The crazy French
The mind boggles.
Speaking in Beirut, where he met yesterday with his Iranian counterpart, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said this: "In the region there is of course a country such as Iran -- a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region."
He's kidding, right? Or is he crazy? It's one thing to be polite in diplomatic circles, quite another to speak so positively of a country that is developing a nuclear program in flagrant violation of the U.N.; that has threatened Israel's very existence; that funds, supports, and arms Hezbollah; that promotes instability in Iraq; that has aspirations to regional hegemony; and that may have started this whole mess to divert attention away from its nuclear program. More, a country led by a madman president and authoritarian theocrats, a country that oppresses its people, a country that will try to block any attempt to bring peace to the Middle East, a country that celebrates Hugo Chavez.
I suspect that Douste-Blazy wasn't referring to, say, film director Abbas Kiarostami, one of the world's best, or to any of the other famous Iranians who have made their (distinguished) mark on the world stage throughout history. He must have been referring to Ahmadinejad and the other rulers of present-day Iran.
Iran may very well be home to a great and respected civilization. Its people may be great, too. But there's nothing admirable about the leadership in Tehran. To say that Iran "plays a stabilizing role in the region" is to indicate that you are delusional, mendacious, malevolent, or some combination of the three. France, once a proud nation, evidently has nothing much left to offer the world with respect to moral leadership. It certainly has nothing to offer with respect to the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. If all it can do is cozy up to Iran, it would do better to leave well enough alone.
What a revolting spectacle.
Speaking in Beirut, where he met yesterday with his Iranian counterpart, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said this: "In the region there is of course a country such as Iran -- a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region."
He's kidding, right? Or is he crazy? It's one thing to be polite in diplomatic circles, quite another to speak so positively of a country that is developing a nuclear program in flagrant violation of the U.N.; that has threatened Israel's very existence; that funds, supports, and arms Hezbollah; that promotes instability in Iraq; that has aspirations to regional hegemony; and that may have started this whole mess to divert attention away from its nuclear program. More, a country led by a madman president and authoritarian theocrats, a country that oppresses its people, a country that will try to block any attempt to bring peace to the Middle East, a country that celebrates Hugo Chavez.
I suspect that Douste-Blazy wasn't referring to, say, film director Abbas Kiarostami, one of the world's best, or to any of the other famous Iranians who have made their (distinguished) mark on the world stage throughout history. He must have been referring to Ahmadinejad and the other rulers of present-day Iran.
Iran may very well be home to a great and respected civilization. Its people may be great, too. But there's nothing admirable about the leadership in Tehran. To say that Iran "plays a stabilizing role in the region" is to indicate that you are delusional, mendacious, malevolent, or some combination of the three. France, once a proud nation, evidently has nothing much left to offer the world with respect to moral leadership. It certainly has nothing to offer with respect to the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. If all it can do is cozy up to Iran, it would do better to leave well enough alone.
What a revolting spectacle.
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
12:08 AM
1 Comments:
Why doesn't Iran have the right to create Nuclear Bombs? Why must they seek support of the UN to create their own nuclear energy. All the other countries did it on their own, without the support of the UN.
The United States doesn't listen to the UN when it starts a war nor does Israel. Why does Iran have to listen to the UN when it only wants to create Nuclear energy.
This is where the world is heading, you may be able to delay it for 10 to 20 years. But in 40 years, everyone will have nuclear energy and the possibility of creating nukes. Israel's existence will always be threaten and there is a very good possibility it will suffer an attack worse than 9/11.
It should start creating goodwill amongst the arab people, for all its doing now is adding thousands of recruits to terrorist organizations.
Money will be collected, advancements in technology will be made, deadlier weapons will be obtained, and more death will follow.
Soft power, is the only real power that Israel has, and it has lost all of it in the eyes of the arab world.
The way things are heading, in the long term Israel and a good chunk of the arab world will be dead.
mr. sunshine
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Anonymous, at 12:35 PM
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