France's
Araud
Likes Freedom
to Denigrate
Religion,
Diplomats
Quote Him
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 14
-- In the UN
Security
Council,
statement are
adopted by
consensus, but
some of what
is said long
rankles other
diplomats. So
it is with
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard
Araud.
During
a closed-door
discussion
this week of a
draft press
statement on
the
killing of US
diplomats in
Benghazi
against a
backdrop of
protests of
an anti-Islam
film, Araud
said, as
paraphrased to
Inner City
Press by
four Council
diplomats,
that he likes
and takes
pride in the
freedom
to denigrate
religion.
One
Security
Council member
told Inner
City Press
this was
"outrageous"
and
"incitement."
Another
told
Inner City
Press, but
then France
should at
least be
consistent
in being for
free speech,
because there
are some kinds
of speech they
do not allow.
A
third
questioned how
much this
reflects the
position of
France under
Francois
Hollande, as
opposed to
Nicolas
Sarkozy, and
how much it is
"Araud, pure
Araud."
We
note that
France has
positioned
itself with
the opposition
in Libya,
particularly
in Benghazi
then air
dropping
weapons into
the Nafusa
mountains, and
now in Syria,
where even the
founder of MSF
from Paris
has said half
of the
fighters he
treated in
Aleppo were,
to put it
diplomatically,
armed
opponents of
such films.
Is
French policy
in this regard
schizophrenic?
Or is it
simply
cynical?
In
any event,
Araud's
statement left
a mixture of
surprise and
anger
that was not
difficult to
suss out even
days after
that
closed-door
meeting. So, a
late exiting
Council member
asked, why
wasn't it
reported
elsewhere?
Watch this
site.
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