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What have the French done to spread democracy, anywhere?
June 27, 2004
iranian.com
I'm no expert, I know, but I care not a jot and that is
what matters in politics. When I hear the self-righteous rants
of sections of the anti-Bush population, I think of King James
I, who told some puritans, "I give not a turd for your preaching."
King James I was a fun character, give or take a couple of plagues,
a rat-infested London and misery for the population, though he
was hardly to blame. They were doing no better in France, where
religious wars were followed by aristocratic rebellion against
kings Louis XIII and XIV, endemic starvation, and more wars under
Louis XIV, who also built himself the Versailles.
And then it was all
downhill, with harlots in and out the royal bedchamber, more
wars, revolution, decapitations, occupation, Vichy etc, and a brief
interlude
of honour and prosperity under Napoleon III. That Napoleon was
good: a conservative liberal, friend of the free market, and
an eminently reasonable man. He wanted to retire to England, bless
him, though I am not sure he did. The liberal monarchy of the
second
and last Bonaparte was perhaps the type of government French
revolutionaries sought, in their heart of hearts, in 1789.
The French: how easy it is to denounce them, for being so unprincipled
and obnoxious. I recently read (on Yahoo news) that the French
are increasing their investments
in Iran, these being of a generally large-scale, capital-intensive nature,
the type of business you do with state firms. We know what you are doing you scoundrels, and we hate you for
it. France has become a cynical, shameless, political tart that
will do business in any stinking
cesspit wherein it can take its carcass. Only months ago, it was denouncing
the United States and Great Britain for violating "international
legality" in invading Iraq.
The reason the French -- like those dirty mongrels, the Russians,
who I am grateful no longer share a border with Iran -- denounced the Anglo-American
action, is, I hardly need say, because they were in business with Saddam.
The French, like most of the Left, indeed most Europeans, are closet
racists. They
think: why would those people with brown skin want a liberal democracy and
the free market anyway? Why would they presume to want to same
things we have? How
can they possibly feel, and think, sense and yearn as we do? We are white,
and they are brown, oriental, and "exotic", so violence, torture,
colourful chaos and despotic misrule are the "cultural" norm in
countries like
Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria etc...
It reminds one of those "millennia-old"
ethnic rivalries we read about in the press, suggesting people
in foreign lands are
bereft of basic common sense and reason. That is what Edward Said might
term "Orientalism," and the Europeans are big-time Orientalists.
But
they can give an impression of concern
and selflessness, while the Americans have proved hopeless at promoting
a just cause, the extirpation of fascism from the Middle East.
Faced
with the howls
of the self-righteous Left, the Americans resorted to a piece of tactical
deceit (citing weapons of mass destruction) before proceeding to
rid
the world of an evil
regime. They need not have bothered, except that the Left is
very good at mobilizing
the ignorant public (though millions of demonstrators might have been
quietly relieved by the prospect of living in a world rid of Saddam
Hussein).
What have the French done to spread democracy anywhere, weapons
or no weapons of mass destruction? Does blocking the Security Council,
or scheming with Germany
and Russia to deprive the United States of "international legality," help
democracy? What has the United Nations done? The United Nations cannot legitimate
anything, because it is not an elected body. It is an assembly of states, most
of which habitually violate human rights: what legitimacy could it possibly give?
One is surprised by all the compliments paid to the dead Ronald
Reagan -- now
he is the man who ended the Cold War -- especially when you recall the ridicule
he faced in the 1980s by the same smug, self-satisfied intellectual offal and
self-appointed conscience of mankind that turn a blind eye to theft, rape and
massacre committed by "progressive" regimes.
In time -- all else
being equal, that is without an immense disaster or a stupendous act of terrorism
-- people will remember George W. Bush as the president who rid
the world of two fascist
states, or at least tried. But will anyone remember the contribution of various
European commissioners or Jacques Chirac to the cause of democracy? What
are they doing now to promote human rights and freedom? They have
these dialogues
going... oh, and they're selling their mobile phones, Peugeot cars
and Moulinex graters.  Nobody is perfect of course. All states have their interests,
no doubt. But there is something hideous and rancid about the greedy
cynicism of the French, and
their apparent contempt for Iranians (in addition to their dealings with the
despicable MKO). They can expect, sooner or later, and to my great delectation,
an almighty slap in the face.
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