November 9, 2007- Friends Again

   From the beginning, President Bush's excursion into Iraq has not been  a very popular thing worldwide. Wen it began, there was a major problem getting up any kind of a coalition to support it, exactly the opposite of what happened when his father went into Iraq in 1991. Back then, everyone wanted to get in on the American side, making it the largest  military alliance of nations ever on earth, and that was why saddam did not stand a chance, because it was essentialy him against the world literally. Everyone got on board with Washington then because they thought that it was the right thing to do, that it was going to bring about great changes in the world, all that shit. many wanted Saddam gone, and saw that as the perfect way to get it done, so they all enthusiastically went along with President Bush The First. The problem was that when it was al lsaid and done, these grand and magnificent changes did not happen, Saddam was not even deposed, and we went back to business as usual for over another decade. Iraq became a major trouble spot in the world, and the allies that America had back in 1991 drifted away one by one when they saw that they had had been used like they were. They did not get anything out of the whole deal, and they later regretted their decisions. So when President Bush The Second started making noises about Iraq, he was met by a stony wall of silence and indifference, as no one wanted to get on board with him on this. No matter how much he went before anyone and everyone telling them all the evil things about Iraq and why America needed to do something about it, the allies from the past did not give a fuck by and large. Those that his father had been able to count on before largely gave Junior the cold shoulder, and not one of these former allies was more vocal in its opposition to Bush Jr.'s plan for Iraq than France. Normally a staunch American ally for decades now, it was France that gave the Statue Of Liberty to America, so we are talking a nation that had historically been a friend of Washington's, but when Bush Jr. started with his Iraq shit back a few yars ago, France wanted no part of it.  They led the charges against Bush, as much as they could do, seeing as how Bush and his Administration rammed the thing through everyone as fast as they possibly could, but France always made it known thast they hated the whole fucked up idea and would not suport it this time.  Leading the way was former French President Jacques Chirac, no friend of the Bush's and no friend of Washington in general. He was elected on some kind of Socialist ticket, and played the role to the hilt, he opposed most everything that America wanted. For a while, that did not mean shit, except for meaningless United Nations votes, but when the Iraq war started, the fucker got himself a great big soapbox to stand on and preach his shit. He refused to send any French troops or aid of any kind to the Iraqi area, and constantly berated Bush for doing what he did. As the war dragged on, he became one of those vocal critics that said that Washington needed to send all their troops home right away end the war now shit. Even centuries of friendship between France and America meant  zero to him as he made the raq war one of his pet peeves, even though he made sure that his nations stayed way  out of it, but he constantly bitched about it nevertheless. Whether it  was at the United Nations, some world leader summit, or on French TV, Chirac always had negative things to say about the American effort in Iraq and of Bush in particular. France became the symbol of the opposition in the world community of what was going on in Iraq, whether the people wanted that or not, Chirac did, and that was all that mattered at the time.

   As you can imagine, that made france the symbol of traitors in America, the American people did not accept well the fact that a long time ally was now acting the way they were in time of war. France became the symbol of chickenshit stuff and enemies, as Washington always said "either you are with us or against us", so the American people figured that France was now against them, making them no better than the terrorists that America was fighting so valiantly to rid the world of, so the American people turned against France in a heartbeat. Everything from French wine sto French Fries became verboten in America, there wewere numerous protests against these things and anything else French at the time, even the stuffed shirts of Congress got into the act, dictating that their cafeteria had to stop carrying french  fries, even though these things are not at  all French, just having thaty name made them bad, and these same bloviated bullshitters pased some kind of resolution that said that anytyhing called "French" in the language had to be replaced by "Freedom", like "Freedom Fries, Freedom Kissing" and the like. That was how far the anti-French hysteria was going, France became synonymous  with anti-Americanism, and the relations between the two countries sank to all time lows. Neither President Bush or President Chirac would budge one iota as these relations contined to worsen, they both stood their ground. It looked like the relationship between America and France was going to be damaged irrepairably, and for no good reason at all. The French people did not necessarily go along with Chirac's Socialist view of the whole thing, and did not like being enemies with America one bit. It was very hurtful for them to see the way that the American people were acting towards them and what they thought of them, but they knew why it was that way. They knew that their President was just playing a game of politics, and being a good socialist and opposing America just on political grounds. They knew that it was bad news for things to stay this way with America, they were losing a lot of money as Americans boycotted their wines and cheeses  and everythinjg else that even looked French. There was a lot of money at stake here, and the shit that Chirac was doing was not helping them any, it was hurting them, but it was also not hurting him one bit, like every politician, Chirac was immune to the dsamages that he caused. The French people were getting fucked over by all this, and Chirac was living the high life and that was why he had no incentive to change anything. The stance he took made him look like a bad-ass socialist, one that still had the balls to stand up to America. It really took no balls to stand up to Bush here, it was obvious that the man was going to get his way no matter what, and France had nothing to lose from any of it, they were not going to suffer that much being unfriendly with America, after all, he did not go and do shit like close the borders of France to Americans or any of that shit. The businessmen that lost money due to the American acttions were by and large not Socialist Party suporters, so he did not care about them. However, they had many that cared about them way more than the President that was supposed to serve them did, and they decided that they were going to do the only thing that they could about it, and that was go and vote on Election Day. Even the massive machine of the Soclaist party was not enough for Chirac, as he lost out to a new dude, one Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy campaigned on the platform of improving relations with America, he did not say that he was going to deploy a massive amount of French troops to Iraq or anything, he said that things would be better between France and America, and the French people liked that and elected him by a goodly margin.

