Posted on June 14, 2008 - by Venik

Bush-Sarkozy News Conference

On the stage they looked like two brothers – American Bush and the French Bush. Bush looked tired and annoyed: same old questions from the journalists and the same old answers from Bush’s policy advisers that he memorized and could regurgitate almost without mistakes. Sarkozy, on the other hand, was clearly feeling napoleonic that day. He was openly kissing W’s ass and even took a couple of swings at his own EU, the Lisbon accord, and the Irish referendum. In 1954 France withdrew from Vietnam after the Dien Bien Phu fiasco and the Americans took over. So I was thinking: it looks like with Sarkozy in charge France was now ready to return the favor and take over in Iraq.

I truly hope that, when the French see Bush and their guy standing side-by-side and acting like some sort of a trans-Atlantic political cliché factory, they would at least acknowledge the fact that Bush could have been elected even in France. Dumb rednecks are not an exclusively American phenomenon. As energy prices continue to grow, the rifts in the political fabric of the EU become more apparent. The Big Four will do whatever they can to get out of the cold and, if necessary, they will do it at the expense of the rest of the EU. As before, they will seek bilateral deals with Washington, Moscow, and Beijing, while the Lithuanians and the Estonians will be chopping down their desks and chairs for firewood.

The EU, unfortunately, is not the political and economic force to resists US hegemony that many hoped it was. The big white cruise ship that is the EU just hit some choppy waters and the rats are already jumping. As the Lisbon accord ran out of trust and the Lisbon airport ran out of fuel, the massive strike by the Spanish truckers is beginning to spread to France and starts affect critical fuel shipments. Suddenly, Sarkozy, who was so optimistic about the Lisbon accord just a few weeks ago, is now saying that he was not surprised by the outcome of the referendum in Ireland. I think that he was surprised, but I also I believe that, had a similar referendum been conducted in other EU countries, in most cases the outcome would have been the same resolute “No”.

Smaller EU members are hoping to use the Union’s political weight for collective economic bargaining, while EU’s stronger members are trying to get more beneficial bilateral deals with foreign energy suppliers. Same old shit as usual. Restructuring of EU’s extensive government bureaucracy has to be the last thing on the minds of most Europeans these days. Sarkozy, like his buddy from Washington, is no economic genius. He’s definitely a smoother talker, but that’s all there is and ever will be to his presidency – just talk.

For the past fifty years France has been a model of what a global power’s political attitudes should be: stay above the influences of foreign powers, make them eat your baguettes, take care of your people, and mind your own business. And France has been very good at doing these things. Sarkozy decided to pick one universally most hated leader in the world and became his best friend. Why? Perhaps this is love at first sight between two Napoleon wannabes? I don’t know. Sarkozy is a shrewd politician and politically speaking he has nothing to gain from associating himself with the highly unpopular outgoing US president. I don’t think Sarkozy has anything to gain financially from his close affiliation with W. So, if this is not about politics or money, this must be personal.

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