The axis of hegemon has-beens

France, Germany, Russia, and China can be called the "axis of hegemon has-beens", those UN foot-draggers who had once been a dominating power but which have fallen for one reason or another and have not been able to regain an acceptable place in the sun. The Arab world had an illustrious period and could even make a come-back — with the arrival of an enlightened messiah.

In the banlieues (slums) of Paris the petty gangsters impose their hegemony by use of a pit-bull (dog). They are personified by the rap-singer Joey Starr, known for his violent attacks on an ex-girlfriend and an in-flight stewardess — as well as on a pet monkey — a popular folk hero on glitterati TV shows (of the state-controlled TV channels). He considers himself victim for the resultant legal hassles. Did Chirac want to use Saddam Hussein as his own pit-bull? As the French anti-Semites used the German Nazis to overcome their cowardice in dealing with the Jews?

Many of us face a moral dilemma, wanting to work for peace but not wanting to be used by those who lead the protests for their own agenda. How judge the real motives of Chirac and the peaceniks? Maybe the best indication is whether they offer feasible alternatives — of which there have been several:

first make it crystal-clear to Saddam and his regime that doubts about his weapons programs cannot remain, that compliance must be immediate, that military force is the inevitable alternative,
recruit those who are influential in the Arab world to convince Saddam's (ideological) supporters that his cowardly and dissolute atrocities and weapons programs bring dishonour to Islam, that Iraq under his rule can have no recognition and relations with their world, that he must go if Iraq is to have a future,
propose methods and help those who could and would bring about a democratic and peaceful Iraq with or without invasion,
devise tactics to reduce civilian casualties,
provide empathetic personnel to accompany US troops (who lack proper training from their narrow-minded leaders) in dealing with liberated populations.

No such gestures have come from the French authorities nor from the strident militants who brandish the worst allegations against the Americans and Israelis but are blind to the vital issues of world peace and the outrages of Saddam. One gets the idea that they are as indifferent to the well-being of Iraqi children as they are of American and Israeli children. By protecting Saddam they are encouraging him to hang on and extend the suffering of the ordinary Iraqis, just as they pushed the Viets and Pol Pot to intransigence — not to come to a reasonable accord with the Americans who only wanted to block a Russian or Chinese hegemony over all of Southeast Asia — thus assuring the massive suffering of these peoples. We will treat this phenomenon in an article titled With friends like that ... (who needs enemies).

The delaying tactics of de Villepin in the UN are in the French tradition of procédures dilatoires allowed by the courts for pettifogger lawyers to aid predatory clients in their vile deeds. In this case it only serves Saddam to perfect his doomsday weapons, thanks especially to France, Germany and Russia. Chirac and de Villepin have suddenly become single-minded devotees of a debatable legalism, when it comes to the US/UK action. Suffice it to say that Chirac is a scofflaw par excellence in this regard, as with his nuclear tests in the Pacific. See video clips on affairistes (Elf, Dumas, Chirac cronies, ... ) declared innocent by incredible manipulations of law and procedures.

What could Paris gain from a Saddam Hussein holding the world in hostage? 30% of the French wished that Saddam defeat the Anglos (another 30% approved the military action). It would of course mean the end of American hegemony as well as the end of that other people "sur de lui et dominateur" who stand in the way of French cultural hegemony. The new masters from Tikrit would surely spare Paris as an anything-goes playground (ie: brothel), an arrangement that would satisfy many French — as the Vichy period showed.

France is trying a post-war takeover of Iraq through the UN, a ploy that would give it the best chance of restoring its influence, having been the favoured partner of Saddam along with Russia in the UN's Oil for Food programme. Its funds have been handled by a French administrator without public scrutiny through the French BNP bank. Saddam has personally benefited from generous kickbacks in this as well as in sanction-violating deals. Of course, France SA will want to collect on Saddam's past debts and make his successors honour his contracts.

France has a bad reputation in building or even maintaining democracy and human rights in territories it has ruled, being more comfortable with corrupt regimes where bribery decides things. France showed its stuff recently in the Balkans where it blatantly used the French presence (with the indignant exception of the sainted Bernard Kouchner) to obtain contracts. One might expect a French-dominated administration in Iraq to restore its old friends of the Tikrit clan to power — as well as make disappear the incriminating archives and suppress witnesses of Chirac's past collaboration.

If Iraq can be confided to those who really wish it a healthy future — and there are many progressive-minded Muslims (Iraqis and others) with this sentiment — then it can become a shining beacon in this part of the world, giving hope and impetus to reformers. Friends from the new Europe can contribute their expertise while boosting their own economies and cultures. The danger is that the cronies of the old regime and their street thugs turn to gangsterism — as in the Balkans and Afghanistan. The civilised world will have to learn how to overthrow the ever-sprouting rogue regimes and establish long-term peace and justice for their people. And those of the Muslim world will hopefully realise that they've been hoodwinked by crude propaganda, that they are abandoned by their fair-weather friends who exploited them, inciting them to violence.

We might despair of salvaging those who have been indoctrinated from birth with an intolerant dogma and hatred for other peoples (sects, fundamentalist churches and Nazism in the West being examples), but there are ample cases of persons emerging from this pathology, especially after having lived some time and being accepted in a healthy liberal society. Nowadays this therapeutic experience can be vicariously gained through well-done audio-visual productions (TV, DVD, Internet). The most open to humanist values are young women, who can set the fashion and tempt/shame the menfolk into a path of honour.

RW

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