Friday, January 20, 2006

French hypocrisy

During a visit to northwestern France, where France's nuclear submarines are based French president Jacques Chirac said:
The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part. This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.

Against a regional power, our choice would not be between inaction or annihilation. The flexibility and reactivity of our strategic forces would enable us to exercise our response directly against its centers of power and its capacity to act.
Well France has reminded the world about it's legal right to defend itself. Whether they meant business or not, it's a different story, but what I wanted to know, is what changed m. Chirac's opinion?
For the last decade France's policy was to refuse to recognize this right for other countries. So what was it? Were it the recent riots throuth whole France, or terror attacks in London? Or was it the fact that every now and then a Al Qaida cell in discovered in Europe , and nobody knows how many of them there are?
Would you recognize other country's right to defend themselves, or was it another case of French hypocrisy?

1 comment:

Irina Tsukerman said...

I have no doubt it's just empty talk. When it comes to Israel or United States, I bet, France remains of the same opinion - because it has no interest in a strong United States, nor is it interested in Arabs raising a storm over a strong response from Israel. In other words, nothing new.