Baisez Sarkozy

About the same height as Vlad Paranoid - with an ego to match - the little fellow leading Fwance has gone from being rather respectable to becoming a parody of himself.

Sarkozy opposes Nato taking control of Libya operation
Dissent from Germany, Turkey and Norway leaves question marks over command structure

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has opposed handing over control of the military operation in Libya to Nato, saying the move would send the wrong message to Arab nations.

At a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, Nato's decision-making committee on Monday, the French representative reportedly stormed out after being accused of hindering Nato's involvement in the campaign. France had flatly refused to agree to the proposal, which was later agreed by a majority of member countries.

My, my, my, shouldn't we be more observant of Fwench sensitivities?

The German representative is also reported to have left the meeting after his country was criticised for not wanting to get involved.

Shit howdy, getting 'em to Afghanistan is still a shock; Germany becoming involved with Libya would be mind-blowing.

Turkey, angered that the French president had failed to invite it to Saturday's summit in Paris, refused to give carte blanche for a no-fly zone over Libya.

You're an absolute fucking genius, Sarko.

Western diplomats say Sarkozy angered Britain and the US by announcing French planes were already in the air and ready to attack Libya before many of his allies had even left Saturday's meeting to decide on military action, and before informing his partners.

Afterwards, the French president - who will be seeking re-election next year - was congratulating himself for what the French called his "diplomatic blitzkrieg" in pushing through UN resolution 1973 authorising the offensive against Muammar Gaddafi.

However, after Monday's meeting, Norway said it was "suspending' participation of its F-16 fighter jets, which had already arrived in Italy before flying on to Crete, until it had "a clarification of the command [structure]".

Germany and Turkey do not want Nato to carry on the bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces; Luxembourg, present at Saturday's summit, has said it will only take part if the operation is Nato-led; Italy is "reflecting on the use of its bases" for the operation.

BarryO is looking to handoff leadership of Operation Daffy Gaddafi^© "in a matter of days, not weeks".

Sarko is all but saying that he's the new leader of the Free World. Have at it, fucker. Just don't cry for help from NATO (or anyone else) should you wake up and see Gaddafi's flag flying atop the Eiffel Tower.

Read it all at The Guardian

Perks of the Job

Politicians checking out the backsides of the ladies seems to be a growing phenomenon.

Newly minted British PM David Cameron has "great respect" for French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- and apparently even more admiration for Sarkozy's finest asset: wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

After a meeting between the two heads of state in London yesterday, Cameron and Sarkozy were joined by their wives outside the British leader's home at 10 Downing St.

Cameron -- with his pregnant wife, Samantha, standing nearby -- gave Bruni's behind an approving once-over.

The Sarkozys were in London for the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gualle's radio broadcast that urged his countrymen to resist the Nazis.

They resisted the Nazis, but they can't resist checking out some butts, that's for sure.

Sarkozy and Bruni Both Having Affairs?

Well, this is France we're talking about. And this is the female politician Nicolas Sarkozy is allegedly linked to.

Suchablog.com has published posts saying that Carla Bruni fell in love with the French singer Benjamin Biolay, who just won the award for best male singer and best album of the year at the prestigious "Victoires de la musique."

Bruni and Biolay have reportedly been friends for many years. And according to suchablog.com, Bruni and Biolay already live together. The same blog, which brands itself as a web magazine, also says that president Sarkozy has found "comfort in the arms" of right-wing politician Chantal Jouanno - a 40-year-old cabinet member in charge of the environment as well as a karate champion.

But the French establishment media is legendarily indifferent when it comes to covering the private affairs of their elected leaders. So there has been no questioning of the president about all this. The way the possible scandal has slowly emerged in France stands in stark contrast to how it would be covered in the tabloid culture of the American media, according to observers here.

This hyperactive, American-friendly president and this French-Italian former model and singer have always been flamboyant and always prompted all kinds of speculations and rumors, including that Sarkozy was begging his former wife Cecilia to get back together, to rumors of a Sarkozy-Bruni baby. But now the rumor mill is working overtime in France, and a lot of it is ending up online.

Other websites to run the rumor include the well-known blog Le Post, Yahoo News France and Agoravoxtv.

For now mainstream media haven't published the rumors, which bloggers said are more likely to become public after the March 21 regional elections in France.

On television, only the news channel i-tele has suggested that Sarkozy and Jouanno, and Bruni and Biolay, are close. An i-tele presenter said on the air that Bruni was the first to congratulate Biolay for his awards, and wondered whether Sarkozy had had the time to congratulate minister Jouanno on her recent karate win.

Like the French media, ours is also indifferent to politicians having affairs (see Edwards, John). Well, if they're Democrats, that is. Republicans, of course, are held to much higher standards.

I went to check out suchablog.com and got as far as this link before I was completely distracted, for obvious reasons.

Obama's Waning Influence

With Obama dithering on a number of issues, some have become rather tired of his mindless platitudes and meaningless calls to hit the 'reset button'. Fed up with the foolishness, many have opted for change.

Sarkozy Outshines Obama as King of MidEast Mediation

For decades the cafés, classrooms and mosques of the Middle East have discussed American intervention in the region.

