La Californie

Je reviens d'une semaine passée dans le sud de la Californie. Là, on est aussi loin que possible de la Lorraine. Quand on arrive au bord du Pacifique, après avoir traversé des heures de désert, on a vraiment l'impression d'arriver à un terminus, une fin des terres. Surtout quand on arrive juste pour voir le soleil s'engloutir dans l'océan.
J'ai eu l'occasion de travailler à 29 palms, l'immense camp militaire des Marines, où ils s'entrainent pour défendre la civilisation chrétienne en terre d'Islam. Il faut dire que le paysage, et les installations, se rapprochent beaucoup des paysages d'Àfghanistan ou d'Ìrak. Hautes montagnes dénudéees, désert pierreux, ciel d'un bleu intense. Cela permet d'entrainer 50 000 marines chaque année avant de les envoyer en mission.
La prime, pour moi, c'était de découvrir Palm Springs, cet oasis pour milliardaire, et surtout le parc national de Joshua Tree.
Ce parc, qui a la taille d'un petit pays d'Europe, est une réserve où l'on peut trouver des yuccas, des Joshuas, des cactus, et des amas fantastiques de rochers qui changent de couleur avec la position du soleil. En plein janvier, il faisait 25 degrés.
Un superbe trajet dans les sierras inhabitées du bassin de Morongo m'ont ramené à Los Angeles, avec ses banlieues dynamiques, ses palmiers et sa population cosmopolite en shorts et T-shirt, où les blancs sont la minorité.
On ne pourrait pas être plus loin du duel Royal-Sarkozy.

Desert Life

I have just returned from a week in Southern California, SoCal for the cognoscenti. The object of my trip was a job at 29 Palms , the Marine Corps training center.
Over 935 square miles of desert terrain, the Marines train with realistic exercises, aimed at preparing them for deployment in Afghanistan or Iraq. More than 50,000 marines train there annually.
The stuff of war is always somber. The individual Marine means well. Probably the best soldier in the world, he is ready to sacrifice his life for Mom, apple pie and Chevrolet. The leaders are extremely well educated Renaissance types, who try to balance saving their Marines'life and defeating the enemy.
In "The Republic", Plato tells us that the "city" needs dedicated defenders. They are the best example of that role. And in today's modern armed forces, every soldier is also a sophisticated specialist and an accomplished computer expert.
The simulation and exercises offered at 29 Palms, are extremely realistic and a good preparation.

After that, it was time to visit another time of desert, Joshua Tree National Park. Located 300km west of Los Angeles, in the Morongo basin, not far from Death valley, Joshua Tree is a 794,000 acres desert, with yuccas, Joshua trees, granite rock formations, wildlife, and, in the spring, carpets of bright rare flowers. Walking in the sand , among trees with fantastic human forms, in total silence, and under a deep, cobalt blue sky, one can think about Life, war, Peace and the frailty of human existence. After the sound of explosions, tank engines, the clatter of machine guns, and helicopters, the desert can also teach you about time, space and yourself.

The rest of the trip had the added bonus of a stay in Los Angeles, eternally warm, hopeful, busy, in the gentle sway of its palm trees, and bathed in the sunset over Manhattan Beach.

Davos

On January 24th, the latest edition of the World Economic Forum will open. The theme for this year's gathering is "The shifting Power".
The Jannuary 29 edition of Time magazine has an article concerned with the decoupling of the world from the US economy. " It used to be that the US economy supported the world economy. Now, it is the other way around." Economists hesitate between "a happy slowdown" and a "meltdown" for the US economy.
What happened since 1999, when I accompanied a high ranking delegation of French politicians who wanted to study Clinton's economic miracle, the huge budget surplus, the incredible growth rate, the inexistant unemployment, the "goldilocks economy"?
True, one could say that emerging countries like China, India, Brazil Indonesia or Turkey woke up and have achieved remarkable progress.
One could talk about 9/11, the internet bubble or the housing speculation.
The bottom line is that the war in Iraq, ill advised, mendaciously excused and illegally perpetrated, has brought the nation on the edge of ruin. At the very least, it has knocked it off its pedestal
One does not die of a financial wound. Nations do not either. But what has been lost with the Bush administration adventure is infinitely dearer: Prestige.
The dollar is down, the army is in bad shape, the country's reputation as a beacon of human rights has been tarnished and the very Constitution has been hit. Foreign students and businessmen are no longer welcome.
Fortunately, the Constitution proved its strength. November 9 constituted a welcome turn around. And the new Democratic Congress has already started repair work. But like a great tanker, it will take time before the country can claim its former place at the table.
In the meantime, voices in Europe are advocating a shift of alliances toward Russia and the Arab world, away from Washington. Iran is requesting the Euro for foreign payments, and both India and China are busy establishing partnerships with Africa and latin America.

