I'm still digging out of the hole and trying to catch up on news from last week, but one story grabbed my attention.  Maura Flynn points out that Canada's National Post covered a story that almost the entire US media establishment looks to have missed: in his remarks last week at the UN Security Council, French President Nicolas Sarkozy verged on the edge of mocking President Obama over his idealistic rhetoric on nuclear disarmament.

Sarkozy did not mince words, saying:

The people of the entire world are listening to what we're saying, to our promises, our commitments and our speeches, but we live in a real world, not a virtual world.

We say: reductions must be made. And President Obama has even said, “I dream of a world without [nuclear weapons].” Yet before our very eyes, two countries are currently doing the exact opposite. Since 2005, Iran has violated five Security Council resolutions. Since 2005, Secretary-General, the international community has called on Iran to engage in dialogue. An offer of dialogue was made in 2005, an offer of dialogue was made in 2006, an offer of dialogue was made in 2007, an offer of dialogue was made in 2008, and another one was made in 2009. President Obama, I support the Americans' outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing. More enriched uranium, more centrifuges, and on top of that, a statement by Iranian leaders proposing to wipe a UN member State off the map.

You would think that the President of France publicly upbraiding the President of the United States for naivete at the United Nations would be front page news - or at least news. I'm pretty certain the US media would have considered it news if the president's name was Bush instead of Obama.

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