Eight years of American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a subsequent promise by U.S. President Barack Obama to turn a new page in American relations with the Muslim world have only heightened the United States' role in the Middle East.

But in the battle fields outside Kabul, the mosques of Tehran and Damascus and the halls of power in Jerusalem, people are discussing an entirely different international player: Sarkozy.

In what has been termed "diplomatic activism", in the two years since he assumed the French presidency Sarkozy has launched a ‘Union for the Mediterranean’, pushed France to the forefront of international mediation in Syria, taken Europe's most aggressive stance towards Iran, made friends with Israel, officially joined NATO in Afghanistan, and most recently flown to Saudi Arabia to convince the royals to support a Middle East peace conference in Paris.

Sarkozy's saunter into Middle Eastern diplomacy is seen by the region's pundits and politicians alike in stark contrast to the approach of the U.S. president, who after almost a year in office has made a brief stopover in Riyadh and a grandiose speech in Cairo.

"This is all a sort of French diplomatic activism which the president of France believes will give him international clout," Shlomo Aronson, professor of politics at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, told The Media Line. "He also has a large Muslim minority in France, so he is showing his activism and refusal to sit on his hands."

Aronson argued that in an effort to play the peacemaking statesman role, Sarkozy has been aggressively seeking a sea change in France’s relations with the Arab world, particularly Syria.

"Going all the way back to general Charles de Gaulle himself, who gave up the Israeli-French alliance after the Six Day War, previous French presidents have habitually supported the Arab position," Aronson claimed. "Sarkozy is trying to make the role of France more explicit and active, developing pretty friendly relations with whomever is in charge in Israel and trying to use France's historic relations with Syria to mediate between Israel and Syria."

"France is less moved by dependence on Arab oil than other European countries, such as the Scandinavian countries, Spain and Greece," he said. "So Mr. Sarkozy could be helpful in trying to show to the Syrians that something could be done in regard to the Golan Heights, and that Mr. Netanyahu is seriously considering it."

"The French role in Iran is also interesting," Aronson added. "They are repeating again and again that should the international community, meaning the UN Security Council, be unable to restrain Iran's nuclear ambitions, Israel will strike militarily. This gives credence to the Israeli threat, which remains on the table. In other words the French are voicing the Israeli military threat much more vigorously than other European states, such as Germany, which have much more economic interests in Iran."

Hossein Bastani, Paris-based editor of Rooz, a leading Iranian journal, argued that the most dramatic change of tack since Sarkozy became president has been seen in France's relations with Iran.

"The approach of the French government towards Iran totally changed after Sarkozy became president," he told The Media Line. "Sarkozy is seen in Iran as more pro-Israel and more severe in his criticism of Iran than, say, President Chirac was."

"France's reaction to what took place in Iran following the elections was also very harsh," Bastani said. "So the Iranian authorities are not happy with France at all. Sarkozy's positions on Iran are not only more severe than other European leaders, but indeed he is seen by the Iranian authorities as having a position even more antagonistic than the United States."

Bastani argued that Iran's response to 'Sarkozyism' was to try sideline France in the country's political discourse.

"France is clearly important, but Iranian pundits try to ignore the positions of countries like France and the government, quite willing to cut a deal with the United States, which depicts France as a non-key player in the negotiations."

Alex Jackson, Policy Analyst and Afghanistan expert at the Paris-based International Council on Security and Development, said that while France does not have much material influence on the ground, Sarkozy has also dramatically changed the country's symbolic role in international military alliances.

"We're seeing a lot more active and engaged French involvement in Afghanistan and a willingness to move beyond the Iraq war," he told The Media Line. "France has always been a more distant participant in NATO than other European states, but earlier this year France formally rejoined NATO and is now formally fighting under a NATO flag in Afghanistan. So while it may not make much of a difference on the ground, it's symbolically quite important."

"A lot of this is personal and reflects Sarkozy's personality and political convictions," Jackson said. "In many ways he's broken with the old model. He believes that France's future lies not just in ties within Europe but in becoming a significant player on the world stage. So he's basically trying to engage with everyone."

Benjamin Joffe-Walt

Via The Media Line

H/T: Esther IslamInEurope blog

Sarkozy's Fond Remembrance of the Fall of Berlin Wall

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has fond remembrances of the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. He even posted a photo of himself at the wall on Facebook.

Just one minor problem. He allegedly wasn't there.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of reinventing history after he posted on Facebook a photo that he claimed showed him chipping away at the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

The photo, posted on Sunday, shows a younger Sarkozy taking what appears to be a small pickax to the graffiti-covered wall on the day it fell 20 years ago.

The problem is that official council records show that Sarkozy, then the mayor of Neuilly, was in Paris that night celebrating the anniversary of Charles de Gaulle.

The earliest he could have arrived in Berlin was November 11.

Yet in a text accompanying the photo, Sarkozy said he arrived in West Berlin on the morning of the 9th and then crossed Checkpoint Charlie to the East, where he chipped at the wall.

