... you don't make the cheap and easy jokes, you try to think of it as a nation that is a strong, well-intentioned, member of the international community (if sometimes at odds with your personal preferences/biases). And then they go and do something really embarassing, like offer a whopping 200 troops for the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
Look, I understand not wanting to get drawn into a no-win situation without rules of engagement, but if memory serves, is France not a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council that drafted resolution 1701, calling for the peacekeeping force? Did they not realize during the debate that, when just about everyone was expecting France to take a leading role in any UN force, they meant sending more than a couple busloads of troops? It's either a humiliating step by France, or as well-connected commentators (including Sperati) have speculated, the French know something big and they're not telling (which doesn't exactly bolster the whole "well-intentioned member of the international community" image).
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
You try to be nice about France...
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3 comments:
I disagree, Trav. The victory for France was in the cease fire, which simply would not have happened under circumstance had France not taken a leading role. France has supplanted the US and the UK as the important "expert neutral" for conflict in the Middle East.
As for "France knows something big." They know the same things which everyone else knows and isn't saying: this is all just a side-show, or at best, a warm-up to the real discussion of the real white elephant that everyone isn't talking about.
Perhaps you are right, William, and the objective of their maneuverings always was simply getting a ceasefile. I do wonder, though, how much standing as an important, expert, neutral, and *trustworthy* party in the region France might lose if they carry out this bait-and-switch.
On the Cobert Report this evening, Mr Cobert commented on the only real difference between 200 and 10,000 French troops in the region is far less French prisoners.
You have to believe things will get worked out but 2,000 years of turmoil is erased by a simple resolution. It's like an alcoholic, they have to want for things to collectively get better. If that doesn't happen more will die, more bombs will burst and the 2,000 cycle will continue.
Eric
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