Florida break

I am back after a great break in Tampa. I was visiting David and Cristina in their new installation. Great city, Tampa is located on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. The city was founded as a resort for wealthy Northeasterners. A train, the Plant System, brought rich customers to a Victorian hotel from which they could dip their feet in the Gulf. I do not know how they survived without air-conditioning. Last week-end, with the approach of Hurricane Ernesto,the humidity was close to 100%.
I visited the "Bodies" exhibition which I warmly recommend : "opened" real human bodies in various poses....
I was lucky enough to be invited at Donatello's, a restaurant to die for.

Back to reality. Washington DC is slowly waking up from the dog days of August. Nicolas Sarkozy, French minister and candidate to the presidency, is coming to town. I will miss him because I will be on my way to Asia. Le Figaro says he was learning English while at the beach. Without me, he will need it!
It seems that France is sending a "robust" contingent of troops to UNIFIL in Lebanon. Earlier hesitations were due to assurances that the French brass requested before they committed their soldiers to that tragic land. They have not forgotten the "Drakkar" bombing where 58 French paratroopers were blown up by Hezbollah in 1983.
And, if France seems at times to pursue a pro-arab policy, because of its proximity to the region and the composition of its population, the military has a few accounts to settle.
Half the troops killed in UNPROFOR in Bosnia were French. French officers actually leaked intelligence to the Serbs and called the Bosnian moslems "Bosniouls", in reference to the racist French term for moslems: "bougnouls".
None of the brass has forgotten the bloody Algerian war. Chirac himself served in that war for two years as a captain.
David Galula's book on urban guerilla in Arab countries, and the classic film "The battle of Algiers" are now in the packs of all US officers in Iraq.
Armed with Leclerc tanks and surface to surface missiles, the 2,000 French troops in Lebanon might have to disarm Hezbollah.
France, which exercised a protectorate over Syria and Lebanon, also has accounts to settle with Damascus. President Hariri, killed on orders from Assad, was a personal friend of Chirac. The French president's rage led him to fight Syria at the UN, impose a humiliating retreat from Lebanon, and now, might position the French Foreign Legion on the approaches to Syria.
Lebanon, a French speaking country, still has descendants from French Crusaders. And Arab children learn at school that the said Crusaders, under Godefroi de Bouillon, in the early Middle Ages, used to eat moslem babies to the cry of "Deus le volt".
No wonder it took a while before deciding on the sending of troops.
Besides, France already has troops in Kossovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Congo, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Chad, as well as in a dozen other less warring regions.

Macaque

One of my two senators, George Allen of Virginia, has just committed the unforgivable freudian slip that will sink his presidential aspirations.
Annoyed by a young man filming his speeches for his opponents'campaign, Allen called him a "macaca". This epithet was addressed to the young man with the video camera, who happened to be the only dark skinned, Indian American, in the room. "Welcome to Virginia, the real America" sneered Mr. Allen. That Mr. Siddarth was born in Dunn Loring, Northern Virginia adds to the comic of the situation.
The senator, a fluent French speaker, tried to explain his racist slur away by saying it referred to the young man's mohawk..
When are republican politicians going to stop taking their audiences for complete idiots? Perhaps the good senator should wake up and look at the "real" Virginia around him.

"Macaque", in French slang, is a derogatory word for dark skinned persons of non-European origin.
As French speaking senators go, give me John Kerry anytime.

Losers

Early this morning the cease fire decided at the UN has put an end to the 6th Arab Israeli war, the one month long war in Lebanon.
Who won?
Nobody.
Who are the Losers?

Israel.
By far the biggest losers, they have demonstrated that their ultra performing army was unable to win an asymetric war against religious fanatics bent on their anihilation and ready for martyrdom.
Double losers, since they lost the moral high ground with world public opinion, in causing a very visisble carnage among Lebanese civilians.
Finally losers, because Hezbollah is still in Lebanon, but Olmert will lose his job and Israel will be ruled by Bibi Netanyahu, who will prepare the country for the 7th war.
Note that no TV station showed us Hezbollah fighters hiding behind women and children.

Lebanon.
Second largest losers, in people and property. Victim of a Syria that has never swallowed the humiliation of being kicked out unceremoniously last year. Dismembered because 1/3 of the population and the parliament are actually hezbollah and proponent of medieval Islam.

The USA
The US have lost big. According to Seymour Hersh in the latest issue of the New Yorker (08/14/06), the neocons, under Eliot Abrams of Contras fame, had pushed Israel to probe Hezbollah resistance, as a dry run and a prelude to an attack on Syria and Iran.
By delaying the peace, supplying weapons to Israel, and with Condi Rice losing face during her hapless trip to the Middle east, the USA have gratuitously angered the arab street. Result: Their champion Israel is humiliated, and hezbollah lives to fight another war, all the while revealing the enormous equipment and technology supplied by Tehran.

Europe.
Since the French referendum on the defunct EU constitution, the EU is limp. Its presence in the Middle east is moot. France had to cave in at the UN and won't even have a Chapter 7 right to enforce its mandate.

