No Chance

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) – Shortly after the conservative candidate in the French presidential elections was decided, Berlin began to apply pressure on François Fillon, who had won his party’s nomination. Even though Berlin is applauding Fillon’s neoliberal austerity measures – which include an increase in the value added tax and the firing of half a million civil servants – his foreign policy plans clearly run counter to Berlin’s policy, according to experts. A fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), for example, criticizes the fact that Fillon “aims” to “retake France’s sovereignty” and to have a cooperative relationship with Russia. Invoking “European civilization,” Norbert Röttgen, chair of the German Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, declared with an air of an ultimatum that this “obviously must be discussed with François Fillon.” Even France’s experts are assuming that should Fillon win the presidential elections – according to polls a real possibility – he would not be able to pursue a policy toward Russia independent of Berlin’s.

Change of French presidents weakens Western front against nuclear Iran

The outgoing French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke more forcefully and frankly than any other Western leader about the real danger of a nuclear-armed Iran and accepted that it would have to be tackled by military action. He was also stood out as one of the few French leaders of recent times prepared to fight for French and Western Middle East interests.

The role of French special forces, navy and air forces, alongside US and British forces, was pivotal in the campaign to overthrow Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi. In recent weeks, he placed French units on standby in case President Obama decided to intervene in Syria. In the event, the US president pulled back from an operation that was planned to have involved Saudi and GCC armies as well.

France’s successful military showing in the Libyan war brought no political or economic rewards. Indeed, Paris shelled out a million dollars it could ill afford to pay for it. Sarkozy’s opponent Francois Hollande did not make this an issue in his campaign, but it was certainly not lost on the French voter. The French Muslim voter no doubt settled scores with Sarkozy for his ban on the veil and pro-Israeli policies and may even have cost him the presidency, although this issue too did not come to the fore in electioneering.

Full article: Change of French presidents weakens Western front against nuclear Iran (DEBKAfile)