For all their posturing about the Enlightenment and their role in inventing human rights, the French have never been terribly fond of free speech. During the Terror they issued the Law of 22 Prairial which mandated the death penalty for criticizing the Revolution and which forbade accused the right of self-defence. This week the leader of that nation which still genuinely believes it embodies all that is noble and wise in human form found time to lecture Eastern European countries about the dangers of speaking honestly.
Jacques Chirac has just announced that the price of admission to the European Union for those nations who were once under Soviet domination was the acceptance of French leadership in foreign affairs. He criticized Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary for siding with the United States on Iraq, complaining that they "had missed a good opportunity to keep quiet."
One might have thought that a land which had suffered through so many German occupations would have sympathized with others seeking to be free from tyranny, but no. Throughout history few countries have been as honest about their bullying ways as the French. Their inability to conduct a principled foreign policy has been as grand a symbol of their nation as the Eiffel Tower, wine diluted with antifreeze or their aversion to personal hygiene.
Posted by at February 17, 2003 07:05 PM