'The night continued amid general enthusiasm,' the posting read. 'The reunion of the German people signaled the end of the Cold War and the start of a period of great liberty in Europe.'

In 1989, Sarkozy was 34 and a top official in France's conservative RPR party.
As such, his movements were already being well-documented - a fact which appears to have escaped his memory.

Even without the council records, critics have attacked his story as dubious.

For a start his claim that he ‘decided to leave Paris’ on the morning of November 9th 1989 because he wanted ‘to take part in the event which was looming’ sounded unlikely.

Journalist Alain Aufray, of Liberation newspaper, said : ‘Nobody in Paris, not even in Berlin, could tell that the Wall was going to fall...

‘Radios and televisions in West Germany had began to describe what was happening at 8pm... It was not until 11pm that Berliners in the west began to gather infront of the border.’

He might want to consider updating his Facebook post before he looks even more ridiculous.

Sarkozy’s account was made to look even more ridiculous when Alain Juppe admitted during a radio programme at the weekend that he was actually in Berlin on November 11th, rather than the 9th.

Despite this, an Elysee Palace spokesman said the President stood by every word of his account, including the fact that he travelled to Berlin at the last minute.
The spokesman said: ‘What he said was strictly the truth. Nicolas Sarkozy doesn’t say the Wall was going to fall, he only says there was information about a change in Berlin.’

Many remained unconvinced, however, with Twitter postings saying the President was trying to portray himself as ‘Super hero Sarko’.

One suggested that Sarkozy believed he had ‘filmed Neil Armstrong on the moon’, while another said he was ‘probably in the stable at Nazareth on December 25th.’

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Dangerously Naive: Obama Wants 'Serious, Meaningful Dialogue' With Iran

I see dumb people

The mind boggles at how naive this guy is. OK, well if he's not naive then he's downright reckless and dangerous. You cannot have serious dialogue with madmen. Is that too complex a notion to understand?

President Barack Obama is offering Iran "a serious, meaningful dialogue" over its disputed nuclear program, while warning Tehran of grave consequences from a united global front.

"Iran's leaders must now choose — they can live up to their responsibilities and achieve integration with the community of nations. Or they will face increased pressure and isolation, and deny opportunity to their own people," Obama said in his radio and Internet address Saturday.

Hours later, Iran's nuclear chief told state TV that his country would allow the U.N. nuclear agency to inspect Iran's newly revealed and still unfinished uranium enrichment facility. Ali Akbar Salehi didn't specify when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency could visit. He said the timing would be worked out with the U.N. watchdog.

Obama said in his address that evidence of Iran's building the underground plant "continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion" that jeopardizes global nonproliferation.

At least someone in Congress see how futile this dialogue nonsense is.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the No. 2 Republican in the House, said Iran is a "real-time security threat to the United States, Israel and our allies around the world."

He said the nuke discovery "leaves little doubt that terrorist nations are not to be trusted or negotiated with diplomatically."

It might be time for Plan B, Bammy.

From the start, the president has been adamant about coddling Iran's head thug, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and pursuing diplomatic talks.

Even after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the second site yesterday, Obama pledged his commitment to "meaningful engagement" and "dialogue." (Heads up: A mushroom cloud is a powerful bargaining chip.)

When Ahmadinejad stole re-election and violently crushed dissidents, Obama sat on his hands.

When the prez decided to scrap a US missile shield in Eastern Europe, aimed at defeating possible nuke-tipped Iranian missiles, he cited intelligence showing the Iranian nuclear threat wasn't as grave as thought.

(How, exactly, does that square with news of Iran's secret enrichment site?)

And this week, after the UN Security Council adopted an anti-nuclear-proliferation "resolution" that left out any mention of Iran, it took French President Nicolas Sarkozy to express shock: "How," he asked "could we justify meeting without tackling" Iran's nukes?

Now, in light of yesterday's revelation, Obama's nine-month course seems almost suicidal. Surely this second site means Iran is closer to having a bomb than most knew.

That it's on a military base makes it harder for Iran to claim it's for peaceful purposes -- and perhaps tougher to take out by force, if need be.

And the secrecy around it proves that Iran won't ever "talk" honestly with the "international community."

Let's face it: Negotiating isn't likely to work. Obama needs a Plan B. Pronto.

'We Reminded This Woman That One Should Not Bathe All Dressed...

Oh, those mean old French, just begging for scorn from the Intolerance Police.

A Muslim woman who tried to go swimming in a head-to-toe "burquini" has been banned from her local pool in the latest tussle between religious practices and secular authority in France.

Officials on Wednesday insisted they banned the woman's use of the Islam-friendly swimsuit because of France's unusually strict hygiene standards in pools — not because of official hostility to wearing overtly Muslim garb.

Under the policy, swimmers are prevented from wearing any street-compatible or baggy clothing, such as Bermuda shorts, in favor of figure-hugging suits.

The woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in her burquini in the Paris suburb of Emerainville.

She was quoted as telling the daily Le Parisien newspaper that she had bought the burquini after deciding "it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends."

"For me this is nothing but segregation," she added.

