Sarkozy Blasts the Kremlin, calls U.S. "Cornerstone"
France’s newly elected president Nicolas Sarkozy (pictured) gave an interview to the National Interest Journal. Sarkozy answered questions about French domestic and foreign policy. Some his statements showed rather tough attacks against Russia. Particularly, speaking on the problem of human rights abuse, Nicolas Sarkozy noted that nation-states are no longer the sole actors on the international stage, and “the pursuit of status quo is not a policy; it is akin to giving up.” “We cannot claim ignorance anymore, so we are loosing the possibility of remaining silent in the face of genocide or criminal behavior. Our silence, when faced with 200,000 deaths and 400,000 refugees in Chechnya, is unbearable,” said the new French leader. Answering National Interest’s question whether it is more difficult to speak out against the major powers like China and Russia, Nicolas Sarkozy responded that the fact that China and Russia are great powers, but it should not “prevent us from denouncing their human rights violations.” Besides, he added: “Russia's recent behavior makes me quite nervous. Nicolas Sarkozy also criticized US foreign policy. According to him, the friendship between Europe and the United States is a “cornerstone of world stability.” But he added that friendship means “being with your friends when they need you and also being able to tell them the truth when they are wrong” and stressed it “means respect, understanding and affection . . . but not submission.” Nicolas Sarkozy won the Sunday presidential election in France, defeating socialist Segolene Royal with 53.8% vs. 46.2%.
Publius Pundit has the full text of Sarkozy's statements about Russia and the U.S.
Labels:
cold war II,
rhetoric,
russia
6 comments:
This is Hector,
Sarkozy's babbling will fall on deaf years. These two matryoshka dolls depicting a true friendship in Russia say so
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/02/24/prebratislava.shtml
Sarkozy will be in office in 2009. Putin might be too. But Bush won't! Maybe it will be John McCain instead, and he'll listen quite closely to Mr. Sarkozy.
Meanwhile Putin still hasn't called Sarkozy to congratulate him. I guess he's pissed that he can't control France's elections also. He DID call that lunatic Nikolic to congratulate him on becoming Prime Minister of Serbia, which may last all of a few weeks.
This is Hector,
What the hell are you talking about? What does Putin have to do with controling France's elections? I fail to see a connection. And Russians are being denounced as moronic here? Ubelievable!
Kim, John McCain is just another brainless U.S politician. His babble about Russia amounts to nothing more than hot air. Look at Clinton. If McCain were to be president, I promise you that he, Sarkozy, and Putin would embrace each other as partners in the capitalist world. Russia is an important ally to the U.S rulers, and just because one conservative dimwit blows out a little hot air doesn't mean this policy will change.
This is Hector,
I found Sarkozy's comments on Russia's human rights abuses to be particularly amusing. France doesn't have such clean human rights history. Such as last year when the French government tried pass a bill giving employers to fire anyone under the age of 26 for any reason without notice. It was only after the rioting that this anti-youth bill was scrapped. Snatching jobs from youths for no reason, isn't an abuse of human rights??
"Such as last year when the French government tried pass a bill giving employers to fire anyone under the age of 26 for any reason without notice. "
What has that got to do with human rights? Such a move can actually lead to higher youth employment, in what was a highly protected labor market. A job is not a right, and to keep it you must deserve it.
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