I agree with the OP 100%. What a total shithead.
Please don’t tar all France with this dildo’s brush (any more than one should tar all the US with GWB).
Et tu, Bruté.
Are you shitting me? “They missed a great opportunity to shut up.” is not offensive where you come from? Directly insulting the heads of state of your allies and calling them “infantile” is a bit more than “slightly patronising.” Stating that a sovereign, democratic nation must by default agree with France or “shut up” in order to join the EU, (which, by the way, France is not the boss of) is most certainly not valid criticism, and deserves far more than the OP’s hysterical reaction.
Thank you. And please let the record show that my rant is directed specifically at Mr. Chirac, and not French People. Some of my best friends are French People. I swear. 
BTW, december, you’re not helping.
OP’s Hysterical reaction? Your own hysterical reaction? WTF are you talking about? Are you accusing yourself of hysteria, or simply wishing that you could be more hysterical?
I am accusing my self of justifiable hysteria, and calling for more hysteria from other people. 
Well, heh. I came in here to post the same link, too. 
Great minds think alike, eh?
This was the bit that brought me in here.
I can almost hear his disdainful sniff. He makes it sound like getting blackballed down at the country club.
“Romania and Bulgaria were particularly irresponsible in joining in with the students in their fraternity’s stop-sign stealing during Alumni weekend. If they wanted to diminish their chances of joining the Sub-Par Country Club, they could not have found a better way…”
But I don’t see a need for hysteria. It’s just the Politicos hard at work, mudslinging.
“Oh yes? Well, your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries…”
Well… their governments are. In the case of Spain,90% of Spaniards are opposed to the war. Of course, there were the 1,3 million protesters in Barcelona, 660,000 in Madrid, and 200,000 in Sevilla - though my favourite statistic was 100,000 in Oviedo (pop. 180,000).
Are you attempting to lecture me on the workings and politics of the EU? Pray tell, what qualifications do you bring to the table?
France does carry influence within the union, but not so much that it gets to unilaterally decide who is getting in and who isn’t, particularly when several other EU governments disagree with the French position - UK, Spain, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands (?), etc. If France were more politically saavy, perhaps it wouldn’t imply that the other EU states with equal representation didn’t feel slighted by France’s assertion that France speaks for the EU.
Or indeed that M. Chirac speaks for France. He was elected after a “hold your nose” campaign.
Maybe so, but he’s still the head of the government so he gets to speak for France at this time.
Let’s put it another way: “Chirac’s comments tend to underscore his cherished belief that France and Germany are the central powers of Europe.” The French are great believers in the “sound and fury” school of diplomacy, especially when butting heads with the U.S. This is all about French hegemony over Europe, imagined or real. Until Germany reunified, France never made any pretence of acting in concert with Germany. They are looking out for number one, plain and simple.
This piece from Slate.com sheds some light on the matter.
Personally, I think French behavior has been excreble, and I side with the OP that they have gone waaay too far in their treatment of their European neighbors. If or when those countries do get into the EU, it will come back to haunt France.
Of course you can. And, I would assume that virtually all the protestors hold that position.
Yet, the fact remains that if there is no war, Saddam almost surely will remain in power.
So if I am against the death penalty, I must be pro-murder.
'cause the fact remains that if there is no death penalty, murderers almost certainly will remain murderers.
If any Latin American country were to buck the US view at the same time as it was trying to join a north american trade organization, can anyone seriously doubt that the US would lean heavily on them to shut the heck up? I would hope it would be more diplomatic than Chirac here, but I’m sure it would happen.
I’d bet a buck that if this was President Bush saying something similar about countries wanting to join NATO, you’d be the first one in the thread calling for his impeachment.
This changes if, for the past 12 years, the murderer has continually sneaked out of prison to kill more people.
I knew that this thread would be here when I logged into the SDMB this morning. And if it wasn’t, I would have started it myself. And, FTR, I am anti-war. Not that that should really have anything to do with it, as this is not about being for or against the war - this is about Chirac trying to control other nations with threats. Very, very low.
You have to feel bad for Chirac. His bathroom mirror is actually a painting of De Gaulle – a trick his staff played on him but he hasn’t realized it yet. The costs for police have suddenly jumped now that police are chasing prostitutes instead of terrorists, so he’s having trouble balancing the books. The farmers and truckers have more power than the government. It’s a tough job, y’know.
You’d lose your dollar… I’m just not sensitive enough.
Surely every nation that can do this, does do this, like it or not. I guess Chirac’s mistake was to forget to dress up his language a bit. As GWB does so well when he unthreateningly tells the world “you’re with us or against us”.
The question mark behind the Netherlands is telling. We’re in the process of forming a new coalition over here, after the January 15 elections. I can’t remember a time when we were ever to neutral about anything. And a damn shame it is, I always get a good laugh out of the attention my nation gets for its viewpoints. It’s usually disproportional to our real political influence. But in this case, we got no attention at all. Our demissionary (and most likely future) PM has been spouting forth meaningless hollow phrases meaning “war is bad, but maybe it’s unavoidable” for weeks now.
Still, it beats the shit that came out of Chirac’s mouth last night.