International

See, this is odd for me.  Because French politics has not been something, traditionally, that I'd say, "yeah United States, lets be like them!"  But as world governments swing center / right ... well some things that are coming out of France are pretty cool.

Like President Sarkozy saying:

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement—I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

You've heard me rail against scarfs / burqa's if you've been a reader for any prolonged period of time, and how I dislike the forcing of non-Muslim women into scarfs, etc. when visiting these lands that have no freedom of religion.

I think it's cool that Sarkozy is saying this.  I hate those burqa's.  And really, to me (and admittedly I'm not a Muslim so I don't understand the tradition of this at all) the scarfs are just a smaller, more socially acceptable form of female oppression.  Though, in that part of the world, it's probably smarter to cover your head to protect it from the sun.  Which I would imagine, is part of the tradition of the thing, right?

I'm really very saddened by the violence in Iran.  Tear gas, live bullets, young people shot dead in the street.  Most of it all caught on tape or camera.  This horrible government that's cheating it's people out of their basic human rights is just ... horrible.  And other western countries are leading the calls for freedom, and we are still pretty silent.  I know President Obama made some remarks over the weekend.  But that's pretty much the same as trying to have a conversation in a wind storm.  The words come out but they are carried away in the wind and no one hears them.

But the violence was condemnded by world leaders. Last night Barack Obama, who is trying to balance a desire for long-term diplomacy with calls for strong rhetoric, made his most striking comments since the crisis began.


Mr Obama, who has appealed for dialogue with Tehran after three decades of severed ties, again called on the Iranian government to stop “all violent and unjust actions against its own people”

But ... and this is my personal opinion ... I think the United States is currently more worried about what our speaking out would do to negotiations with the leader of that country.  And that to me is sad.  A student spoke on CNN American Morning today, begging the international community to stand by them.  I don't think anyone is advocating active or physical intervention, but they want validation.

Everyone says all the time ... well countries have to do it for themselves!  Fight for freedom for themselves!  Why?  We didn't.  We had French help.  It was self-serving French help who hated the British, but we had some serious help from the French Navy.

Don't get me wrong, American colonials did a lot of the heavy lifting, but we did have some help.  And I'm not saying we send troops into Iran.  But, if the kids keep protesting, and the dicators keep killing people, are we really just going to sit back and do nothing?  And will we still negotiate and communicate with leaders that murdered people for trying to fight for their rights?

And if we are going to do that, why not put our money where are mouths are.  If these leaders are so reasonable and willing to talk and negoitate proliferation agreements with us ... than we can communicate to them the need to stop murdering their own people.