[Futurework] What did Le Monde say?

[Keith Hudson]

What with a business to keep an eye on and writing immoderately to Futurework List I don't often have time to walk into town. But a necessary visit to the dentist called me there yesterday and I decided to buy a copy of Le Monde to read in the waiting room. "It will be interesting", I thought, "to read what the French say about this Iraq business".

I turned to the second page where the international news starts and here Iraq had a page all to itself. But there was no nonsense there about the existence or not of Weapons of Mass Destruction or what devious people Rumsfeld or Wolfovitz were (or even whether President Chirac will deign to talk to Bush*). Three of the four headlined items were:

L'Irak fait rapidement red�marrer sa production de p�trole

Le "ministre" promet des exportations "dans trois semaines"

Les Etats-Unis ont acquis les pleins pouvoirs sur l'exploitation des hydrocarbures

So while the o-word is scarcely mentioned in the American and British press, the French obviously know what the war was all about.

(*President Chirac, with all the hauteur of someone who's been in politics for over 40 years, having met nearly all of the famous and infamous world statesmen since WWII, including several American Presidents and British Prime Minsitgers, treats Tony Blair as an arriviste and put him in his place by ignoring him at a recent soir�e, much to Blair's obvious embarrassment, as we saw very plainly on our TV. God knows how Chirac will treat Bush at the forthcoming G8 meeting at St Evian. I feel almost sorry for the man already.)

Sorry about all the French words, incidentally. Reading Le Monde has obviously affected me. It's only a temporary maladie I'm sure.

Keith Hudson



Keith Hudson



 
Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath, England