviously in the best interests of the so-called ally? A hell of a long time ago, I'd wager. The war itself was just the symbol, the symptom, not the disease - the anti-Americanism, already a shop-worn time-honored well-polished fuckwit socialist theme, had been actively kept alive and thus already present - these assholes saw fit to employ the fears for crass political and personal gain and built a fire under it. They rendered the "alliances" null, void, and moot. Context. Bush checked all the boxes and they cut him off at the knees.

Regards any visits by representatives of either the Chirac or Schröder regimes, send 'em home... in a bag.

I don't have any strong feelings about it, of course, but... Fuck Chirac. Fuck Schröder. Fuck the Chocolate-Makers. And fuck the ditzy fact-challenged meme-ridden gullible / complicit / disingenuous press. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Posted by .com 2004-12-16 12:42:48 AM||   2004-12-16 12:42:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Outstanding rant, .com, and totally on target. Barnier's comments were for a French audience, in a French paper. He probably just told them to cut 'n' paste the party line. Not that the story would be reported much differently in the NYT.

I'm just fascinated by the speed of his visit, especially with Kofi in town, where the stories all stress that he is NOT here to discuss the oil-for-weasels issue. Nope, definitely NOT on the agenda. Not at all. Not even a whisper.

I'll post something about that later today. It's late now.
Posted by Seafarious  2004-12-16 12:55:59 AM||   2004-12-16 12:55:59 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 pledged to repair US alliances bruised by Iraq war.

bruised? I'd say more like decapitated

the relationship between Washington and its oldest ally must be balanced
gag! How insulting!

Ok, yeah..thanks for your assistance at Yorktown. Your welcome for our (much greater) assistance in WWII.

That's the thing that sucks about getting old, the inevitable consequence is death.
Posted by 2b 2004-12-16 1:06:35 AM||   2004-12-16 1:06:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 And fuck the ditzy fact-challenged meme-ridden gullible / complicit / disingenuous press.

Wow. Extremely well said. And this article was far, far from the worst bit of this we've seen for the last few years.
Posted by Verlaine 2004-12-16 1:38:16 AM||   2004-12-16 1:38:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 As far as I am concerned he should be welcomed like you would welcome a steaming pile of feces on your brand new living room carpet.

If they want to be "freinds" then they must pay. Pay dearly and publicly for their perfidy.
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-12-16 3:51:47 AM|| [http://www.slhess.com]  2004-12-16 3:51:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 He can cool his heels in Powell's lobby for an hour or two and then watch the ambassador from Ivory Coast come waltzing in ahead of him.
Posted by Tom 2004-12-16 7:56:53 AM||   2004-12-16 7:56:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Barnier could use his talks in Washington to promote his call for an early international summit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an acceleration of efforts to reach a final solution.

Ah, yes, the "final solution" is an unfortunate term for them to use. However, I would note that Arafish did pass away to his 72 raisins in a FRENCH hospital. Maybe the French should be thanked to at least open up a POSSIBILITY of a solution to Israel/Paleos.
Posted by BA  2004-12-16 9:10:53 AM||   2004-12-16 9:10:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 the French press has been rife with speculation that Barnier might be carrying an invitation from President Jacques Chirac to come to Paris

No thanks, not necessary. Laura shops online.
Posted by lex 2004-12-16 10:06:04 AM||   2004-12-16 10:06:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 "Alliance does not mean allegiance," he said in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien. "We listen to each other, respect each other, agree sometimes and we can also have differing analyses."


"And, sometimes, we may sell weapons to the enemy and attempt to dissuade cooperation among allied countries. Is this not how allies treat each other?"
Posted by BH 2004-12-16 10:12:15 AM||   2004-12-16 10:12:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 Has anyone seen Jim Baker and his briefcase?
Posted by Classical_Liberal 2004-12-16 10:49:55 AM||   2004-12-16 10:49:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 --With Bush due to visit Europe in February on a high-profile fence-mending tour,

Good fences make good neighbours. Or so they say.--


This is my land, that is your land, and I'll thank you to stay on your side of the fence.

(written by a columnist after 9/11 when discussing changing the National Anthem to something else - This Land by the unapologetic Guthrie)
Posted by anonymous2U 2004-12-16 11:06:32 AM||   2004-12-16 11:06:32 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 I'm halfway through reading "Our Oldest Enemy" right now. If anyone seriously believes that France is our oldest friend after reading that, they need their heads examined. No wonder the French hate that book.
Posted by Desert Blondie 2004-12-16 11:54:17 AM||   2004-12-16 11:54:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 Something about the oil for food scandal flushing out the guilty ones. Heh.
Posted by crazyhorse  2004-12-16 1:21:25 PM||   2004-12-16 1:21:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 We can be polite and all that, but I would STRONGLY REJECT any possibility of a visit by the US President to France, except for a visit to Normandy or other Allied grave site. We have nothing to say. Chiraq will just use us to further his agenda. We do not have to put up with his crap. Period.
Posted by Alaska Paul  2004-12-16 6:27:24 PM||   2004-12-16 6:27:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 No time to stop in France. Too busy in Poland.

If there's to be a stop in any of the weasel countries, it should be in Germany.
Posted by lex 2004-12-16 6:56:27 PM||   2004-12-16 6:56:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Last I heard, Bush will not be visiting Phrawnce.
Posted by .com 2004-12-16 8:55:30 PM||   2004-12-16 8:55:30 PM|| Front Page Top

23:39 .com
23:38 2b
23:37 mom
23:37 2b
23:36 .com
23:34 .com
23:33 mom
23:33 2b
23:33 2b
23:29 2b
23:28 Spaimble Whomoper3883
23:14 Spaimble Whomoper3883
22:47 Angie Schultz
22:46 .com
22:43 2b
22:39 .com
22:33 Alaska Paul
22:32 Alaska Paul
22:21 2b
22:17 Alaska Paul
22:12 SwissTex
22:03 Alaska Paul
22:00 Alaska Paul
21:55 .com









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