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2 THE ROVING EYE French-kissing the war on
Iran By Pepe Escobar
non-governmental organization
founded - with the discreet Richard Rossin - to
alleviate people's misery and suffering and defend
their human rights in war theaters.
Kouchner was in favor of the war on Iraq -
on the basis of human rights serially violated by
Saddam (as if the US occupation would turn Iraq
into Sweden). Recently, he became the first French
foreign minister to go to
Iraq since 1988 - vainly offering French mediation
as an "honest broker" among Sunnis, Shi'ites and
Kurds, none of whom, perhaps wisely, bothered to
take it.
Another myth perpetrated by the
majority of the French, and large sectors of the
US, press is that Kouchner and Sarkozy harbor
"humanitarian motives" for an intervention in
Darfur in Sudan. There are rumors in Paris of a
dodgy French-supported coup about to be engineered
against the government in Khartoum. The motive in
this case is precious Sudanese oil - which simply
cannot be allowed to be solely in the hands of the
Chinese.
Media hero? Certainly. Shameless
egomaniac? Most of the time. There are reasons to
believe Kouchner may also be quite a distorted
humanist. The French doctor is arguably the most
popular European proponent of imperialism with a
human face. The phenomenon has been dissected with
implacable brilliance by Jean Bricmont in his book
Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to
Sell War (Monthly Review Press, New York,
2006).
Bricmont is a first-class, rigorous
European intellectual, a professor of theoretical
physics at the University of Louvain, one of the
executive directors of the highly respected
Brussels Tribunal (an association of
"intellectuals, artists and activists who denounce
the logic of permanent war promoted by the
American government and its allies"), and recently
a co-organizer of an extensive Noam Chomsky
compilation at the prestigious French collection
L'Herne.
In his book, Bricmont describes
how humanitarian imperialism became the ordre
du jour:
Moralizing rhetoric combined with
perfectly cynical practice (notably in
Afghanistan) was amazingly successful. In
Europe, especially in France, where
revolutionary illusions were fading, the
intelligentsia took charge of a major reversal,
from the systematic criticism of power,
associated with [Jean-Paul] Sartre and [Michel]
Foucault, to its systematic defense - especially
the power of the United States - symbolized by
the emergence of the "new philosophers" as media
stars. Defense of human rights became the theme
and principal argument of the new political
offensive against both the socialist bloc and
Third World countries emerging from
colonialism.
Gone are the days when
France, as Bricmont writes in his book regarding
the war on Iraq, could "act independently of
European Union structures" and oppose US hegemony
"without firing a single shot". In a recent piece
on Counterpunch.org, Bricmont explained how there
won't be any opposition at the core of Europe to
an attack on Iran:
France has been changed from the
most independent European country to the most
poodlish (this was in fact the main issue in the
recent presidential election, but it was never
even mentioned during the campaign). In France,
moreover, the secular "left" is, in the main,
gung-ho against Iran for the usual reasons
(women, religion). There will be no large-scale
demonstrations in France either before or after
the bombing. And, without French support,
Germany - where the war is probably very
unpopular - can always be silenced with memories
of the Holocaust, so that no significant
opposition to the war will come from Europe
(except possibly from its Muslim population,
which will be one more argument to prove that
they are "backward", "extremist" and enemies of
our "democratic
civilization").
Kouchner is of course
aware he's playing in the "winning" camp.
Nevertheless, quite a few top European
intellectuals are baffled that a doctor who
created an association helping populations
destroyed by war is now all but advocating war
(humanitarian imperialism as a way to "save" the
women and the youth of Iran). By following the
dictates of Sarkozy - whose knowledge of foreign
policy rivals Miss France's - Kouchner seems to
ignore how Iraq turned into an ethical, political,
strategic - and humanitarian - disaster of
biblical proportions.
French public
opinion, though, simply will not swallow Sarkozy
basking in the glow of a self-appointed role as
preferred Bush courtesan. The excellent French
blog Rue89.com has pointed out how foreign policy
in France is woven "without a national debate,
even a parliamentary discussion".
"Unguided missile" Kouchner has been to
many a theater of war to know better: he should
beware his missiles don't reduce himself - and his
master - to collateral damage.
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