The issue of religious attire is a hot topic in France, where head-to-toe burqas or other full-body coverings worn by Muslim fundamentalists are in official disfavor.

French lawmakers recently proposed a ban on the burqa and other voluminous Muslim attire. President Nicolas Sarkozy backs the move, saying such clothing makes women prisoners.

But Daniel Guillaume, a regional official in charge of swimming pools, said Carole's poolside rebuff had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with public health standards.

He said swimmers throughout France must wear special clothes to the pool, whereas a burquini could be worn all day long, collecting everything from food spills to sweat along the way.

"These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers," Guillaume said in a telephone interview.

"We reminded this woman that one should not bathe all dressed, just as we would tell someone who is a nudist not to bathe all naked," he said.

Such common sense, usually on rare display.

Props to the French for this brief respite of sanity.

Tailgate Fallout: 'That Photograph Has Ruined My Whole Family'

More fallout from the butt shot heard around the world.

The Secret Service might want to put a new threat on its watch list: the mad-as-hell mama of the 17-year-old Brazilian beauty ogled by President Obama and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy at the G8 summit last week.

"If I were there, I would have boxed their ears," said Lucia Rodrigues, 37. "They should be ashamed of themselves."

Patriarch Eduardo Tavares, after finally getting around to seeing the famous photo of his daughter from behind, quickly changed his tune from proud papa to furious father.

"My daughter is not a model and she is not a sex symbol," he told The Post. "That photograph has ruined my whole family."

At the Italy summit last week, daughter Mayara Rodrigues Tavares, her long locks flowing over her curvaceous frame, became the momentary focus of the leering leaders as she took her place for an official group photo.

In all their grief, there at least is a silver lining.

And dad found some solace in the episode. "Thank God that [Italian playboy Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi was nowhere near her," he said.

Ouch.

Bammy's Booty Call

Barack Obama's supermodel wife was unavailable for comment. He better watch out before she goes Kazemi on him.

Baby got Barack!

The leader of the free world and his French counterpart were caught sneaking a peek at a the pink-satin-draped booty of a 17-year-old junior G-8 delegate just moments before the summit's official group photo was snapped in Italy yesterday.

Obama wasn't the only head of state getting Yankee Doodle randy.

The president got a show of support for his stimulus package from French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose wandering eyes also couldn't help but take in the view.

The beauty who prompted the president to channel his inner Bill Clinton was identified as Rio de Janeiro resident Mayara Tavares. The girl from Ipanema had been selected to attend a meeting of young people held in conjunction with the summit.

'We Cannot Accept To Have In Our Country Women Who Are Prisoners Behind Netting'

Oh my. Nicolas Sarkozy better watch out or someone will call him a right-wing extremist.

In comments which will reignite the debate about religious clothing in the country, he said the full-body garment was "not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience".

Mr Sarkozy used the first presidential address to a joint session of France's two houses of parliament in 136 years to declare his support for a ban, even before hearing from a parliamentary commission set up to study the issue.

"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told the special session in Versailles.

"That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity.

"The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic," the French president said.

A group of 58 MPs from the Left and Right has called on Parliament to take action against women adopting what they called oppressive head-to-toe Islamic dress that "breaches individual freedoms".

André Gerin, a Communist MP, led the motion for the latest inquiry, calling the burqa and niqab "a moving prison" for women.

Women's rights campaigners, including some Islamic groups, have backed the calls for measures to curb the small but growing trend of wearing burqas among France's five million Muslims.

Fadela Amara, a rights campaigner of Algerian background, who is the Housing Minister, said that was alarmed by the number of women "who are being put in this kind of tomb".

She added: "We must do everything to stop burqas from spreading."

Naturally, the Ice Cream Man has no problem with these moving prisons.

President Barack Obama attacked European laws on religious clothing in a speech in Cairo last week in which he said that the United States prized freedom of religion and would not "tell people what to wear".

Mr Sarkozy responded by telling Mr Obama in Normandy earlier this month that French principles of equality meant that people should not display religious affiliation in state institutions.

I never thought I'd see the day when I had more respect for the president of France than I do for the President of the United States.

Geez, even a Communist MP is on the right side of the issue. Yet Obama, who wants to dictate every aspect of our lives, has no problem apparently with women being kept subservient.

Wizard of Uhhhs Discusses North Korea Without TOTUS

A remarkably clueless Barack Obama discusses the situation in North Korea without the aid of any visual devices. You can sense Nicolas Sarkozy is ashamed to be in the same room with him. I'm wondering if Obama could find North Korea on a map after this dreadful performance.

H/T Seafood Gumbo.

Sarkozy Succumbs to Hopenchange

Looks like the Obama charm offensive has reduced Nicolas Sarkozy into a blubbering French version of Chris Matthews. Well, at least that's Jake Tapper's translation, and he admits his French sucks.

We'll get the official translation in a bit, but the read-out of what President Sarkozy said at his joint press-availability with President Obama was positively gushing.

