France Contemplating Return to Middle East
After the option of an attack on Syria was rejected by the House of Commons in Britain, France and the US are the only powerful Western countries that can contemplate such an attack. In France, despite the fact that surveys show that the majority of French people are opposed to their country’s participation in such an attack, this issue will probably have no effect on Francois Hollande’s decision as president. And history has shown that the French usually support their president on issues of war and the military. Iranian Diplomacy spoke with Dr. Ahmad Naghibzadeh, a university professor and analyst of European affairs, about France’s insistence on attacking Syria and the effect of public opinion on this decision.
Among the European countries, France has been one of the leaders of Bashar Assad’s opposition since the outset of the Syrian conflict. How would you assess this position?
Contrary to Bush’s unilateral policies, Barack Obama uses the Europeans to further his objectives. Since many years ago, the Europeans intend to play a role in the Middle East, that is why they initiated the attack on Libya and intend to play a significant role in Syria and Lebanon as well, which were previously French colonies. Therefore, this issue helps the French officials to find an excuse to intervene in the Middle East and talk about the Syrian issue as a humanitarian issue. They state that since a chemical bomb has been used in this country, it must be confronted. In addition, since France has a presidential system, foreign policy is completely in the hands of the president and does not need parliament’s approval as is in Britain.
European countries consider entering this war to be damaging and public opinion in France and the world is against the war in Syria. Bearing this in mind, how could France’s presence in this front damage Paris?
It seems that the policies of Francois Hollande will be strongly criticized. Of course, it must not be ignored that there is a link between the Socialist Party in France and the Jews. In general, the people of the world, particularly the Europeans, hate war and, due to their proximity to these countries, would be more damaged. Any involvement in another war is considered damaging and the French President will certainly be criticized. Fortunately, these criticisms have, hitherto, had positive impacts.
What is the France’s status among US allies compared to Britain?
The policy of alliance with the US began during Sarkozy’s presidency and was later pursued by Francois Hollande. Despite the fact that the US and France are ideologically different, meaning that the Americans are rightist and the French leftist, their foreign policy and strategic relations are in line with each other. It must be pointed out that since the attack against the Suez Canal, the French sought to gain a strong position in the Middle East and this presence is strategically very important for them. During the Sarkozy presidency, the French reached the conclusion that if they are in line with US policies, they can, like the British, play a role in order to gain more benefits. But this is an incorrect path because the US uses the Europeans as a tool.
Does France intend to replace Britain for the US? Is this possible?
No, it cannot. The French know that filling the position of Britain for the US will not be possible because the connection between Britain and the US is old. But the French would like to be able to have more maneuvers in the Middle East.
During the war against Libya, a coalition was formed against Ghaddafi’s government, a member of which was France. Now, considering the fact that France has the same motivation with regard to Syria and as this country was its colony in the past, does it intend or is it able to form such a coalition against the government of Syria?
No, it cannot. Fortunately, the past experiences of intervention show that any illogical intervention would be damaging and oppressive. Therefore, the international system has now found out that the Americans enter these countries with different excuses and are not able to control them and in the end leave the scene.
Considering the fact that Arab society is also against this attack and considers it as an imperialistic act, will France, under these circumstances, be able to form a coalition with the Arab countries?
Like in other countries, the Arab people and the public opinion of the Arab World are against the war, but the Arab League, which is mainly formed by the Sunni governments, pursues anti-Shiite policies and the government of France can only advance its objectives through forming unity with these governments. This is while public opinion will condemn it in any shape and form.