Today Pave inaugurates a new site feature: The PAVE FRENCH FEATURE TOTE ("PFFT").

Where it proves meaningful, we will rate a posted topic's content on a scale of 0-5 for one or several qualities that it illustrates about France or the French. Zero is an absolute absence of the identified quality, 5 a plentitude of said quality. The intermediary values represent middling more-or-lessness of the same. The PFFT rating appears at the end of its post. An illustrative post follows.

After President Bush's speech of June 28, in which the president addressed the situation in Iraq, reaffirmed America's commitment to a free Iraq, and dismissed the defective complaints of armchair generals, the French weighed in with this:

FRANCE INSISTS IRAQIS NEED PROSPECTS FOR FULL SOVEREIGNTY

June 29, 2005 (AFP) - France on Wednesday insisted that the Iraqi people needed to have "clear prospects for full sovereignty", after US President George W. Bush rejected calls to withdraw US troops from Iraq by a fixed date.

"France, with the international community, committed within the framework of (UN) Resolution 1546 to a course and a timetable for the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty," said foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei.

"One of the dimensions upon which France has insisted in recent months is the need for the Iraqis to have a view toward, to have clear prospects for full sovereignty, including in the areas of defence and security," Mattei said.

We first pause to point out to M. Mattei that the timetable within the framework of UNSCR 1546 was June 30, 2004.

We next suggest that France might more profitably expend French hot air condemning the terrorists, which are the sole impediments to Iraqi prospects for "full sovereignty" and security, instead of inviting them to tea parties or trying to hurry the only guarantors of security out of Iraq.

How helpful before insisting, were M. Mattei actually to acquaint himself with the provisions of UNSCR 1546, which:

[Affirm] the importance of the rule of law, national reconciliation, respect for human rights including the rights of women, fundamental freedoms, and democracy including free and fair elections ... [Call] on all Iraqis to implement these arrangements peaceably and in full, and on all States and relevant organizations to support such implementation ... [Recognize] the request conveyed in the letter of 5 June 2004 from the Prime Minister of the Interim Government of Iraq to the President of the Council, which is annexed to this resolution, to retain the presence of the multinational force ... [Welcome] the willingness of the multinational force to continue efforts to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq in support of the political transition, especially for upcoming elections...

Finally we point out that if France feels compelled to insist, that she insist on something she can affect or deliver. Apparently it has escaped France generally and M. Mattei particularly that nations that make history and shape events do more than kibitz.

[All empahses added.]

PFFT: Noise 4 | Relevance and influence 0 | Rayonnement français 0