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crin63
10-30-2008, 06:10 AM
Sources Say Sarkozy Finds Obama's Iran Policy ‘Arrogant,’ ‘Utterly Immature’

October 28, 2008 11:39 AM

The respected Israeli newspaper Ha'artez reports that according to a "senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate's stance on Iran as 'utterly immature' and comprised of 'formulations empty of all content.'"

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., met with Sarkozy in July and they are said to have discussed Iran at length.

French authorities are said to be concerned that the international community doesn't take the Iranian threat seriously enough. French intelligence has concluded that Iran has already obtained up to 40% of the enriched uranium it needs for a bomb, the newspaper reports, and will have obtained the rest next summer.

"According to the reports reaching Israel, Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country's policy toward Iran, that would be 'very problematic,'" Ha'aretz reports. "Until now, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have tried to maintain a united front on Iran. But according to the senior Israeli source, Sarkozy fears that Obama might 'arrogantly' ignore the other members of this front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions."

The Obama campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

-- jpt

UPDATE: The Obama campaign passes along this comment from a spokesman for the French government: "The remarks attributed by the newspaper Haaretz to the President of the French Republic concerning Senator Obama's positions on Iran are groundless. To the contrary, the in-depth discussions between the President of the Republic and Senator Obama on Iran during their meeting in Paris in July demonstrated a broad convergence of views on this issue. President Sarkozy and Senator Obama agree to oppose Iran's development of a military nuclear capability."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/sources-say-sar.html

Interesting little article.

diuretic
10-30-2008, 03:58 PM
If true - this would be an undiplomatic comment of stupendous proportions. Also really stupid.

It reminds me of de Gaulle and his comments when he visited Quebec one time.

namvet
10-30-2008, 04:05 PM
Osama has no worry here. Israel still claims if he's elected they'll flatten Iran.

diuretic
10-31-2008, 02:26 AM
I would think Israel wouldn't ask for anyone's permission to conduct foreign policy as they see fit. If they choose to nuke Iran then that's their policy decision. If Bibi wins the election I suspect the rhetoric will heat up and whoever is in the White House - McCain or Obama - will find the US drawn into it. Maybe. I heard a radio report just a half hour ago about US citizens in Israel voting. The preponderance is for McCain (the statement was that observant Jews are more likely to vote for McCain than Obama) yet the polls in the States among Jewish voters are, the phrase was, "mirror image", and the preponderance will vote for Obama.

If Livni and Kadima win then maybe, just maybe, the rhetoric will cool down a bit. Livni has been unable to win over sufficient religious parties to form a coalition, I think Shas refused to go along with her, hence the forthcoming election. I don't know much about Israeli politics so the finer points are beyond me, but it's apparent that the new government will change things. I did read some polling which suggested that Kadima is ahead of Likud with Labour in third. But who knows, maybe Likud will be able to gather in Shas and some of the small religious parties and form government.

Either way it's worth watching.