Chirac On Eastern Europe: "If they wanted to diminish their chances of joining Europe they could not have found a better way."

Chirac responded to worries about American hegemony by instituting his own. He didn't even use the diplomatic route of subtle threats, instead he chose the Nobel Committee approach of penalizing people he disagrees with.

"It is not really responsible behavior," he told a news conference. "It is not well brought up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet." Well spoken ... no parent speaking to a child could have put it better. Unfortunately Chirac does not realize France is parent to no one ... well, maybe Ivory Coast.

What Chirac fails to understand is that eastern Europe has a long history of being told to keep quiet, and they don't really like it. After being held under the Soviet thumb he thinks they should be happy to be held under his iron grip now.

"Romania and Bulgaria were particularly irresponsible to (sign the letter) when their position is really delicate," Chirac said. "If they wanted to diminish their chances of joining Europe they could not have found a better way."

There's a reason those two countries also want to join NATO ... and that reason is they know the Europeans were of very little help the last time eastern Europe was oppressed. Maybe they can join NAFTA?

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