Mr. Sarkozy, according to the initial and unofficial translation, was effusive in his praise for Mr. Obama and his "open-mindedness," saying Mr. Obama "wants to build a new world," and that at the G-20 economic conference the U.S. President "shouldered the burden."
...
"I feel very good to be with President Obama," Sarkozy said. "It's a hell of a piece of good news for 2009."

Meanwhile, Obama continues to trash America.

At a town hall meeting here before a mix of French and German citizens, President Obama just discussed how the US has shown "arrogance" towards Europe and been "dismissive" and "derisive."

He's accusing people of being arrogant? Look in the mirror, pal.

When A Fwenchman Speaks

Sarkozy jibes leave Czechs furious
French President Nicolas Sarkozy angered the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, and drew a frosty response from Britain on Friday over disparaging comments about two key European partners.

Sarkozy, who already ruffled feathers last month by conducting a rival Middle East mission to a Czech-led EU one, caused offence this time by telling French car firms to locate plants at home rather than countries like the Czech Republic.

And his jibe about British tax measures to combat the financial crisis achieving "absolutely nothing" struck a nerve that has had British officials privately fuming.

The Czech Chamber of Commerce accused Sarkozy of encouraging protectionism and undermining the European Union's foundations with his call on Thursday for French car firms to return home.

"By this statement, the French president gave an indirect signal for the deconstruction of the European Union," the organisation said in a statement.

Sarkozy, seeking to reassure French workers about the government's response to the economic crisis, had said he expected French carmakers benefiting from state aid to keep production at home.

"Setting up a Renault factory in India to sell Renaults to Indians is justified," he said. "But when a manufacturer, I won't say any names, sets up a factory in the Czech Republic to sell cars to French people, that's unjustified."

Maybe those manufacturers consider impromptu strikes whenever some Fwenchie feels offended as something that's unjustifed and have moved to where there's a workforce that's dependable.

Sarkozy gave no details, but PSA Peugeot-Citroen has a joint plant with Toyota in the Czech Republic, making small passenger cars.

Read it all at Reuters

Shocker: Time Names The Messiah 'Person of the Year'

In an unexpected move, they've announced he'll be Person of the Year, Person of the Decade, Person of the Century, Person of the Millenium and Person Who Can Forever Walk on Water.

In a surprise to no one, Time magazine named President-elect Barack Obama its "Person of the Year" for 2008.

The magazine said Obama "has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago."

The runners-up for the annual award were Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson; French president Nicolas Sarkozy; Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; and the Chinese film director, Zhang Yimou, who orchestrated the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Sticking It To Sarkozy

Somehow I doubt we'll ever see such laws in this country, but who knows, before long it may be illegal to criticize The Messiah.

A French appeals court says Voodoo dolls of President Nicolas Sarkozy may remain on sale, but must carry a notice saying that pricking them harms the president's dignity.

Sarkozy's attorney had asked that the dolls be withdrawn from sale, saying the president like any French person — owns the right to his own image.

The appeals court backed an earlier ruling allowing the dolls to stay on the market in the name of freedom of expression.

But it ordered the doll's marketer, publishing house K&B Editions, to add a warning that using the needles which come with the kits "constitutes an attack on the personal dignity of Mr. Sarkozy."

The European Union: Russia's Enabler?

Has the EU allowed Russia to get away with breaching international law?

After The Georgian Crisis, The Breaking Of Europe
The European Union is in danger of becoming the greatest long-term casualty of the Russian-Georgian conflict.

The EU's foreign policy apparatus has been exposed as ineffectual, its minor diplomatic victories as nothing more than window-dressing covering up major strategic reverses. The bloc's vision of peaceful integration through democratic and economic reforms, which enabled it to transform the eastern half of the continent over the past decade, now has a serious question mark hanging over it. August 8 -- the day Russian troops entered Georgia -- was in a sense Europe's 9/11, regardless of parallel claims for Russia made by President Dmitry Medvedev.

Alternatively, as Timothy Garton Ash predicts in "The Guardian" of September 11, 8/8 may become shorthand for a very low point in the history of the "liberal international order." Garton Ash's liberal world order has, of course, been inextricably intertwined with the rise of the EU as a global actor. Little changed in Russia itself on 8/8, but for Europe, "reality changed," as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner put it on September 6 after crisis talks in Avignon with his EU counterparts.

In the wake of 8/8, the EU's illusions of emancipation have been rudely shattered and the bloc's capabilities found desperately wanting. U.S. security guarantees remain a "vital national interest" for all European countries, one of the EU's preeminent foreign-policy strategists, Robert Cooper, concluded in a recent interview with RFE/RL.

Quite plainly, the EU lacks adequate mechanisms for coping with this kind of crisis. In its efforts to be taken seriously by Russia, it has failed to come up with a realistic strategy to counter Moscow's aggression.

