Ralph Peters, writing in the New York Post, reminds us that French President Jacques is guilty of responsibility for 1995 coup in Comoros. Our friends the French. It is a lesson in Imperialism 101:

I visited French—speaking West Africa. Wherever I went, two things remained consistent: The French government was hated, and Africans looked to Washington for a square deal.

President Jacques Chirac and his racist minions know it, and they don't like it, and they're trying to do something about it: Sucker America into showing "solidarity with an ally in the War on Terror." The French want our military and diplomatic cooperation — but not our economic presence, of course. Let me translate what the parasites of Paris really mean: "Support our brutality and exploitation of West Africa, stiff—arm tens of millions of Africans yearning to be free of French neo—imperialism — and just maybe we clever Frenchmen will toss you stupid Americans a little bone now and then."

And we're in danger of falling for it.

In the half—century since France thrust a phony independence on colonies such as Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mali, the French government and French business interests have looted everything they possibly could. To Paris, African "independence" meant business as usual, except that Paris would no longer accept any responsibility for the welfare of the local populations.

It was a free ride for the Frogs, guaranteed by a French military that had failed everywhere else, but remained sufficiently competent to bully unarmed Africans. One French government after another supported pro—Paris strongmen, from the relatively benign Houphouet—Boigny of Ivory Coast, who merely bankrupted his country with nutty construction projects, to Jean Bedell—Bokassa, a literal cannibal who frequently played host to then—President Valery Giscard—D'Estaing.

Read the whole thing.

Ed Lasky   6 21 06