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.