The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy has turned out to be a institutional fiction. Instead, the EU has had to resort to emergency meetings and ad hoc diplomacy. There was no place, for example, for the bloc's foreign-policy chief, Javier Solana, at the side of French President Nicolas Sarkozy when the latter traveled to Moscow on August 12 as the head of the country that currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Worse, the EU is nearly paralyzed by a fragmentation of the will, a condition which was in ample evidence at the EU-Ukraine summit in Paris on September 9. On that occasion, in a feat of extreme verbal contortionism, the EU promised Ukraine everything but a guaranteed prospect of membership. Most EU member states fear Ukraine may already face a real threat from Russia, yet the bloc's strategic interests were nowhere in sight at the ambassadorial meetings in Brussels preceding the summit, where the Netherlands and other member states [Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg blocked any suggestions of future EU expansion into post-Soviet territory. Ed.] skeptical of enlargement argued that giving Ukraine a binding pledge of membership would be too unpopular back home.

Of course it would be unpopular. The defense of strategic interests would require increasing the percentage of GDP to their respective defense budgets. And that might have to come at the expense of the ever-precious social benefits.

Neither has the EU done anything to match the U.S. diplomatic "surge" in which top State Department officials have visited Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, not to mention Georgia. Again, the bloc's 27 member states have conspicuously failed to marshal the requisite collective resolve.

True, the EU has had some success in mediating an end to the conflict itself. On September 8, Sarkozy returned from a second foray to Moscow with a promise of a phased withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia following the deployment of 200 EU civilian monitors.

The EU has, in fact, been the only outside mediator. Its successes, however, remain questionable. Thus, it is arguable that the EU has in effect allowed Russia to get away with a gross breach of international law and cement its de facto annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The price of Russian withdrawal for Georgia has been the increasing Russian entrenchment in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. EU officials admit privately that Russia is using its checkpoints in Georgia as a disposable bargaining chip in exchange for more permanent gains in the breakaway provinces.

The EU has also allowed itself to become entangled in seemingly endless disputes with Russia over the small print in the terms it has managed to extract, enabling Moscow to play for time and sow confusion. In the latest installment, Russia now says it never promised to pull its troops out of "independent" South Ossetia or Abkhazia, or to allow EU observers into those provinces.

Nicolas Sarkozy went on record on September 8 as saying all Russian troops must withdraw by October 15 to where they were stationed prior to August 8. As this is unlikely to happen, the EU has simply prepared the ground for another standoff next month -- something for which Russia appears to have an insatiable appetite.

And to which the EU will respond with a demand . . . for more dialogue.

Meanwhile, South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's secession has become a fait accompli and a dangerous precedent for Russia's other neighbors, some of them EU member states who take that threat very seriously. Even though Finland has traditionally been difficult to alarm, its president, Tarja Halonen, went on record as telling the French daily "Le Monde" of September 11 that "we cannot rule out a military conflict in our region." She also pointedly observed to "Helsingin Sanomat" on August 27 that "Finland is one of the few countries in Europe capable of defending itself militarily."

The scheduled talks in Geneva on October 15 on security and stability in South Ossetia and Abkhazia are likely to become a further bone of contention. Moscow insists that representatives from both republics should attend those talks as equal participants, while the EU has said that cannot be allowed.

The EU is quite simply out of its depth in this crisis and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. There can be little better demonstration of this than the fact -- as an EU diplomat told RFE/RL -- that the delegation led by Sarkozy felt compelled to ask Medvedev on September 8 whether Russia is planning to unilaterally redraw the borders of any other neighboring countries. The Russian response was to deny any such intention and to affirm that "Russia is not the Soviet Union."

Édouard Daladier was unavailable for comment.

Via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Europe's Dueling Egos

The EU Trade Chief and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are at odds.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of undermining him and Europe's position at world trade talks.

He spoke after Mr Sarkozy accused him of trying to force a trade deal on the EU that would destroy European jobs.

Mr Sarkozy's comments came just days after he said Mr Mandelson had been a factor in Ireland's referendum rejection of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

So what did Sarkozy say?

Mr Mandelson told the BBC's Newsnight programme he was "mystified" that the French president had blamed him over the Irish 'no' vote.

"I am being undermined and Europe's negotiating position in the world trade talks is being weakened and I regret that," he said.

Well, having been in Ireland for several weeks preceding the Lisbon Treaty vote, I think that Sarkozy has a point and Mr. Mandelson needs to back up a bit. As I was touring Ireland I repeatedly was told by the locals about how the EU was imposing restrictions on what they could grow and produce, costing the Irish jobs.

I will always remember the look in one man's face as he pointed to a now shuttered sugar beet processing plant that used to employee 2,000 locals, saying that it was closed by the EU to prevent competition. I heard similar stories at many other locations around Ireland.

I was completely unsurprised that the Lisbon Treaty was voted down. This no vote was especially significant cause the government had put out a major effort to lobby for yes votes. Almost every local news broadcast I saw included an appearance by some government official campaigning for the Treaty to be passed. You could hardly drive down a street without seeing "vote yes" signs like burma shave signs every where you looked.

So Mr. Mandelson might want to shut his yap and go look in the mirror if he wants to know why the Lisbon Treaty ended. A large part of it was distrust of the EU due to economically damaging restrictions imposed on Ireland.

I predict that the EU will adopt the EU treaty in safe, supportive country's and then give Ireland an ultimatum to reconsider their vote or get out of the EU. I think I know how the average Irish resident would respond to such an ultimatum.