The world.
Is the world safer because Nasrallah can claim victory today? Is the world ready to accept the armed dictatorship of religious fanatics, who have never been elected, and impose their obscurantist superstitions on the rest of the world?
The French Resistance in WWII never intended to spread their ideology to the rest of the world, nor destroy the infidels.
In Washington, the neocons have already drawn the only conclusion from this sorry exercise: our champion, Israel,has not been able to prevail over a fanatic group, well armed and controlled by Iran. In trying to limit civilian deaths, they were too timid. Conclusion: The only way to eradicate the danger represented by Iran and Syria is to go all out and wipe them out with all our might.

The more I see it, the more we are in 1938.

Never cry wolf.

As a frequent flyer, I feel particularly concerned by the latest uncovered plot. Not only the very routes and airlines I so often use were on the targeted list, but I find the airport experience increasingly unpleasant. In my latest passage through London-Heathrow, I spent my entire 3 hours layover waiting in line for various and sundry security checks. And that was last June!
While perusing the European press, and its letters to the Editor, I was not surprised to find widespread disbelief that there ever was a plot. Many Europeans are of the firm opinion that the periodic discovery of plots and the perennial alerts, are nothing but political maneuvers from he White House in order to influence elections.
Unfortunately, they are by and large right.
This time, however, I fear they are wrong.
I sense that the murderous Islamists outed by Scotland Yard meant business. What is to be done with people who wilfully murder human beings on a large scale claiming supernatural orders? They have lost their membership in the human race and should be exterminated.
The same goes for Hezbollah, by the way.
A recent article in Brussel's "Le Soir", demonstrates that their fundraising comes from diamond, drugs, and human trafficking. Thus the "party of God" can purchase weapons with which it can target civilians in Israel.
Once again, many Europeans feel compelled to side with the enraged moslems. To wit, the recent demonstration in Brussels where humane minded citizens demonstrated against Israel in a sea of Hezbollah flags.
That we could come to such an aberration is partly due to the wrong choices made by the Bush Administration in Iraq and by its political shenanigans.

La guerre en Irak est perdue.

Après plus de trois ans de guerre contre l'Irak, on commence à avouer officiellement que la guerre est un fiasco, pour reprendre le titre d'un livre qui vient de sortir ici.
Hier, les généraux Abizaid, commandant en chef en Irak, et Pace, Chef d'Etat major, on déclaré que la situation était pire que jamais et que le pays allait à la guerre civile. Le mot est lâché. Soit dit en passant, le général Pace est fils d'immigrants italiens et porte donc mal son nom qui veut dire paix en italien.

L'ONU avait déclaré cette guerre illégale. Le monde entier avait critiqué le gouvernement Bush pour son aventurisme.
Mais, aveuglé par un mélange d'idéologie, de cupidité et de religiosité exacerbée, l'entourage de Bush est allé au devant de la catastrophe. Sans connaissance aucune du pays, de sa culture, de son histoire ou de sa religion, les néo-conservateurs y sont allé gaiement.George Bush n'avait jamais entendu parler de Sunnis ou de Shia avant la guerre.
Il apparait qu'Ahmed Chalabi, l'homme d'affaire Irakiens qui avait assuré les américains qu'ils seraient accueilli à Baghdad comme à Paris en 1944, et qu'ils ont poussé au poste de Premier ministre, travaillait pour l'Iran qui sort grand vainqueur de cette guerre, régnant maintenant en maître sur tout le Moyen Orient et son pétrole.
Après 100 000 irakiens tués, la mort de 2600 jeunes militaires US , 400 milliards de dollars partis en fuméee, une facture qui continue à se monter a 2 milliards de $ par semaine, une réputation en ruine et une haine universelle, l'Administration Bush cherche la sortie.
Quelle qu'elle soit, la sortie, souhaitée par 72% des américains, va couter trés cher.
3quarts des brigades militaires US ne sont plus en état de combattre (Besoins de réparer hommes et machines, manque de budget etc..)
Si les USA quittent l'Irak demain, les islamo-fascistes qui les combattent auront vite tiré la conclusion de leur faiblesse et il faudra s'attendre à d'autres 11 septembres!
L'engluement en Irak paralyse toute autre initiative. L'Iran, la Syrie, le Hezbollah et le hamas en profitent dès aujourd'hui.

Bien sûr, on peut se réjouir de la déconfiture de Bush et de ses associés. Mais il a fait beaucoup de dégâts ici aux USA en écornant pas mal la Constitution sous couvert de temps de guerre. En fin de compte, sans les USA pense-t-on que l'Europe seule fera face à la menace islamiste? Avec un Iran regonflé, doté de l'arme nucléaire, une Corée du nord incontrôlée et des milices islamistes en liberté prônant tchador et sharia au bout de leurs roquettes, sommes nous plus à l'abri?

Le public américain va faire fonctionner sa Constitution en novembre et va imposer une défaite cuisante à ses parlementaires qui lui ont menti et l'ont entraîné dans cette triste aventure. si les Démocrates obtiennent une des deux chambres des auditions vont être lancée qui vont entraîner des enquêtes sur la guerre, les liens avec Enron, la corruption avec Halliburton, mais aussi tout le mystère qui entoure le 11 septembre.
Comme au lendemain du Vietnam le public américain ne voudra plus entendre parler de faire le gendarme du monde pendant longtemps.
Il faudra que l'Europe se dote de gros budgets militaires pour se protéger, ou alors enseigner l'arabe et le Coréen à ses enfants!