> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Barker [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 11:55 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: OT: Worth Considering II - (questions, questions)
>
>
> What makes me laugh about this, is you speak as though France
> have really
> gone out on a limb, just to spite the US.  Maybe this is the way it's
> presented in the US.
>

I think what you missed is that US anger toward France is not just over this
incident. The French goverment has made it their sworn duty, at least it
seems that way to the US, to obstruct anything and everything the US does
anywhere in the world. Their expected resistance to any US initiative over
the years has become so comical that it has been reduced to a punchline.

> France, Germany, Russia and a number of other countries are
> representing
> what the majority of the world thinks.  It is indeed the US
> and the UK who
> are the ones not 'playing ball'.  To basically blame a
> nation, who is well
> within it's rights under the democratic process of the UN, to
> object to all
> out war, without pursuing other methods and without even
> seeing the report
> from Hans Blick (not sure of spelling) is unbelievable.

Yes France, Germany and Russia do seem to think that the US should be bound
by the 'will' of the security council. This might carry more weight if they
also felt the 'will' and resolutions of the security council applied to them
as well.

> Basically it shows
> that the US has no respect for the democratic process of the
> UN and is just
> a bully.  It will go to war, whatever the UN decides, what
> kind of statement
> is that.
>

A simple statement of truth.

I am sorry to disillusion you but the UN is not a world goverment, thank
god, no matter how hard it tries to pretend that it is.

The US still has the right to act in its own interest without approval from
the UN. It was out of respect for the international community that the US
tried to work through the UN. That was a huge mistake and has made war
inevitable as countries like France, Germany and Russia gave Saddam the hope
that he might dodge the bullet one more time without having to actually do
anything.

This time his bluff is going to be called. He has maybe another 48 hours to
fold and take his billions to a friendly country that he can pay not to
extradite him for his crimes. I expect France will be quite helpfull in that
area.

> The immature nature of some of the responses from the UK and
> even people on
> this list, that somehow France (and old Europe) now supports
> Saddam, is
> inflammatory, untrue and rather pathetic.  Added below the
> old chestnut from
> Chuck, which he has brought up more than once, that the US
> saved France in
> WWII, not to mention the whole of the world in previous
> emails, again is sad
> and inaccurate.
>

Ok the US joined forces with England, and others, to invaded German occupied
France which liberated the French people from the Germans, is this not
correct?

The US spent a great deal of money helping rebuild Europe after the war, is
this not correct?

Hmmm... as the UN is the last place that France has any real influence over
international events, through its veto power, maybe it should offer to host
a new UN headquarter's in Paris and invite the US to not attend.


Comments are my own, not my employer's... etc.





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