Which just one of many reasons is why I still expect that the EU will one day split apart. It's not a matter of if to me, just a matter of when.

'African' Youths Brutally Beat Jewish Teen in Paris

I'll go out on a limb and suggest these 'African' youths are practitioners of Islam.

Just a wild guess.

A 17-year-old French Jew was attacked on Saturday night in Paris, a violent assault condemned by President Nicolas Sarkozy and that Jewish organizations said was motivated by anti-Semitism.

The young man, identified as Rudy Haddad by one Jewish organization, was attacked by youths of African origin, according to a police source and a statement from the National Agency of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism.

The agency cited the use of iron bars in the attack. Haddad is suffering from "serious neurological problems," a police source said.

Another Jewish group, the Union of French Jewish Students, said Haddad had been identified as Jewish because he was wearing a kippa (skull cap), and had suffered several broken ribs, a fractured skull and was now in intensive care at a hospital in central Paris.

"The victim was wearing a kippa and was on his way back home, when his attackers, after identifying him as Jewish, started to beat him," the union said.

The exact number of attackers was not immediately known, ranging from 6 or 7 up to 30, depending on sources. Haddad's father told French radio RTL there were around 15 attackers.

Update: Much more from Carl in Jerusalem.

Euroweenies In Panic Mode

Sarkozy warning on EU expansion
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the European Union will not be able to expand further without ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

An EU summit in Brussels has exposed divisions over how to proceed with the reform treaty - which was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum last week.

A decision on what to do next is expected to be postponed until October.

The leaders are now expected to discuss Zimbabwe. A draft statement threatens increasing EU sanctions on the country.

Wrong signal

Mr Sarkozy's comments about EU expansion came after clear divisions emerged over the future of the treaty and the meeting decided that the Irish should report back in October on possible ways out of the impasse.

"Without the Treaty of Lisbon there won't be any enlargement," he said.

"You can't say no to reforms and yes to enlargement."

The BBC's Jonny Dymond says one diplomat described Mr Sarkozy's comments as a threat - and the wrong signal to send to the Irish people - and those of Croatia and Turkey, who hope to join the 27-member bloc.

Mr Sarkozy did add that he would travel to Ireland when France takes over the rotating EU presidency in July to help find a solution.

The treaty must be ratified by all member states to take effect. Nineteen have approved it so far, the latest of which was the UK, where it passed through parliament on Wednesday.

Czech brakes

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged respect for the Irish "No" vote but said he was confident all the countries would complete the ratification process. He ruled out renegotiating the reform treaty.

"When a treaty is signed by 27 governments it's not just for fun," he said. "It's inconceivable that a government signs a treaty without the intention of ratifying it. It's a principle of international law."

And it's a principle of Euroean Union conventions that all member states must ratify a constitution treaty. Big difference, asshat. In a free, fair and transparent election, the people of Ireland said NO to the European Constitution Treaty of Lisbon. Get it?

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country is the current holder of the EU presidency, said enlargement should not be a victim of the delay in ratifying the treaty.

"I believe we'll find a way out of the situation before any candidate country is ready for a decision on accession to be taken in the EU," he said. "I don't think the commission wants to slow down the process."

In effect telling Sarkozy to go . . . himself.

Germany rejected the idea of moving ahead on Lisbon without Ireland, which won strong Czech backing at the summit.

Our correspondent says concern is swirling around the intentions of the Czech government.

Pressed on whether he intended to ratify the treaty, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that he was not going to put the brakes on to halt ratification.

But he added he would not bet 100 crowns (£3; $6) on a "Yes" from parliament.

[....]

Read the rest at The BBC

Talking Down The NATO Summit

Take some European pacifism, add some aversion to the concept of national defense; stir well.

Now add some BDS . . . .

Europe Waits Out the Bush Administration
[....]

'Foundation of the Alliance'

Beginning this Wednesday, leaders of NATO states will meet in the Romanian capital Bucharest, where they will air differences that, in the assessment of the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, have long torn at the very "foundation of the alliance."

The agenda includes Afghanistan, a perpetual bone of contention, the expansion of the alliance eastward and the controversial plans for an American missile defense system. NATO is deeply divided on most issues. It appears former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was right after all, when he divided the continent into an "old" Western and a "new" Eastern Europe.

The Eastern Europeans valiantly defend American positions, while Western allies have long since written off US President George W. Bush, for whom the Bucharest NATO summit will be his last. "The Europeans are in a wait-and-see mood," says Stephen Larrabee of the Rand Corporation, an influential American think tank. "They want to wait out the Bush administration."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, of all people, stands at the head of those seeking to slow down NATO's plans. If Bush has his way, the alliance will be expanded to include more than just Croatia, Albania and Macedonia. A "membership action plan" has even been put in place to facilitate rapid entry into the alliance for Ukraine and Georgia.

Another Sensitive Project

Secretary General Scheffer and the Eastern Europeans support the plan, which has encountered bitter resistance in Moscow. "No Russian president can ever accept the NATO membership of Ukraine," says current President Vladimir Putin. Merkel supports his position, although for different official reasons.

