Sarkozy chides Obama

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Alan

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President Obama wants a unified front against Iran, and to that end he stood together with Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown in Pittsburgh on Friday morning to reveal the news about Tehran's secret facility to build bomb-grade fuel. But now we hear that the French and British leaders were quietly seething on stage, annoyed by America's handling of the announcement.

Both countries wanted to confront Iran a day earlier at the United Nations. Mr. Obama was, after all, chairing a Security Council session devoted to nonproliferation. The latest evidence of Iran's illegal moves toward acquiring a nuclear weapon was in hand. With the world's leaders gathered in New York, the timing and venue would be a dramatic way to rally international opinion.


President Sarkozy in particular pushed hard. He had been "frustrated" for months about Mr. Obama's reluctance to confront Iran, a senior French government official told us, and saw an opportunity to change momentum. But the Administration told the French that it didn't want to "spoil the image of success" for Mr. Obama's debut at the U.N. and his homily calling for a world without nuclear weapons, according to the Paris daily Le Monde. So the Iran bombshell was pushed back a day to Pittsburgh, where the G-20 were meeting to discuss economic policy.

Le Monde's diplomatic correspondent, Natalie Nougayrède, reports that a draft of Mr. Sarkozy's speech to the Security Council Thursday included a section on Iran's latest deception. Forced to scrap that bit, the French President let his frustration show with undiplomatic gusto in his formal remarks, laying into what he called the "dream" of disarmament. The address takes on added meaning now that we know the backroom discussions.

"We are right to talk about the future," Mr. Sarkozy said, referring to the U.S. resolution on strengthening arms control treaties. "But the present comes before the future, and the present includes two major nuclear crises," i.e., Iran and North Korea. "We live in the real world, not in a virtual one." No prize for guessing into which world the Frenchman puts Mr. Obama.

"We say that we must reduce," he went on. "President Obama himself has said that he dreams of a world without nuclear weapons. Before our very eyes, two countries are doing exactly the opposite at this very moment. Since 2005, Iran has violated five Security Council Resolutions . . .

"I support America's 'extended hand.' But what have these proposals for dialogue produced for the international community? Nothing but more enriched uranium and more centrifuges. And last but not least, it has resulted in a statement by Iranian leaders calling for wiping off the map a Member of the United Nations. What are we to do? What conclusions are we to draw? At a certain moment hard facts will force us to make decisions."

We thought we'd never see the day when the President of France shows more resolve than America's Commander in Chief for confronting one of the gravest challenges to global security. But here we are.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574441402775482322.html

:eek:

Wow even the French can't stomach this naive idealist stupidity :erm:
 
Ofcourse France have such a great track record of conflict resolution and victories.
 
Sarkozy is just pissed off because Obama is more powerful, is getting more attention and is better looking than he is! :D

It's sometimes unclear if Obama even notices his hyperkinetic counterpart. And that explains the ambitious Parisian's Obama obsession. Few people outside France expect the leader of the world's fifth-largest economy to set the global pace on major issues. But Sarkozy, sometimes known as l'Américain at home, has often tried to do just that. Under him the Paris-Washington partnership has become in many ways the most dynamic bilateral relationship in the Atlantic alliance, and one that helps set the global agenda. As their speeches at the United Nations and the G20 last week made clear, both he and Obama are committed internationalists with a similar vision of the new, more just and regulated world economic order. But—and this is part of the problem—both also expect to be at the forefront of any initiative: Obama because he is president of the United States, and Sarkozy because he's so ambitious, and the French are so ambitious for their president.

The question that haunts Sarkozy is whether anyone sees him as part of a globe-beating tandem—and whether this team will ever achieve its potential. The two presidents' very different personalities can collide: Obama, smiling but aloof, treats Sarkozy as one of many not-quite-equals in Europe, while Sarkozy, the backslapper, likes to call the U.S. president his "buddy," but hasn't had the favor returned. Watching the two of them onstage together, as when they appeared at D-Day anniversary commemorations in Normandy in June, is like watching the diminutive tough-guy actor Joe Pesci—all twitches and attitude—playing against Denzel Washington, all dignity and reserve. When Obama decided not to hang around for a family photo op with Sarkozy, the Élysée's fury at the perceived slight was a sensation in the Paris press.
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Sarkozy’s Obama Envy
 
Well he is competing with god( according to the people in your link). Who does that mere mortal little Frenchman think he is :mad:
 
Alan said:
Well he is competing with god( according to the people in your link). Who does that mere mortal little Frenchman think he is :mad:
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Exactly... Sarkozy is like a child who wants to be the center of attention but daddy won't let him. He wanted to be the one to confront Iran, he wants to be in front, and, and, it's not fair!!! boo hoo...

Le Monde's diplomatic correspondent, Natalie Nougayrède, reports that a draft of Mr. Sarkozy's speech to the Security Council Thursday included a section on Iran's latest deception. Forced to scrap that bit, the French President let his frustration show with undiplomatic gusto in his formal remarks, laying into what he called the "dream" of disarmament. The address takes on added meaning now that we know the backroom discussions.
Click to expand...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574441402775482322.html

It's got nothing to do with "the French can't stomach this naive idealist stupidity" and everything to do with the French can't stomach not being in front and the center of attention. It's their pride and ambition at stake, nothing more...
 
Sarkozy got on fine with Bush IIRC

They're clashing because they're different. In the past the French suffering from delusions of grandeur clung to empty idealist rhetoric to compensate for their lack real world power. However Sarkozy comes across as somebody who doesn't just mouth off and actually wants to get things done. Ironically now the U.S has a empty suit rambling idealist who won't actually do anything but mouth off:o
 
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