I confess, I do not understand what French President Chirac hopes to accomplish. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (hat tip to today's Best of the Web), Chirac conspired with President al-Assad to prepare for the upcoming February 5th meeting at the UN. Since SANA’s web site is sometime difficult to access, I’ll post the official release here:
Damascus,Jan.30(SANA)-President Bashar al-Assad received a telephone call before noon today from French President Jacque Chirac.
Talks on the phone dealt with the latest developments regarding Iraq particularly after the issuance of the international inspectors reports and how can the two countries coordinate at the Security Council in the next stage to prevent the circumstances from reaching the point that may lead to the war on Iraq.
I have written about my hope that Chirac and Schröder will join the international coalition against Saddam in the near future. In my opinion, Colin Powell’s upcoming visit to the UN will serve two important purposes. First of all, it completes the last requirement of Security Council Resolution 1441, which legally required the security council to consult before hostilities commence. Note, the resolution does not require another vote, just consultation. This will be done. Secondly, it gives the nations that have advocated appeasement a chance to save face. Powell will present some ‘new’ information and give the appeasers a chance to say “This changes everything! How can we help?” I still have hopes of this occurring – especially with Germany.
However, unless Chirac wants to isolate France from the international community, I do not understand his latest ploy.