Chirac appears to be playing the spoiler again. This time regarding the transfer of sovreignty to the Interim Government in Iraq. Citizen Smash can't figure out what Chirac hopes to gain from all this.
One wonders what Chirac expects to gain from playing these games. France is no longer the global military and economic power that it once was. His nation’s diplomatic power is necessarily tied to its dominant position in international organizations such as the EU, NATO, and the UN.By repeatedly sabotaging the United States in the Security Council, Chirac is only further encouraging Bush to circumvent the UN altogether. But while America can still exert global influence without the support of the UN, France is much more dependent on that increasingly irrelevant body for power and prestige.
The transition of sovereignty in Iraq will go forward, of course, with or without a UN resolution. In the meantime, however, it would appear that Jacques Chirac is more than willing to cut off his nose to spite his face.
He's right; Chirac's actions just don't make a lot of sense. Every time Chirac stands in the way of a UN resolution authorizing us to do what we know we HAVE to do, he increases the chances we'll simply have to go around the UN. Every time we go around the UN, our respect for it falls. Eventually we'll simply stop looking for him all together. If we do that, the UN will effectively cease to exist.
If that happened, France's position on the world stage would dip dramatically. He really doesn't have anything to gain from all this besides short term publicity. The question then is why is Chirac doing this? Is he simply oblivious to the precarious position France is in? Or does he just not care as long as he gets his publicity?
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