France Vacillates
Even as France appeared to have 'won' the latest round of diplomatic maneuvering in the Middle East, it is having second thoughts. The BBC reports that France is reconsidering troop deployment to Lebanon. As of yet, France has not even formally committed to sending troops to enforce the resolution that France brokered. It is no surprise that, once it comes to material commitments, the diplomats prevaricate. France's main interest was in being seen to win the diplomatic tussle, not in a long-term commitment to political engagement.
It is worth considering whether or not French diplomatic concerns with Lebanon are chauvinistic at root. European governments want to preside over local peace agreements between Israel and her neighbors, not because their ideas about reconciliation are more powerful or complete, but because it gives the EU governments a gloss of rationality that they cannot earn at home. French diplomnatic chauvinism presents itself in the guise of the 'honest broker,' who, after raising a stink over its own peace plan, cannot summon the will to defend it.
It is worth considering whether or not French diplomatic concerns with Lebanon are chauvinistic at root. European governments want to preside over local peace agreements between Israel and her neighbors, not because their ideas about reconciliation are more powerful or complete, but because it gives the EU governments a gloss of rationality that they cannot earn at home. French diplomnatic chauvinism presents itself in the guise of the 'honest broker,' who, after raising a stink over its own peace plan, cannot summon the will to defend it.
1 Comments:
Yes, the French did well to monkey-wrench the deal GW wanted, which was pure Zionism. But the deal they got still stinks. And they'd be fools to put boots on the ground anywhere in Palestine or the Levant.
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