Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 4:28am

France Tells Obama To Cowboy Up

Obama Sarkozy

Never in a million years would I have expected a Frenchman, any Frenchman living today, to chide an American president to be a man.  Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan are rolling over in their graves as French President Nicolas Sarkozy reminds President Obama, our president,that “we live in a real world, not a virtual world“.

This episode between Sarkozy and Obama occurred prior to President Obama’s I have a dream of a world without nuclear weapons disarmament speech as chair of the United Nations Security Council meeting on September 24.  An American holding the chair of the U.N. Security Council was a first, so the foreign media was out in force attracting global attention.  Unbeknownst to the world at the time President Obama, as well as Sarkozy, had intelligence that Iran had an illegal uranium enrichment facility.

So instead of using the bully pulpit as the leader of the free world and his superior oratory skills to admonish Iran at the United Nations Security Council, Obama chose to give his I have a dream of a world without nuclear weapons disarmament speech. The New York Times reported “White House officials,” did not want to “dilute” his disarmament resolution “by diverting to Iran.”

Charles Krauthammer had this to say to what happened at the United Nations Security Council:

Diversion? It’s the most serious security issue in the world. A diversion from what? From a worthless U.N. disarmament resolution?

Yes. And from Obama’s star turn as planetary visionary: “The administration told the French,” reports The Wall Street Journal, “that it didn’t want to ‘spoil the image of success’ for Mr. Obama’s debut at the U.N.”

Image? Success? Sarkozy could hardly contain himself. At the council table, with Obama at the chair, he reminded Obama that “we live in a real world, not a virtual world.”

President Sarkozy was aghast, aghast, to say the least of Obama’s blown opportunity to put Iran in her place, instead President Obama chose to use it as a domestic political ploy so he could look good?

What just happened here?  Isn’t it suppose to be the other way around, America using her position in the world as the lone superpower and put Iran in her place?  While France twiddles her thumbs in exasperation?

Where have I seen this before?

Iran mocking the United States while an American president gets overwhelmed by international events?

Oh yeah, the nightmare that occurred during the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran is eerily drawing similar parallels to today.  A feckless, inexperienced, and idealistic president who thinks talking his way out of international incidents will make him loved by his enemies and friends in the middle of a worsening economy.

What?  No more French jokes?  With France upset with the U.S. at our indecisiveness, French jokes lose their luster.

I’ll miss those marvelous Mark Twain quotes such as, “(a) Frenchman’s home is where another man’s wife is”, “(i)n certain public indecencies the difference between a dog and a Frenchman is not perceptible”, and finally “(a)n isolated and helpless young girl is perfectly safe from insult by a Frenchman, if he is dead.”

Soon the free world will be mocking us while President Obama fumbles at his next My Little Pony moment looking for his teleprompter while trying to pose for photographers wearing his favorite Jimmy Carter sweater.

Otto von Bismark once said of the young and fledgling United States, “(t)here is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America.”

Charles Krauthammer opined, Bismarck never saw Obama at the United Nations. Sarkozy did.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
27 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
afl
afl
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 5:05am

The emperor has no clothes. The European leaders recognized this including Mr Putin, etal His constant campaigning for his own edification and ego instead of strong deliberate leadership is obvious to most people. His approach is to go to his constituents when he needs help and to have a deaf ear to those who have experience and do not want to repeat history.

American Knight
American Knight
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 6:34am

This sucks becuase that wuss is our president. I know that Rush said he wanted him to fail and I agree to a point. Nationalize health care, kill more babies, rasie taxes – yes, I want him to fail at that.

As Commander in Chief and Head of State, no, I DO NOT WANT him to fail, I want him to be a huge success.

Sadly, as expected, he’s failing.

The parallels with Carter are striking and Iran knows that BHO is more concerned with how he looks than what he does. They are going to use that to their advantage and our detrmient and he might let them.

I think BHO just launched his campaign for beloved leader of the world with no nukes, no mean talk show hosts and everyone gets a pony. Awww, how sweet.

Gimme a break. I want my president with big brass ones.

