Say this for Jack and crew, they are masters of the press conference snit while enjoying an eerily unnatural impunity in the reporting of same.

They repeatedly make irresponsible ill-tempered statements and it's yesterday's news before the paper hits the street. Whether refusing to express a preference in outcomes during hostilities in Iraq, or helpfully suggesting that EU dissenters shut up, or threatening to settle things with a few nuclear missiles lobbed here and there, it is inconceivable that this sort of loud-mouthing would go uncensured were it anyone but the French.

Why? Perhaps because France has been so long at the game no one really gives her pronouncements any notice. That she annoys, well, we concede France is annoying, but she is not meaningfully annoying. (For example, North Korea is meaningfully annoying.)

What brings this up is Jack's dressing down ANC president Thabo Mbeki on the proper understanding of Africa (Hat tip: ¡No Pasarán!):

French President Jacques Chirac last night launched a stinging attack on Thabo Mbeki's efforts to bring peace to Ivory Coast, suggesting the South African president lacked understanding of the "psychology and soul" of West Africa.

Chirac said Mbeki's efforts to restart the political process in Ivory Coast had "not had a very great impact" and that elections planned there for October were now in question. "West Africa is West Africa. It has its own characteristics. You have to know it well. I very much hope that President Mbeki, whose work we support, will now immerse himself in West Africa so as to understand its psychology and soul," he said.

The French president, who helped broker a peace plan for Ivory Coast that was signed in January 2003, said he had spoken to Mbeki by telephone two days ago. "My message, and I don't think he really appreciated it, was that we have all got our responsibilities (in resolving the crisis) and we have to live up to them. I told him that France is prepared to be present (with troops) and to help if our presence is appreciated."

[Jack] repeatedly said the French troops stationed there were "not an occupation force" ... "We are not busy conquering Ivory Coast. We are trying to defend a semblence of stability and democracy there."

"If there is a desire from Africa - and in particular Ivory Coast - for us to stay there, we shall. If there's a desire for us to leave, we will go," he said.

Even by the Jack standard of insolence this is pretty amazing.

First, Mr. Mbeki, a native African, apparently just doesn't get West Africa, but Jack, the occasional French colonial tourist, he's got the goods. The deep insight. That special French perspicuity.

Second, Jack is unimpressed with Mr. Mbeki's efforts, these very same efforts necessitated by the impressive failure of France's efforts.

Third, just how does Jack define "occupation force"? Well, we know he thinks the Americans are fielding such a force in Iraq. Jack is hot that the American "occupation force" get out and stop compromising Iraq's sovereignty -- even though Iraqis are anxious to have the Americans stay. But France in the Côte d'Ivoire, that is some other sort of thing. And even though the Ivoirians want the French out – isn’t Jack getting those phone messages from Laurent Gbagbo? – the French are somehow protecting Ivoirian sovereignty after having stepped in to legitimize an armed insurrection against the elected government, effecting the partition of the Ivoirian nation, and shooting up its citizenry.

Too much nuance for Yahoo Americans.

