Following France to war
I never, even in a drunken stupor, thought I’d see France lead anything beyond a fashion show. Yet, this is how far we’ve fallen;
It’s the same France that vigorously opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq eight years ago and has advocated trying every possible approach before bringing in the guns in other international crises.
Analysts say the extraordinary turnaround may be rooted in a revival by President Nicolas Sarkozy of traditional French notions of high-minded interventionism, as well as an attempt by the French leader to ease Europe away from its longtime dependence on the U.S. security umbrella.
Apparently, France was the first to fire it’s weapons in the Ivory Coast to cause the latest third world shit hole dictator to hunker down and beg for mercy. And it’s a war for cocoa, for some reason. It figures that France would find a condiment worth blood and treasure.
The Associated Press says “It’s the same France that vigorously opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq eight years ago” but obviously, it’s not the “same” France.
I’m glad that part of the world is finally shouldering their portion of responsibilities to the community of nations. I guess it’s better late than never.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Foreign Policy
I myself have never doubted the fighting abilities of the French, just the testicular fortitude of their political leaders. Nice to see Sarkozy has that fortitude.
Guess I won’t wear my “French Salute” T-shirt for awhile…unless there’s a change.
It should be noted that France led the way into Libya as well. Coupla false starts, and side-steps, to be sure, but lead they did.
Thus, I’m not so sure this is a good thing? Not that there aren’t things that need to be done, mind you, but given the effete gang in DC AND a new(?) campaign underway… It might just be a BOHICA moment?
We followed the French into Vietnam as well. That worked out great for us.
Anon #4: Yeah, I considered mentioning that as an object lesson, but few care about ancient history.
We helped the French during the Indochina war. We helped the government of South Vietnam. Unless my history’s wrong, there were at least a few years of separation.
And in fairness to the French: in 2002-3 the French were lead by a close personal friend/paid associate of Saddam Hussein. French honor demanded Chirac remain a lackey since he took the money. Other European leaders weren’t so… set in their loyalties.
Still, glad to see Sarkozy at the helm.
Cocoa is not a condiment! It is the founding block for a substance that makes life worth living – Chocolate.
@Anonymous…Went there done that for extended periods. IMHO the negative results of that campaign were due to those illustrious Pussys of the Potomac, Johnson, Mcnamara and their assorted brethren of the pond.
Susan…AMEN!
Hmmm… Everyone is right enough about ‘Nam. I guess some here DO care about ancient history? I might argue about the real time lag. Stories abound… Still
Don’t like chocolate myself.
Ivory Coast is a former colony of France, I know there were actual French troops in the nation just a few years ago. We’ve got to remember kicking over some little strong man over, is different on scale, by many an order of magnitude, then even dealing with medium sized countries like Afghanistan or Iraq. France had over 400,000 troops in Algeria by the end of the war there, even if roughly half were colonial formations of some kind. Today they have roughly a thousand last I counted in Afghanistan, a reinforced Infantry battalion.
Still nice to see an ally with a little local power projection, indepentant of ourselves. At least they can police some of the nooks/niches of the world.
Look there are no winners in the Ivory Coast. The guy that was declared the winner, Alassane Ouattara, in the election is Muslim and his followers are responsible for some serious massacres of Christians.
The should be outgoing president, Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to relinquish power really ain’t much better but he did lose the election. The French is essence are using their military power to help install the Muslim president who may or may not be able to stop the bloodshed.
The incoming guy is a very western Muslim who is American educated and was a board member of the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
To read more for yourself visit the BBC News website. They have an entire section devoted to this on their Africa tab.
It just seems like another one of those Kobiashu Maru scenarios.
I remember hearing somewhere way back that we should expect the price of chocolate to rise significantly. Now, I’m not one for conspiracy theories…however….
With France and Libya it is really simple – they get most of their oil from the Libyans.
This brouhaha is fucking up their gas supply.
Nothing more evolved than that.
Nothing more evolved than that.
–Gaddafi invaded Chad (a French ally) in the 80s and sponsored “revolutionary” groups operating in West African and Arab-Berber former French colonies.
Payback may be a factor here. Or not. Lancing an old boil in lieu of tolerating it for much longer is another consideration.