“I just signed legislation outlawing Russia (China, Iran, N. Korea), bombing begins in ten minutes”

c matt
c matt
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 11:00am

Hmm…I would prefer a President with spine when he needs it…and the brains to know how and when to use it. “Big brass ones” often lead to trouble.

NauticalMongoose
NauticalMongoose
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 1:00pm

*Tosses red meat* http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2009/10/01/our-infamous-iran-policy/

I’d like to build on what c matt says and question whether “putting Iran in her place” is really in the best interest on either America or Iran. What would such a confrontational approach really accomplish? All this would do is provoke Iran into hardening its position and making things much more difficult for the fledgling opposition movement there.

Words are important, but supposing that strong words are a substitute for prudent action is ridiculous.

Tito Edwards
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 1:30pm

NauticalMongoose and C Matt,

Excellent analysis, but isn’t their position already hardenned? What part of “remove Israel from the map” can Iran do more on?

I’m not advocating a massive shock and awe campaign, just some tough sanctions, inspections, and timetables.

There are levels of degrees that are attributed to “confrontation”.

Not to mention funding the Iranian people to overthrow their Mullah overlords with money, intelligence, and possibly weapons (more so if we are already doing this).

We can also put the squeeze on them by massing troops both from Afghanistan and Iraq with Pakistan following with their troop deployments. In addition we can arm both the Iraqi’s and Afghans to the teeth (more so the Iraqi’s) and really pressure Iran to give it up.

Just some thought.

American Knight
American Knight
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 4:00pm

Tito,

You are assuming that the Iranian leadership is rational. I don’t think they are technically insane but I think they are looking for a fight and winning it, as far as they are concerned, is simply causing massive damage and chaos. If they are wiped out in the process, then they are martyrs, whoopi. Their goal is the benfit of Dar al Islam, not Iran.

You cannot reason with a mentality like that. Sadam was actually a megalomaniac but he could be reasoned with, or bought. We picked the wrong target in 2003 and now the right target is in our sites, yet, we aren’t handling it well. This is where regime change makes sense.

If Iraq was designed as a flanking manuever to Iran then that is fine, although we could have accomplised with much less loss of life (both our soldiers and Iraqi civilians) and much less cost. Any way, would-ah, could-ah, should-ah. We’re here. Iran needs massive pressure and a regime change – not like 1979.

Boy don’t you miss the Shah. Friendly, checking Russia, selling us oil – we removed him and look what we got. Who was it that did that? Uhm, ah, o yeah Obama’s big daddy Carter. Here we go again.

Now were’a my 8-track?

e.
e.
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 4:15pm

Today’s Iran is another disaster that the Peanut Farmer, Carter, was actually responsible for.

It would be all too easy to blame it on a supposed senility on his part; more likely, it was due to his alarmingly incredible incompetence.

Tito Edwards
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 4:50pm

The more Jimmah’ speaks, the more Billy Carter looks like a genius.

Anyone has any Billy Beer to spare?

Tito Edwards
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 4:53pm

AK,

The Iranian middle class is rational.

It’s the Islamic extremists, unfortunately who are in power, that are irrational.

Malaise in America?

American Knight
American Knight
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 5:03pm

The middle-class is always rational, which is why we are always the targets of every ISM ideology.

All ISMs eventually lead to a master oligarchy (minority) and compliant and fearful slaves (majority) — no middle class.

Tito we could also say, “The American middle class is rational. It’s the leftist extremeists, unfortunately who are in power, that are irrational.

Who’s in the White House? Barrack Carter-LBJ-Wilson???

I don’t know about malaise but you could put on a sweater and lower the thermostat, what with all the global cooling, er, no, global warming, er, no, climate change, yeah, that’s the ticket, climate change going on, huh?

He was right about one thing, we are a bad country, worse than in the 70s, and it is becuase of people just like him.

Don the Kiwi
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 5:11pm

Looks like a case of ” Big hat, no cattle.”

Tito Edwards
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 6:00pm

Alright, I’ll show my lack of knowledge here, what’s an “ISM”?

