France Steps up to the Plate

Over at Big Lizard there is a column from the 22nd about France becoming an “Honest Broker” in the Middle East conflict, mainly with Iraq. I post a somewhat snarky comment.

Well as John McClane said in the first Die Hard “Welcome to the party.” But I take a little offense to the words used (its’ probably just me). "honest broker” makes it sound like we haven’t been honest or competent in our efforts to help the peace process. I guess if you look at it with the idea that peace existed when the French were involved (before 2003) then we have been incompetent. But then again the Shiite and Kurdish factions were systematically being destroyed in a peaceful manner back then.
Don’t get me wrong I am glad the French government is now willing to be part of the process and I do think they can help. I also believe they have a responsibility to do so, since they have to balance all of the damage that had been cause by those who enabled Saddam.
One question though, with both France and Germany now having elected country leaders that are more pro American, does this mean we didn't actually hurt our world reputation?

Now it seems like they really are trying to help.

Speaking to 180 French ambassadors, Mr Sarkozy said a nuclear-armed Iran would be "unacceptable" and that the only response was to tighten sanctions while being open to talks if Iran suspended nuclear activities.

"This initiative is the only one that can enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran," he said, adding that it was the worst crisis facing the world.

This help is more in line with what President Bush is advocating. France has been involved with Iran for a long time and they have made a stand of sort.

We had hoped, let me stress, that the intense concerns to which Iran’s pursuit of a fissile material production capability has given rise could be resolved without recourse to the Security Council. But, in our view, Iran’s unwillingness to cooperate fully with the Agency, to do what is necessary to build confidence, to honour its international commitments, and to provide effective guarantees that its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes has made Security Council action inevitable. This is not, however, the end of diplomacy, and we remain determined to work for a negotiated solution.

These are not strong words. They are more in the line of “Come on guys, quit it or I’ll tell mom.” And mom is Britney Spears. These words will guarantee the need for stronger words or backing down. France has decided to go with the stronger word approach.

It does not end with Iran but for the first time in a long time, France actually is more on Israel's side.

He was equally direct on matters elsewhere in the Middle East, promising that
France would not allow a "Hamastan" to be created in the Palestinian territories
after the takeover of the Gaza Strip by the radical Islamic group Hamas in
June.