From: W.Sadowski (wsad01@gazeta.pl)
Date: Sat Feb 22 2003 - 19:09:29 MST
Lee Corbin <lcorbin@tsoft.com> wrote:
> What I mean is this: to many in the U.S. (or the Anglosphere?)
> it seems overweening and arrogant for Chirac to say to the
> hopeful entrants to the EU: "You must do as I say.
"Christian Weisgerber" <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>
> Let's start with a dose of reality: Just what significance has the
> position of Poland etc. in the big picture? These countries cannot
> project military force;
Christian,
"a dose of reality"1:
Poland and Friends will significantly influence the future common foreign
policy of Europe. I hope Europe will stay democracy and the votes will
counts! They are very powerfull friends of America. I can understand motives
of Chirac rudeness - he lose.
"a dose of reality" 2:
Add England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherland, Denmark (others are
neutral). "Just what significance has the position" of France, Germany? :-)
Transatlantic community is real.
"a dose of reality" 3:
The last reality is the US military.
> You might be under the assumption that those countries expressed
> their true support for the USA because of a common stance against
> totalitarianism etc. Around here, the perception is that they
> rather sucked up to the USA out of political opportunism.
>
It has nothing to do with opportunism. The citizens of thise countrys are
rather emotionally united with Western values and acknowledge the Center in
New York, not more in Paris. In Poland, the second position in the
populiarity take Bush, after Poland's president Kwasniewski (he is,
differently Shroeder, pro-US). We see America totally others than people of
Germany, France. Christian, guess why?
> As you may know if you follow European politics, there have been
> ongoing efforts for the last several years to forge a common European
> foreign policy in order for Europe to be able to speak with a single
> and correspondingly more powerful voice. The candidate countries--who
> after all have much to gain from EU membership--now seem to be
> sabotaging this effort, which is already painful enough as is.
>
> That the French, who usually employ much more diplomatic language,
> choose such direct and forceful expression should be evidence in
> itself just what an affront this has been.
>
..for France.
France is now the Pocket Imperium. Their politicans live in an virtual world
of the past. They try to build the new Europeans identity against US; Europe
as Superpower with France and Germany as leading powers. It is silly. The
one beast more, that will try to eat others. We shoudn't build European
Imperium (what for?). We have chance to exercise how to live in peace, maybe
it will be an example for the world. Building Europe no "against", above all
no against US. We should dream unite Europe to unite later the whole world.
It will be more extropic. OK, it is against Chirac.
> The way this mess should have played out instead is that the EU
> sits down, after much painful negotiation comes to a common position
> and declaration, and of course it is expected that the countries
> poised to join the Union share the common values and policy and
> agree with this (or diplomatically shut up). If you want something
> from somebody, you don't start by offending them.
Christian! They "offending" maybe France or Germany politics but not Europe.
Waldek Sadowski
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