I’m sure it’ll come to me as soon as I press “Submit Comment”.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 6:57pm

Tito, think of political ideologies: Liberalism, Conservatism, etc.

Tito Edwards
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 6:59pm

Thanks Donald, I think waaay too much about some things.

American Knight
American Knight
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 6:59pm

Exaclty Donald.

SocialISM, CommunISM, FascISM, CollectivISM, ObjectivISM, CorpratISM, ObamunISM. . .

Didn’t you ever see Ferris Bueler’s Day Off?

Tito Edwards
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 7:13pm

Why Abe Froman, aren’t you the sausage king of Chicago?

American Knight
American Knight
Friday, October 2, AD 2009 7:16pm

I was, but then we lost the 2016 Olympics becuase of some incompetent named Barracks, or something like that.

awakaman
awakaman
Saturday, October 3, AD 2009 4:30pm

Here is instance in which Obama failed to show any backbone.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/10/02/obama-reaffirms-he-will-keep-israels-nukes-secret/

The Uninted States and other Westen nations show such hypocracy and we wonder why Iran and other Islamic nations tell us to go to hell.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Saturday, October 3, AD 2009 4:40pm

Awakaman you’d have a point if Israel was threatening moslems with nuclear annihilation as Iranian leaders have repeatedly threatened Israel. Since they haven’t your comment is as pointless as those in the 30s who pointed to French military spending as justification for German rearmament. Iran is the problem, not Israel.

Anthony
Anthony
Saturday, October 3, AD 2009 6:43pm

Don,

Why should Israel bother to threaten? They know when push comes to shove, the U.S. will either take actions themselves or support Israeli action. Hasn’t Israel flirted with the idea of bombing facilities? If they did that, wouldn’t THEY then be the real aggressors?

In all seriousness…what does ‘cowboy’ing up on Iran exactly look like?

Iran may indeed be led by people who are a bit unhinged, or have bizarre political positions… but that doesn’t necessarily translate to insanely using nuclear weapons.

Iran is a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty. They have a right to nuclear power. Have they not also alerted the IAEA of their intent to bring a power plant online months prior? We’ve known they’ve been on that track for awhile now.

Iran is also surrounded by nations that DO indeed nuclear weapons, and not all of them are models of sanity either. Pakistan. India. And Israel herself, who both refuses to sign the non-proliferation treaty and to acknowledge her possession of weapons.

Of what interest would it be for Iran to actually USE a nuclear weapon? Nuking Israel wouldn’t just kill Jews, it would kill many Muslims as well in Palestine… supposedly the very Muslims they sympathize with. How would it benefit Iran, who are Persian, do wind up killing Arabs? Iran would be isolated from their own neighbors for such an action!

This is to say nothing of the international response. The world would attack them and their allies would abandon them. Their would be a great temptation to respond with nukes as well… likely those ‘secret’ Israeli ones.

Does Iran really want to join the United States as only the second nation in history to use nukes against people?

And how exactly would sanctions help? IIRC, Iran does not even refine its own fuel. The idea that we’d cut off their gas is only going to hurt their middle class… the people most likely sympathetic to the west’s position. It will easily worsen the conflict.

Obama put himself in this position because it was HE who talked tough on Iran (and Pakistan/Afghanistan) during the election. My guess is he only did that so that he couldn’t be accused of being a weakling.

It seems to me that Iran’s biggest detractors here in the states will only accept one course of action: the military kind. Its not enough that Iran is surrounded either by either US troops or nuclear powers. The sense I get is diplomacy is as about meaningful to the hawks here as it was in the run up to Gulf War II.

