Mario Loyola at National Review Online thinks Jack has unwittingly tricked himself into [Gasp.] taking a less benign, less Arab-friendly line on Hizballah.
TOO CLEVER FOR THEIR OWN GOOD
How Jacques Chirac And Kofi Annan
Tricked Themselves Into Helping Israel.
August 30, 2006 (NRO) - Wishing he could only finish his spa vacation in the south of France, president Jacques Chirac has had a bad couple of weeks. After shaping the ceasefire resolution and proposed stabilization force on the basis of its commitment to lead with several thousand troops, France appeared suddenly to reverse course, announcing that it would send only a token force. The outcry — across France, Europe, and the world — seemed to rush Chirac into reversing himself again: In a typically patronizing televised message to the French people, Chirac announced that France’s concerns had been satisfied, and would send 2,000 troops to Lebanon. ...It now seems clear that the outcry which nearly flattened the Elysée Palace last week was due mostly to a communications failure. The August 17 announcement of an additional 200 soldiers to the French UNIFL force was intended only as an immediate contribution to the existing operation, which is under French command. It was not meant to represent France’s contribution to the greatly enlarged UNIFL force now being negotiated among perhaps a dozen countries. Unfortunately for Chirac, he failed to explain that important fact for several days, while the government worked to figure out who was contributing what, and what exactly all these soldiers were going to do once they got to Lebanon.
[Emphases added.]
Read the rest of the article for Mr. Loyola's positive spin on the inconclusive toleration being read into UNSCR 1701. Personally we do not share Mr. Loyola's cheery analysis. If push comes to shove in Lebanon, France will quit Lebanon. The French press will not find the same glee and enthusiasm for reporting French deaths in Lebanon that it demonstrates reporting American deaths in Iraq.
PFFT (What is this?): The wages of headline diplomacy 4 | Rayonnement français 0