   Well, Mr. Sarkozy has been as well received in Washington as a man can be, President Bush was ecstatic about him from the minute he started and quickly invited him to come party with him over in Washington. That party/lovefest took place this week, and Sarkozy was the  toast of the town over there. He wa slauded by everyone that was anyone in Washington, Bush talked about him in glowing terms and took him everywhere he went, even wife-swapping may have been in order, Bush was so pleased to have this new friend over. The two of them have bend over backwards to ensure that everyone knows that the era of shitty US-France relations is over now and that the two nations are friends again. French Fries can go back to being called French Fries and can be wolfed down by the millions by obese Americans, lovers can go sticking their tongues into each other's mouths and call it French Kissing again, and oenophiles all across America can go back to knocking back the French wine as much as they want. America and france are officially freinds again, and they can go forward with their newfound partnership. Timing is everything here, and the fact that the two nations are all buddy-buddy again just a little whoile before the Bush Administration leaves is not a coincidence here. There was a huge propaganda victory in this for Washington, as the Administration has been sharply criticized for losing relations with France, that is hard to do, seeing the long history of cooperation between the two countries and the fact that they have never fiought a war against one another either. It looks good foir Bush to finally make amends with France before he leaves, so he was more than willing  to do so. Sarkozy knew that all along as well,and that was why he campaigned on that promise, he knew that it was also real good for him to make amends with America before Bush left too, because the French people were a bit uneasy having him as an enemy, because you never know what the guy is going to do to those he perceives as enemies, and now the French can breathe easy, knowing that they have been taken off of that list. They probably do not even like Sarzoky that much, they were just so scared at having Bush as an enemy that Chirac did not stand a chance, and if Sarkozy ends up sucking the wad, they can vote him out soon enough too, France is used to Government change, they seem to have them every few years. They love seeing their President the toast of the town in Washington instead of the butt of jokes on American TV shows, so they heartily support the newfound rekindling of the friendship between the two nations. Everything seems well on that front, and there are not that many fronts that the Bush Administration can say things have gone well on at all, and now that France is back in the fold, Bush can start to try and get things out of them. He still would like French troops to go and bolster things in Iraq, but knows that he probably will not get that, but he would like some of that French money to help offset the escalating costs of an escalating war and he may well get that. Things are back to normal netween America and France, and that means that you have to do things for America, that is the price that their friendship has, the price that Chirac was not willing to pay and Sarkozy is. However, that price does not come without an agenda from the French either, after all, France is a much older country than America and was practicing the art of dealmaking long before America was founded and has a few things that they would like out of the deal too.

   The biggest thing that France and Sarkozy want is money, lots of it. Being a good Socialist cost Chirac a chance to get his ass in on some of the massive loot that is floating around as a result of the war. The dumbfuck chose politics over personal gain, and Sarkozy is detremined not to repeat that mistake. he knows that he can enrich not only himself, but the French government massively by cooperating with Bush, and he knows the time is short, so he has to start now. He wants to make up for as much lost time as he can, and that was why they had such a grand party time in Washington this week. Sarkozy knows that the Iraq war is far from over, no matter who gets into the White House come 2009, and he wants to get a head start on that now. There is still enough time to get France entrenched as one of the people that has their hands in the cookie jar so that any new Administration in 2009 has to deal with them. In the meantime, he can stil get his hands on an impressive pile of loot courtesy of Bush, so he has the best of both worlds. If he eventually has to commit some French troops to the cause, so be it, he can do that, he has not said that he won't, it is worth it to him because of the monies that it brings in. Sarkozy probably thinks even less of Bush and America than his predecessor did, most worl dleaders think that way, but he knows when he has to stow that shit so that he can get his hand into the pie big time and now is that time. He can hang and party with Bush and fuck his wife and that shit all he wants, he does not really have to do much business with the man at all, just act friendly and supportive. In just over a year, Bush and his Administration are gone, and then a new one comes in, and then Sarkozy needs to get serious about business matters. Until then, he can spend the time repairing the damaged image that France has in America, kissing and making up to the American people and setting the stage for when that new Administration comes in.  For that, he will be paid handsomely and that was why he wanted to be the President of France to start with, he was that Chirac was such an asshole that he  would never cash in, and he wanted to get some of the war money that is flying around the world these  days. If al that he had to do in order to get in that spot was to make  nice with an old friend, not try and repair relations with a bitter enemy or previous wartime foe, that shit was easy and he has shown just how easy it is. Since France was not involved in the war from the beginning, Sarkozy can take no blame for anything that goes on there,  and if it drags on for years into his Presidency, he has ready made excuses for that too.  He can step right up to the line where the money is being handed out without having to do anything much, that is the silver platter that Chircac handed the dude. Bush needs a friend from a known country so badly now that he is willing to throw the money at him for as long a she can, hell, there are worse people getting some of it, so th efact that Sarkozy is taking advantage of things means zero. He could probably take advantage more than he is, but he does not want to kill the goose laying those golden eggs, after all, he is the new kid on the block. But there is no reason to have a tag day for him either, this guy is sitting in a catbird's seat and is going to take major advantage of it, he would be a fool not to. That is why we are going to see a  lovefest between America and France that wil make a  1960's hippie lovefest look tame between now and January 20, 2009. After that, the countries will almost surely remain friends, as France has found out what a dumb move it is to lose America as an ally and certainly will not do that again, unless the French people elect another Socialist government, and that probably will not happen for a while so we can count on this friendship lasting a while.

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