The essay on Israel in his 2007 book, Testimony, is absolutely dreadful. In fact, it is so bad that one could never imagine the French leader engaging in any remotely positive diplomacy in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, President Nicolas Sarkozy‘s current efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza have been quite fascinating to follow. My new piece on the subject was published on Thursday by France 24.
hey alison,
did you read the article? check the last third. the description is more nuanced.
in terms of arms sales between france and israel, its the other way around these days.
Sorry for any flippancy. *You* are nuanced but, as with all things Sarkozy, I assume French business interests come first, second and last. Rather than relations with the EU, he’s offering the ‘frogs round the pond’ neo-colonialism. Good for anyone other than France? Remains to be seen… (Before I’m banished to Rue de Remarks, that’s ‘frogs’ as in Plato! How unfortunate!)
Thanks Alison. I harbor the same inclinations. The nature of the assistance being given to the Palestinians by the EU is especially complex. As much as I find myself discomfited by it, however, its qualitatively different than what the Americans have supervised in recent years. That’s where I’m coming from.
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Hmmm…no mention of arms sales?
Perhaps my attention has wandered due to the ongoing Angola trial, or maybe it was the October press conference where French Defense Ministry announced their goal of cornering 16% of the arms market, or maybe it was the recent Private Eye revelations that the first 3 months of 2008 saw a large uptick in arms shipments to Israel from the UK (that old rivalry again)…but I would say follow the money not the diplomatic paper trail.
Cluster bombs all round!