As in not wanting to offend Vladimir Paranoid, Angie?

"Many Western European partners agree completely," said German defense expert and Green Party member Alexander Bonde after a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Bonde is convinced that they are hiding behind the Germans and are "confident that Ms. Merkel will remain resolute."

The Germans are also expected to try to delay another sensitive project: the Americans' controversial missile defense plan. Berlin diplomats have stated that the summit will "generally" support the Bush project to station 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic, the goal being to defend against Iranian missiles, if need be. But at Berlin's urging the triumphant announcements Washington wants will not happen.

So, other than fearing Putie, why are the Heinies lukewarm to the idea?

Because the American missiles cannot protect Europe completely, the United States wants to develop a second missile defense system -- at its partners' expense. This system would protect Turkey and Norway to the north against a nuclear threat from Iran, but it would also cost enormous sums of money. Experts estimate that it would require an increase in the German defense budget of at least €1 billion ($1.58 billion), leading to a total of more than €30 billion ($47.4 billion). Officials at the Chancellery say that this would not be politically feasible, prompting Berlin to postpone a decision on the second system.

And avoid 'offending' Vladimir Paranoid.

'German Combat Battalion in Kandahar'

These delaying tactics reflect the hope that a new US administration under Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would not support the costly missile defense system as adamantly as Republican President Bush.

Given the Bolshevik Revolution within the New Democrat party, neither Obama nor Hillary will be the next White House occupant.

But even a new US president will not make things easier for Germany in Afghanistan. One thing that Bush and all of his potential successors have in common is the call for more German troops. They agree that what Obama calls the "dirty work" in the embattled south and east should no longer be left entirely to the Americans, Canadians, British and Dutch.

"The Americans," says a member of the staff of German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, a Christian Democrat, "are still dreaming of a German combat battalion in Kandahar." Scheffer, who shares their dreams, wants the remaining Europeans to deploy troops to the combat zones "in solidarity." According to Scheffer, there can be "no division of labor in which some specialize in fighting while others handle the cleanup work."

This is another area where Merkel is applying the brakes. She repeatedly insists that she is opposed to a "contest of dangerousness," and that Germany will stick to its deployment in the quieter north, even though, as she adds, "isolated assistance" elsewhere, "when friends are in need," is a matter of course.

The north can also be dangerous, as the German military, the Bundeswehr, experienced only last week near Kunduz. Three soldiers were injured, two seriously, when the force from the explosion of a Taliban explosive device swept their "Dingo" armored vehicle off the road.

The French Show

In response to pressure from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), government experts' deliberations on whether to significantly expand Germany's Afghanistan mandate have been placed on ice for the time being. The Bavaria-based sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) is anxious not to enter into such a politically risky proposition before its state parliamentary elections in September. Even Bush understands the domestic political pressures faced by the Merkel administration, a relieved German diplomat reported from Washington. "We will not be pilloried in Bucharest," the diplomat said.

By contrast, French President Nicolas Sarkozy now plans to make a show of France's efforts in Afghanistan. Paris diplomats in Brussels have announced that the president wants to send 1,000 regular troops and 200 members of the special forces to support the US in the east and Canada in the south. There are currently about 1,500 French soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them stationed in relatively calm Kabul.

NATO will finalize two documents on Afghanistan in Bucharest. One is meant for the public and describes in general, superficial terms the goal of "self-supporting stability." The other document, a "political and military plan of action," is to remain confidential.

The secret document is based on ideas that Defense Minister Jung presented to his counterparts last fall "as part of an exit strategy." Jung spoke at length about "networked security" and reconstruction, while the "fight against the insurgents" was generally mentioned as an aside. The US's priorities, so far, have been precisely the reverse.

Precarious Situation

The secret compromise document now contains a graduated plan intended to enable NATO to eventually pull out its troops. The document specifies dates by which Kabul is to satisfy certain requirements for drug enforcement and the development of a justice system, and which regions NATO could gradually turn over to Afghan forces.

But neither the Germans nor the Americans and British are interested in setting too specific a timetable. Berlin fears that this would force it to enlarge its NATO contingent and send additional war material, like helicopters, to Afghanistan. The Americans, British and Canadians are hesitant to announce a fixed withdrawal date. Because of the precarious situation in the east and south, they would probably be the last to bring their soldiers home.

If one thing is certain, it is that the NATO Secretary General's dream of transforming the 2009 anniversary summit into a conflict-free, visionary and harmonious meeting will not come true.

The Americans would have preferred to celebrate in Berlin, but Sarkozy wants to celebrate his country's return to the military structures of NATO, from which the French armed forces removed themselves in 1966 at the behest of President Charles de Gaulle.

The anniversary summit, which is now to be held in Strasbourg and its smaller German neighbor across the Rhine River, Kehl, is unlikely to last very long in the first place. French diplomats recently insisted that the Bucharest meeting, initially planned for three full days, be shortened to no more than 48 hours. President Sarkozy's "capacity," astonished NATO diplomats were told, is "limited to two days."

Never misunderestimate a Fwenchman's delusions of grandeur.

Via Spiegel International