Europeans Leaders are redfining their foreign policies

[pchang]

Allies are countries whose interests happen to coincide. Such things are only temporary occurences.

[Drake Tungsten]

pchang

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Ned
Allies support each other. Enemies undermine each other.

Enemies fight each other. Rivals undermine each other. Bush's US and Chirac's France are rivals.

[BeBMan]

Also, rivalry in some fields can go together with shared interests in other fields. So it isn't just black and white, allies or enemies.

[DanS]

Chirac's actions are rather cynical, but not altogether based in fiction. He is trying to solidify Sunni support for France at the expense of the US. He can slag the Shiites all he wants, even though they are a majority in Iraq, because they are a minority in the ME.

I happen to believe that the Sunnis are helplessly disunited in any event -- see the Mideast peace process -- and that Chirac won't gain much by supporting the Sunnis in Iraq. But the policy is coherent, if you believe French and US interests diverge rather than converge (I think they converge, but that's only one man's opinion). Of course, the US takes a more overarching view of this, because it needs to.

Also, I'm trying to put on a Gaullist hat here... Even though other members of NATO besides the US and UK don't spend enough on the military, France spends an adequate amount. France can go along just fine with its non-US and UK NATO allies until those allies prove not up to the tasks that France has set out for them. Taking the law of averages, that occurrence is likely to happen Really Soon Now, but who knows when it will happen? It could take decades for the foreign policy of Chirac to be discredited.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by BeBro
Unfortunately the fact that you moved geographically does not prove that you moved intellectually too, Drake

In fact, I think the case can be made that he managed to leave his intellect behind

[Drake Tungsten]

At least I have one to retrieve...

[Kuciwalker]

Yes, it's sad that so many of your fellow right-wingers let theirs turn to dust.

[Last Conformist]

Originally written by DanS
But the policy is coherent, if you believe French and US interests diverge rather than converge (I think they converge, but that's only one man's opinion)

Care to elaborate why you hold that opinion?

[Ned]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Enemies fight each other. Rivals undermine each other. Bush's US and Chirac's France are rivals.

Yeah, it kind of reminds one of the trading "rivalries" between the French and British in the 18th Century.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Yes, it's sad that so many of your fellow right-wingers let theirs turn to dust.

Souldn't that be "our"? I thought you were a right-winger like Imran

[DanS]

Care to elaborate why you hold that opinion?

In the scheme of things, our direct bilateral relationship is more important than how we relate to each other in these 3rd world hellholes. Consider that each year we do $50 billion in direct business with each other, for instance. It would make more sense to increase this direct business rather than fight over 3rd world scraps.

If France could become an effective counterpole to the US, the basic arithmetic might change. But I think the counterpole option is pretty much a muddled fantasy.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Ned
Yeah, it kind of reminds one of the trading "rivalries" between the French and British in the 18th Century.

I can't remember when we shot at Americans ever since our geopolitical interests have started to diverge. Last I remember, we are still having joint military exercises and a strong cooperation among secret services.

[Ned]

Spiffor, does it really matter if a Frenchman pulls the trigger on the newly manufactured anti-tank weapon in Iraq? WTF is France financing and supplying the Iraqi resistance?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Ned
WTF is France financing and supplying the Iraqi resistance?

I don't think we are stupid enough to waste money by supplying this resistance. The prospects of the resistance are either to be crushed, or to become one of the many warring factions in an unstable Iraq.

Unless you have a serious source proving we finance the Iraqi resistance, I won't believe it.

(Selling weapons is another matter altogether, as we sell weapons to whomever buys)