The Davos talks will be especially interesting this year, even if their very topic is a warning sign for Americans. While they were having their "splendid little war" in the Middle East, the world kept turning and used their self inflicted weakness to its advantage.

The Surge

History is usually a good guide and an accurate predictor of the future. Santayana famously warned that, if it was ignored it would have to be repeated.
I recently came across the word surge in a book written about WWI.

"But , as had happened too often in the past , the attack was plagued by delays and difficulties, so that, when Nivelle finally ordered the plan into motion, the Germans were completely prepared. Despite serious reservations from the British, and Nivelle's own commanders, in mid-April, a million Frenchmen had surged into the german defenses between Soissons and Reims. Signs of disater were immediate. On the first day of the assault the French suffered forty thousand casualties. But Nivelle stubbornly persisted, launching a continuing series of fruitless and costly attacks, until, finally, by early may, Nivelle was forced to concede total defeat. the disaster cost Nivelle his job. But to an enormous number of weary French troops, it was the last straw. All along the Aisne front ,thousands of French soldiers just quit. Many laying down their rifles.....an uprising that threatened to dissolve the French army from the inside out."

"To the Last man". by Jeff Shaara.
Ballantine Books. p.178

Transition.

Je rentre de France, ou plutôt d'Alsace-Lorraine ou j'ai passé la transition de la nouvelle année.
Transition pour la politique française qui s'achemine vers les élections présidentielles.
Nicolas Sarkozy semble être le champion de la droite, défenseurs des personnes agées, pourfendeur de la racaille, et grand amateur des Amériques.
La belle Ségolène Royal, qui remporte le premier prix dans la catégorie bikini, juste devant ArletteLaguillier , est bien sympathique. Mais , tout comme M. Sarkozy, elle n'a pas remarqué que 70% des lois en France viennent de l'Union Européenne. Ni l'un ni l'autre ne font mention de l'UE. Le reste de la gauche se trouve quelque part entre Jaurès, (1914), Marx (1850) , Blum (1936) et Mendès (1954)! Pas exactement progressiste tout ça!
M. Bayrou, lui, et M. Chirac, prennent toujours le soin d'annoncer que, eux aussi, sont contre le capitalisme libéral. Ah Bon! Comme ça on est rassuré.
Les emprunts qui font tourner la Sécu et payent les enseignants, les investissements étrangers qui emploient 30 % des français, ça ne serait pas du capitalisme?
Tant que nos élus proférerons de telles sottises, on saura qu'ils essayent de faire accroire au bon peuple qu'ils détiennent le pouvoir, alors que le véritable pouvoir se tient à l'OMC, au FMI, à la Bourse et dans les salles de change des Investisseurs Institutionnels.

Alexandre Adler expliquait récemment qu'il y a toute une famille de socio-nationalistes en France, qui pousseraient à une alliance avec la Russie de Poutine et le Monde Arabe, au détriment des attaches Atlantiques avec les USA.
Je sais bien que l'Administration Bush a beaucoup déçu, que la campagne anti-française de Rumsfeld était idiote, et que José Bové marque beaucoup les esprits dans son approche simpliste à l'Astérix. Mais qu'on se rappelle les bons conseils naguère distribués à son maitre par M. Galouzeau de Villepin : dissolution catastrophique de l'Assemblée, rupture catastrophique d'avec la diplomatie US. Ça ne pouvait venir que d'un ci-devant jamais élu!
Et puis les lettres de créances démocratiques de M. Poutine, ou de tout régime Islamique sont trés suspectes. Sont-elles préfèrables à l'État de Droit que sont les USA?
Socio-nationaliste, est-ce trés différent de national-socialiste?

La France a intérêt à reconstruire l'Europe. Le temps presse. Et devant les menaces mondiales, que la France n'oublie jamais Pershing, Omaha Beach ou le Plan Marshall.