If I were Iran I’d put my hands up in the air and let all the inspectors they want into my country. Not because I’d feel compelled to prove I was telling the truth, but because Washington DC has proven to be as insane as any other foreign government. Unfortunately my biggest fear is that, like Iraq’s leader appearing weak in front of their people and the Middle East, letting the west have it’s way is not a pill they can swallow— and the world will end up with yet another tragic mess in the region costing unnecessary blood and treasure.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Saturday, October 3, AD 2009 8:31pm

Anthony anyone who doesn’t think the Iranian regime is seeking nuclear weapons to use them just has not been paying attention. Ahmadinejad has made his intentions clear:

1. “Israel must be wiped off the map … The establishment of a Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world . . . The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of the war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land.”
October 26, 2005
(In an address to 4,000 students at a program titled, ‘The World Without Zionism’)

NB The translation of this quote is debated and has also been read as “Israel must disappear from the page of history”

2. “The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat. Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.”
April 14, 2006
(In a speech at the opening of the “Support for the Palestinian Intifada” conference on April 14-16 hosted in Tehran)

3. “Today, they [Europeans] have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets … This is our proposal: give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them [Jews] so that the Jews can establish their country.”
December 14, 2005
(Speaking to thousands of people in the Iranian city of Zahedan)

4. “The Zionist regime is the flag bearer of violation and occupation and this regime is the flag of Satan. …It is not unlikely that this regime be on the path to dissolution and deterioration when the philosophy behind its creation and survival is invalid.”
August 18, 2007
(Address to an international religious conference in Tehran)

5. “A new Middle East will prevail without the existence of Israel.”
August 4, 2006
(as quoted by Malaysian news agency Bernama website)

6. “In parallel to the official political war there is a hidden war going on and the Islamic states should benefit from their economic potential to cut off the hands of the enemies.”

7. “Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces…. Although we don’t accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: Is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem? If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe — like in Germany, Austria or other countries — to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe.”
December 8, 2005
(While speaking to journalists at an Islamic summit in Mecca)

8. “The Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan . . . Many Western governments that claim to be pioneers of democracy and standard bearers of human rights close their eyes over crimes committed by the Zionists and by remaining silent support the Zionists due to their hedonistic and materialistic tendencies.”
February 28, 2007
(to a meeting of Sudanese Islamic scholars in Khartoum)

9. “Thanks to people’s wishes and God’s will the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want…Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out”
December 12, 2006
(Comments to Iran’s Holocaust Conference)

10. “Though the enemy had made preparations for not allowing Iran (president) to make his voice heard, but, they could not succeed and thanks to grace of God the world people heard our voice.”
September 30, 2007

11. “Zionists are people without any religion. They are lying about being Jewish because religion means brotherhood, friendship and respecting other divine religions…
They are an organized minority who have infiltrated the world. They are not even a 10,000-strong organization.”
August 28, 2007
(At a news conference in Tehran)

12. “With God’s help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine . . . By God’s will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future.”
June 3, 2007
(Speech, as quoted by the Fars News Agency)

13. “Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented.”
August 2, 2006
(as quoted by Iranian TV)

14. “[N]o Muslim nation would put up with this entity [i.e. Israel] in Islamic lands, not for one moment … If it’s true that the [Europeans] committed a big crime in World War II, then they must take responsibility for it themselves, and not ask the Palestinian people to pay the price … Those countries that support this regime [Israel] were terrified at the suggestion that [Israel] should be relocated to their neighborhood. So why should the Palestinians and the countries in our region accept this entity?”
(In a speech before an audience in the Iranian city of Qom, aired on television)

15. “They [the United States] think they are the absolute rulers of the world.”
October 29, 2005
(Marching in a demonstration alongside a crowd of students in Tehran)

16. “It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege.”
June 19, 2005
(In an interview with state television shortly before his election)

17. “Iran’s enemies know your courage, faith and commitment to Islam and the land of Iran has created a powerful army that can powerfully defend the political borders and the integrity of the Iranian nation and cut off the hand of any aggressor and place the sign of disgrace on their forehead.”

18. “Soon Islam will become the dominating force in the world, occupying first place in the number of followers amongst all other religions.”

19.”What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow.”
[President Ahmadinejad’s comments on an aircraft crash in Tehran that killed 108 people in December 2005].

20. “Is there a craft more beautiful, more sublime, more divine, than the craft of giving yourself to martyrdom and becoming holy? Do not doubt, Allah will prevail, and Islam will conquer mountain tops of the entire world.”

21. “Our revolution’s main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi.”

22. “The wave of the Islamist revolution will soon reach the entire world.”

