"Few governments in the world, for example, praise human rights more ardently than does the government of France, and few have a worse record of supporting tyrants and killers"
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Perle’s line works like a scalpel: it slices open the gap between a nation’s self-image and its geopolitical habits. By choosing France - a state with a thick rhetorical tradition of universal rights, from the Revolution onward - he isn’t attacking the abstract idea of human rights. He’s attacking the performance of it: the way moral language can become a brand, a diplomatic accessory that travels well at podiums and summits while real policy follows colder calculations.
The construction is deliberately lopsided. “Praise... more ardently” evokes romance and sermonizing; “supporting tyrants and killers” lands with the blunt force of an indictment. That contrast is the engine. It’s meant to embarrass, to puncture a certain European style of high-minded talk that, in Perle’s telling, conveniently coexists with arms sales, strategic alliances, and post-colonial networks of influence. The subtext is classic Washington hardliner: don’t be fooled by virtue signaling from states that want the prestige of morality without the costs of enforcing it.
Context matters: Perle built a reputation in U.S. defense circles for hawkish skepticism toward European “soft power,” especially in debates around intervention, NATO, and the post-9/11 order. Naming France is less a case study than a proxy battle - a way to argue that rhetoric about rights is meaningless unless it aligns with coercive policy and consistent choices. It’s not a neutral observation; it’s a pressure tactic, aimed at delegitimizing French criticism by framing it as hypocrisy rather than principle.
The construction is deliberately lopsided. “Praise... more ardently” evokes romance and sermonizing; “supporting tyrants and killers” lands with the blunt force of an indictment. That contrast is the engine. It’s meant to embarrass, to puncture a certain European style of high-minded talk that, in Perle’s telling, conveniently coexists with arms sales, strategic alliances, and post-colonial networks of influence. The subtext is classic Washington hardliner: don’t be fooled by virtue signaling from states that want the prestige of morality without the costs of enforcing it.
Context matters: Perle built a reputation in U.S. defense circles for hawkish skepticism toward European “soft power,” especially in debates around intervention, NATO, and the post-9/11 order. Naming France is less a case study than a proxy battle - a way to argue that rhetoric about rights is meaningless unless it aligns with coercive policy and consistent choices. It’s not a neutral observation; it’s a pressure tactic, aimed at delegitimizing French criticism by framing it as hypocrisy rather than principle.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
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