Video: French President Thinks “Obama Is Very Naive and Egotistical”

I’m generally suspicious of anonymous sources but given French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s public remarks I’m inclined to take Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Jack Kell at his word here:

From the Telegraph:

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, came close to mocking his American counterpart for the good intentions, which Mr Obama had heralded as an “historic” step towards nuclear abolition, even though it set no specific targets or fresh mandates.

“We live in a real world not a virtual world,” the Frenchman told the 15-member council. “And the real world expects us to take decisions.

“President Obama dreams of a world without weapons … but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite.

“Iran since 2005 has flouted five security council resolutions. North Korea has been defying council resolutions since 1993.

“I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe a UN member state off the map,” he continued, referring to Israel.

The sharp-tongued French leader even implied that Mr Obama’s resolution 1887 had used up valuable diplomatic energy.

“If we have courage to impose sanctions together it will lend viability to our commitment to reduce our own weapons and to making a world without nuke weapons,” he said.

Mr Sarkozy has previously called the US president’s disarmament crusade “naïve”.

Even Pres. Obama’s supporters, like Kathleen Parker, are starting to realize that his hope and change rhetoric are dangerously disconnected from the real word:

In keeping with his campaign promise to talk to America’s enemies without precondition, Barack Obama plans to turn his charms on Burma’s military junta. Slowly, we’re beginning to understand what hope and change were all about. Translation: Sure hope this change works.

It may be too soon to pass judgment on Obama’s new foreign policy strategy, but early returns on his gamble that talking is the best cure are less than reassuring. Each time Obama extends a hand to one of the world’s anti-American despots, he is rewarded with an insult (Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez) or, perhaps, a missile display (North Korea and Iran).

One may view these episodes as diminishing America’s status or as a tolerable annoyance — sort of the way Dobermans view toy poodles. At some point, the big dog reminds the little yapper of his place. Unfortunately, the American commander in chief is a cat in a dog-eat-dog world.

Liberals like Pres. Obama have a way of seeing the world as they think it is not the way it really is. Pres. Obama undoubtedly views his willingness to talk with our enemies without precondition as reasoned, intelligent diplomacy they however view it as weakness.

Anyway it’s a sad day when a French President is calling out an American President to lead the free world… God help us.

North Korea Abandons 1953 Armistice…

I’ve been expecting this:

May 27 (Bloomberg) — North Korea threatened a military response to South Korean participation in a U.S.-led program to seize weapons of mass destruction, and said it will no longer abide by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

“The Korean People’s Army will not be bound to the Armistice Agreement any longer,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. Any attempt to inspect North Korean vessels will be countered with “prompt and strong military strikes.” South Korea’s military said it will “deal sternly with any provocation” from the North.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak ordered his government to take “calm” measures on the threats, his office said in a statement today. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Takeo Kawamura, echoed those remarks and called on North Korea to “refrain from taking actions that would elevate tensions in Asia.”

The threats are the strongest since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon on May 25, drawing international condemnation and the prospect of increased sanctions against the communist nation. South Korea dispatched a warship to its maritime border and is prepared to deploy aircraft, Yonhap News reported, citing military officials it didn’t identify.

“This rapid-fire provocation indicates a more aggressive shift in the Kim Jong Il regime,” said Ryoo Kihl Jae, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “Kim is obviously using a strategy of maximum force.”

This isn’t good news, but it’s not as bad as you may think… North Korea is in many ways like the proverbial problem child acting out to get attention. This isn’t the first time they’ve threatened to abandon the 1953 armistice they did the same thing in 2006 protest the annual military exercises conducted by U.S. and South Korean forces.

The bigger issue is what do we do with North Korean? We’ve had roughly 15 years of negotiations under three different administrations and gotten no where… It’s time we faced reality, North Korea is a nuclear power. No amount of U.N. sanctions or negotiations are going to put that genie back in the bottle… The only issue now is how do we contain them?

Related

• North Korea Says Truce No Longer Valid – Wall Street Journal
• Defeating a Hitler with nukes: Nothing else matters – American Thinker
• The time for O’s mettle test is here: North Korea prepares for war – Michelle Malkin
• Test, or testing for the test? – Power Line
• Rumblings from the Korean Peninsula – Red State
• RE: North Korea Warns of Military Strike – Wizbang