23. “We don’t shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world.”
January 21 2006

24. “Our enemies should know that they are unable to even slightly hurt our nation and they cannot create the tiniest obstacle on its glorious and progressive way.”
April 28 2006

25. “By the grace of Allah, we (will be) a nuclear power.”

26. “If you have burned the Jews, why don’t you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel. Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?”
April 19, 2006

27. “The UN structure is one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam.”
June 8, 2005
(In an interview on state television)

28. “Are they human beings?… They (Zionists) are a group of blood-thirsty savages putting all other criminals to shame.”
(as quoted by Iranian TV)

29. “The Zionists and their protectors are the most detested people in all of humanity, and the hatred is increasing every day.”
July 13, 2006
(as quoted by Iranian state television)

30. ”We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot logically continue to live. Open the doors (of Europe) and let the Jews go back to their own countries.”
April 24, 2006
(In a news conference held on April 24, 2006)

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Saturday, October 3, AD 2009 8:47pm

Additionally Anthony do you seriously believe that a regime which butchers its own people would have any qualms about using a nuke on Tel Aviv as the final solution of their Jewish problem?

Anthony
Anthony
Saturday, October 3, AD 2009 10:03pm

Don,

I’m certainly not defending the Iranian regime, its attitude towards Jews or Israel or how they treat their own people. What I am trying to do is get a sense of what the political reality is before the Hitler comparisons start flying. Quickly scanning through your litany of quotes, I only see a reference once to ‘nuclear power’ and no references specifically to using nuclear weapons.

Yes, every couple of months Ahmadinejad says something ridiculous and racists about Jews and it is plastered on every news service… but how are we to know this is not grand standing for his own people? How can we really understand the context his saying these things, a part from our own biases? He mentions that the Soviet Union was wiped off the map…. indeed it was, without a single shot or nuclear weapon for that matter. So like all things politicians say… their meaning can be rather open ended.

Would the Iranians use a nuke against Tel Aviv? Perhaps. But like I said, the consequences for them would be incalculable. And I’d be willing to bet that the more the rhetoric or sanctions escalate in the U.S., the more likely the Iranians will indeed lash out with a demonstration of WMD capability. Our policy could end up cornering them into doing the very thing we are trying to prevent!

Don, there has to be some sobriety on these topics before— once again— we march to the tune of pre-emptive war. Iraq was a bungling of an large and ongoing magnitude, and the U.S. really can’t afford the same deal with Iran.

There has to be a genuinely moral way we can create a path to peaceful relations that do not involve more slaughter. We should be trying to understand the Iranian’s situation and work towards making their goals and our goals the same— namely a self-sustainable Iran that is peaceful.

I don’t believe that the only way to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons is by making war. We aren’t there yet. It deeply bothers me to see such a push in that direction.

Coffee Catholic
Sunday, October 4, AD 2009 4:32pm

American Night: Everyone gets a pony?

Geez, I’d flatten a pony! Obama can’t even get THAT right. We don’t even get a grownup-sized horse!

**France** is laughing at us.

I just… wow. That’s so wrong in so many ways. I think I’ll start calling myself a Canadian.

awakaman
awakaman
Monday, October 5, AD 2009 9:39am

Don:

This guy had nukes – a lot more than Iran and we survived.

Quit your worrying Chicken Little.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Monday, October 5, AD 2009 10:41am

Hardly reassuring Awakaman since the world came within inches of a nuclear war in October 1962. Additionally Khrushchev was a rational leader. Ahmadinejad is many things, but I supect that rational is not among his attributes, and, in any case, he and other Iranian leaders have given every indication that they will use nuclear weapons once they have them.

Mike Petrik
Mike Petrik
Monday, October 5, AD 2009 1:41pm

I agree that Ahmadinejad having nukes is not as bad as Bin Laden having them, (it is generally acknowledged that nation states are not as irresponsible as terrorist groups) but the risk is certainly greater than Khrushchev, and that was pretty bad. Most experts believe that the use of nukes by a bad actor is only a matter of time, unfortunately.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top