CON GAME
CON GAME: William Saletin has an excellent analysis of “The France-Germany Con Game”:
In short, the alternative to which de Villepin unfavorably compares our prospective use of force is our current use of force. If that approach is working so well, the way to extend it is to send even more troops and armor to the Persian Gulf. Yet de Villepin neglects to include that element in the French proposal for further inspections. Indeed, he excludes it. “We would not accept a resolution that would lead to war,†he declared after the council debate.
Exactly. What the peaceniks always fail to acknowledge is that the threat of force often is vital to diplomacy. As Frederick the Great observed, “Diplomacy without armaments is like music without instruments.”