Forty-five years ago the government of the United States of America faced the problem of imposing the principles of justice and democracy in a section of the world that didn't believe it and fought hard against it. It was an ideal that embraced the concept that "all men are created equal" and as such were worthy to receive the blessings of the states that these individuals lived within.
The backlash was terrible, bombings...lynchings....threats and intimidation. Armed bands of resistance made public announcements that the policy of the United States was and would be resisted by any means at hand. Known American politicians joined in with this despicable resistance. Among them, now Senator Robert Byrd. The place was the American South.
The resistance group was known as the Ku Klux Klan. To the Klan, American policy that Plessey v. Ferguson was overturned was wrong. That Board v. Brown, which meant that all Americans could rely on its federal government to ensure protection of our individual rights, was wrong. That all individuals who could expect and receive equal access to transportation, to accommodation, to education were wrong..
When I look at the history of CORE, SCLC, SNCC, NAACP, the main stream media and the alliance of civil rights groups that supported the minorities of the American South in their quest for full implementation of their rights as humans...and contrast those groups current public policy admonitions in terms of the Iraqis, I am dumbfounded to hear those former civil rights activists refer to "our little brown brothers" as being unable to receive the blessings of liberty. That democracy is the "white man's burden". Not for the brown, the Muslim, the Asian. They're not people like we're people. Their culture isn't like our culture.
What rotten, hardcore cultural and racist thinking these opposed to freedom in the Middle East commit with every breath. For those of us who supported the Freedom Bus, the sit-ins, worker's rights and the Helsinki Accords, each of us who prize liberty above riches, shudder every time some "right thinking" American says democracy can't work in the Middle East.
Such shame. Point your finger at those who should be ashamed. Point your finger at yourself whenever you hear yourself say, "Well, maybe they're right. The Middle East isn't ready for democracy. For full individual human rights."
Shame. Shame on Chirac.
West Africa is West Africa. They’re brown for Chrissakes. What do brown people know about these things…we’re French! And these people are a burden for the French.
Keep up the good work, Damien.

If there is a desire for us to leave then we will go. - Jacque Chirac
What are you waiting for, a ride? - - J.Mayeau

DGB,
"eerily unnatural impunity"

Wasn't the phrase you were groping for 'preternatural impunity?'
--a fan.

In one of the articles you link to De Villepin said France's main priority in the reconstruction of Iraq would be for the United Nations to pass a humanitarian resolution on the oil-for-food programme.

He said the UN must be at the heart of the reconstruction of Iraq following a crisis which has "shattered" the established world order.

Quotes are from March 2003. My, my, my. How WRONG was pinhead, as yet another UN scandal was reported today. And of course, how can we ever repay the UN for having 35 election helpers in Iraq during the recent elections. How indeed.

Hey, frogs, want Bush to help you out in IC?

Have you ever been to Senegal, Cameroon or even Ivory Coast (before its president started wiping out minorities of course), OregonGuy, or are you just talking out of your ass?

Funny how as easily as Zoomer can list off former French colonies and client states, he can list horrific regimes. In fact, he can pretty much do it in the same breath.

There's a hint there for you Zoomer.

Sorry but I don't get your hint, brb. As far as turning a blind eye to horrific regimes and even supporting them, there are a lot of hints you might want to look into, both with France and the US.

Well zoomer, I will give you another hint. Ask yourself why so many former French colonies have ended up run by blood-soaked kleptocrats.

How many former US colonies have ended the same way? Cuba maybe. Philipines? Seem to be doing fine. Puerto Rico? They don't want to leave, no matter how many polite hints we drop that they might be better off on their own. Outside of France, and maybe Canada's Quebec, on balance, to speak French is to be poor. I am sure you can list exceptions.

Ask yourself why so many former French colonies have ended up run by blood-soaked kleptocrats.

Your point? Have you heard of Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia etc...? As far as Ivory Coast, it was (and still is in some respect) a model of prosperity in Africa for decades. Africa is not all tribe people living in mudbrick houses, you know... your closest historical connection to Western Africa is Liberia, by the way. Great model of peace and prosperity, isn't it brb?

Philipines? Seem to be doing fine.

(chuckles)

In what respect? I've been there, have you? A country of have and have-not. Speaking of blood-soaked kleptocrats, ever heard of Ferdinand Marcos, brb? Abu Sayyaf muslim extremists? Rampant corruption (one the world's worst)? Yeah, it's doing fine "it seems". But is the US to blame?

to speak French is to be poor. I am sure you can list exceptions.

Care to elaborate on this most ignorant (and racist) comment? Is Arkansas "rich"? Is there abject poverty in India? Pakistan? Ethiopia? Sierra Leone? Sudan? Brazil?

Poor brb, you haven't traveled much, have you?

Obviously, if you are comparing Ivory Coast to Arkansas, you have not travelled very much.