The world is a complex and difficult place. Disneyland is a fun place where everyone has a fun time. The former is where adults muck about. The latter is where French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy* mentally retreats to formulate French foreign policy.

M. CLUELESS
Why Won't Hizballah Behave?

[EU] Parliament considers that clear evidence exists of terrorist activities by Hizbollah. The [EU] Council should take all necessary steps to curtail them.

EU Parliament,
blacklisting Hizballah as a terrorist enterprise
March 11, 2005 (FDD/Lebanon Wire)

This is a time for action not for such classifications.

Philippe Douste-Blazy,
refusing to name Hizballah a terrorist enterprise
PARIS August 3, 2006 (EJP)

M. Douste-Blazy's empty statement signals an empty UN resolution in the works. [Several anxious headlines later.] Sure enough.

DOUSTE-BLAZY: NO DISARMING HEZBOLLAH, WE INSIST

August 13, 2006 (Trans-Int) - In an interview that appears in the Sunday-Monday (13-14 August) edition of Le Monde, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy elucidates the two key points upon which France insisted in negotiations over UN Resolution 1701 on the situation in Lebanon.

The first is that no one talks anymore of a multinational force since the Lebanese Army has decided to deploy 15,000 men in southern Lebanon. That is an important political point. And then no one talks anymore of a force that will be given an offensive mandate to disarm Hezbollah. These are two new elements. They were the red lines for us.

By his first point, Douste-Blazy presumably means to refer to a new multinational force to replace the existing UN force, the UNIFIL. Further on in the interview, Douste-Blazy adds:

We are in agreement about the objective: the disarmament [of Hezbollah], but for us the means are purely political. That is a French specificity.

[Hat tip: Hervé]

By "purely political" means M. le Ministre means to add plenty of pretty-pleases to France's half-hearted begs for Hizballah to disarm. That Hizballah never complied with UNSCR 1559 might have given M. Douste-Blazy the teensiest clue that Hizballah does not intend to willingly disarm.

Diplomats and journalists often ask what would become of Hezbollah if the Lebanese territory were entirely liberated and all the prisoners returned. ... To give an answer would serve only the Israeli interests, and for this reason it is better to leave the question unanswered.

Shaykh Na'im Qasim,
deputy secretary general of Hizbullah since 1991
and founding member of the party
Hezbollah, The Story From Within, 2005

Then again, maybe France is blowing smoke up our bum.

We appeal to the whole of Europe to support the Al-Sanyurah plan. Iran supports it. France, Lebanon, and Iran are converging in this crisis. France must not allow Israel to destroy our country. France is a friend of Lebanon, but for the past decade it has also been a friend of Hezbollah. The Shi'i community is increasingly Francophone. In 2004 France evacuated from Cote d'Ivoire Hezbollah sympathizers holding French passports. France can now regain a driving role in the Middle East.

... As for Hezbollah's disarmament, it depends on what national defence strategy is chosen after the war, once all the political groupings resume the national dialogue.

Trad Hamadah,
Hizballah spokesman and Lebanese Minister of Labor
BEIRUT August 3, 2006 (Figaro)

Which is to say, nuts to UNSCR 1559. And UNSCR 1701 too for that matter.

* The dimmest bulb in the dark Chirac marquee™.

PFFT (What is this?): Clueless 5 | Doing Hizballah's bidding 5 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

MAIS ALORS pourquoi donc l 'arrogante Amérique a-t-elle eu le besoin de s' associer à la France dans cette affaire du Liban ?
N' est-ce pas AVOUER le cinglant échec de la politique US au Proche-Orient ?

Good luck , dear Milton , to your country In Iraq !!!!!!!!!