jawa.mee.nu

May 09, 2007

A Bit More of Nicolas Sarkozy's Speech

Further to Good Lt.'s post below, I note that there's even more good stuff later in the speech, especially as regards women's rights:

(Translated) I want to launch a call to all those in the world who believe in the values of tolerance, of liberty, of democracy and of humanism, to all those who are persecuted by the tyrannies and by the dictators, to all the children and to all the martyrized women in the world to say to them that the pride, the duty of France will be at their sides, that they can count on her...
France will be at the sides of the Libyan nurses locked up for eight years;
France will not abandon Ingrid Betancourt;
France will not abandon the women who are condemned to the burqa;
France will not abandon the women who do not have liberty.
France will be by the side of the oppressed of the world.
This is the message of France; this is the identity of France; this is the history of France...
My dear compatriots, together we will write a new page of our history. This page of our history, my dear compatriots, I am sure that it will be grand, that it will be beautiful. And from the bottom of the heart, I want to say to you, with the most total sincerity which is mine at the time when I speak to you: Long live the Republic and long live France.

This is a shot across the bow of the Islamists. Only time will tell whether this is a fluke, or only the first of many. Perhaps the election of Sarkozy is a sign that America's longtime ally has begun to recover her bearings, and to realize where her true interests lie. As Good Lt. says, Sarkozy faces an uphill battle. The French nation itself does, actually. But there was a time, not that long ago, when the French didn't turn away from a battle, uphill or otherwise, if it was a battle that needed to be fought.

Vive Sarkozy! (h/t : David Kopel @ Volokh)

Posted by: Ragnar at 10:20 AM | Comments (34) | Add Comment
Post contains 353 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Didn't you mean to say "there was a time, not that long ago, when the French didn't turn toward a battle, uphill or otherwise, if it was a battle that needed to
be fought, they ran and let others save their sorry asses"?

Posted by: Unclezeb at May 09, 2007 11:28 AM (l4QX/)

2 The (wrongly) so-called women's rights advocates like NOW have been completely AWOL on the persecution of women under Islam. So much so - and for so long NOW (Ha, ha: punny) - that there is a real opening for conservatives to re-claim this issue, which we had stolen from us after Reconstruction.

Of course, it will take confronting Islamists head-on, which the mealy-mouthed Bush and Rice seem not to have the testicular or ovarian fortitude to pull off.

Posted by: Hucbald at May 09, 2007 11:29 AM (fvz9M)

3 Sorry fellas but its going to take a lot more than pretty words for France to repair the damage done by Jacques Chirac.

http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=16834

Posted by: doriangrey at May 09, 2007 11:41 AM (XvkRd)

4 "more than pretty words"   It always takes more, but praise the man for sticking his foot in it and trying to move forward. As for those who casually dismiss France as never having had a backbone, that isn't so. They quite literally were bled dry by the first world war. They had to face pretty much the whole modern arsenal with old fashioned military tactics, and it wasn't until tanks gave protection to advancing troops, that it was even possible to retake ground. The generation manning France's defense in 1939 was born out of the left overs from the no-mans land of the first war. A generation whose fathers had either never returned alive, or were crippled, or broken. I have great sympathy for them. And being betrayed by some of thier leadership isn't uniquely 'French' either.


                                  USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at May 09, 2007 11:54 AM (2OHpj)

5 I'm going to link it to my blog as soon as I get off work, but I really think that everyone should go see the Dissident Frgoman's take on Sarkozy. Here's a hint - look at the title:

Meet the new clown, same as the old clown

Posted by: Mike the Marine at May 09, 2007 12:00 PM (Wl3J8)

6 I'll give the man kudos for talking a big game. Now let's see if he can walk the walk. There was a time when Europe was for Europeans, now its mostly just Eurotrash and immigrants looking for a better life from whatever shithole they climbed out of. Let's face it, if your home country, let's call it country A, smells like moldy ass and you leave it and find out that the country your visiting, let's call it country B, does not have that distinct unwashed armpit smell about it, you'll think you just landed in paradise. Plus, the new paradise has more money floating around in it. That's why so many of these immigrant jerk offs that leave their shithole countries want to plant their stakes in Europe permanently... the alternative is the moldy ass smelling country that they came from. And, when you've finally breathed in fresher air... well there's nothing quite like it. But, the immigrants from former moldy ass smelling nations must understand that Europe must stay European. Don't import the backwards customs that turned your country into moldy ass in the first place, otherwise you'll just create new moldy ass in your newfound paradise.

Posted by: DrTheopolis at May 09, 2007 12:08 PM (9ZqGe)

There was indeed a time that the French didn't turn away from a battle that needed to be fought. In fact, this October marks the 1275th anniversary of one such battle:

http://www.historyofjihad.org/france.html

Who is today's version of Charles Martel?

Posted by: Robert at May 09, 2007 01:40 PM (+Ocly)

8 A Frenchman who is proud to be French, I thought they were extinct.

Posted by: BohicaTwentyTwo at May 09, 2007 03:49 PM (oC8nQ)

9 Sounds like the french version of "Morning in America" from Ronald Reagan

Posted by: Defector at May 09, 2007 04:39 PM (0QI0T)

10 A Frenchman who is proud to be French, I thought they were extinct.

He's the son of Hungarian immigrants. Maybe that's why.

Posted by: Vinnie at May 09, 2007 05:57 PM (/MVxv)

11 Hi My Name Is ivazxg.

Posted by: ivatlj at May 12, 2007 10:14 PM (tBTGR)