There was no rancor, but no regret either.
When President Jacques Chirac stood before his ambassadorial corps on Friday for his annual state of the world speech, he omitted all criticism of the US-led war in Iraq and the failure of the US to secure the peace there.
In fact, there was nothing in Chirac's speech to suggest that France had ever opposed the US decision to oust former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein by force.
In his first major foreign policy address since the Iraq war, he chose only to underscore the need for Iraqis to determine their own future under the authority of the UN.
"The only realistic option is to transfer authority and sovereignty to the Iraqis themselves," Chirac said. "This must be rapidly implemented as part of a process to which only the the UN is in a position to give legitimacy, with the support of the countries in the region."
He added that once such a framework was established, "the international community will be able to provide effective and full support for the reconstruction of the country in a manner which must be worked out with the Iraqis themselves."
Without criticizing the US, Chirac defended the French position of containing Iraq by UN-sponsored weapons inspections as the most "effective and legitimate instrument of collective action."
Chirac, who is scheduled to meet with US President George W. Bush in New York in late September, is said by aides to be looking for ways to restore America's confidence in France after its refusal to join the US action.
Like Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, Chirac sees the world as a place with multiple centers of power. He has said that this "multipolar" world needs to operate as a global power, limiting in a firm but friendly manner US interests and influence.
On Friday, Chirac adopted a more modulated tone. He refrained from calling for limits on US power, but he defended the decision by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg -- NATO countries that opposed the war -- to launch a joint security and defense initiative last April aimed at making Europe's defense policy more coherent and more independent of that of the US.
That initiative was criticized by other NATO countries as unnecessary and exclusionary, and was seen by the US as a direct challenge to it and to its allies who supported the war.
In his speech, Chirac emphasized the importance of the European-US relationship, saying: "Let there be, in this respect, no misunderstanding. Trans-Atlantic ties and the partnership between Europe and the US, our primary ally, constitute a crucial element of world security."
But he added, "The idea is to give Europe credibility," which requires "enhanced military capabilities" and the forging by Europe of new alliances with "other major poles in the world," including China, India, Japan, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
On the development of weapons of mass destruction, Chirac criticized those countries that he said "are failing to live up to their international commitments."
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the news broadcasts of which are funded by the government to export US values to the world. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts. USAGM placed more than 1,000
RSS