I am never in favor of sanctions.
Jack,
coddling Iran
UNITED NATIONS September 19, 2006 (LAT)
FRANCE WANTS QUICK U.N. SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREA
PARIS October 10, 2006 (IHT/AP) - France wants a quick U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea over its apparent nuclear test, the French foreign minister said Tuesday.
"As we speak the Security Council is preparing a resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea," Philippe Douste-Blazy* said in a question-and-answer session in parliament.
"These are sanctions that involve notably the ballistic missile program and also the program of weapons of mass destruction," he added, without elaborating.
"We hope that this resolution is adopted as quickly as possible," he said. "We have an obligation to react."
The Security Council quickly began weighing a U.S. draft resolution to impose potentially crippling sanctions on North Korea...
Consider this scramble a preview of Iran's imminent nuclear announcement, wherein M. Douste-Blazy -- incapable of grasping the obvious, incapable of the faintest foresight -- will invoke France's solemn obligation to react.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei** said any sanctions would be aimed at persuading North Korea to return to the negotiating table.
"Dialogue is always possible," he told a news conference Tuesday
Whether France favors sanctions or doesn't appears to be a function of what's in it for France. Too bad for impoverished Pyongyang that it has nothing France wants.
* The dimmest bulb in the dark Chirac marquee™.
** Just who is M. Mattei? We occasionally like to resurrect M. Mattei from the obscurity of his current assignment. See footnote here.
[This footnote is in error, mistaking Jean-Baptiste Mattéi, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, with Jean-François Mattéi, the former health minister during the French heat deaths crisis of 2003. Pave apologizes for the error.]
PFFT (What is this?): Breathtaking policy transformation 4 | Rayonnement français 0
