| Submit your comments on this article | |||
| Europe | |||
| French Public Intellectuals discover Hans Christian Anderson | |||
| 2003-10-02 | |||
| Severely EFL-via the Instapundit PARIS A growing sense of France’s decline as a force in Europe has developed here. Invisible couture is no longer considered fashionable for French politicians. One can understand why in Chirac’s case. The idea’s novelty is not the issue itself. Rather it is that for the first time in a half century that the notion of a rapid descent in France’s influence is receiving wide acknowledgment within the French establishment. No merde, Inspector Maigret Of all the books, the current No. 2 on the bestseller list of L’Express, "La France Qui Tombe," by Nicolas Baverez, has been the focus of unusual attention. Baverez, a practicing attorney and economist who has a strong place in the Paris establishment, argues that France’s leadership hates change. Rather, it "cultivates the status quo and rigidity" because it is run through the connivance of politicians, civil servants and union officials, bringing together both the left- and right-wing elites. They are described as mainly concerned with preserving the failed statist system that protects their jobs and status. When the Establishment Boyz start sweating, France finally starts to listen. ’Twas ever thus. [see Furet’s THE PASSING OF AN ILLUSION, Tony Judt’s PAST IMPERFECT, the collected works of Ferry and Renault, etc. etc. contra mundum, world without end...] Although he has little patience with the American role in the world (it is branded unilateral, imperial and unpredictable, yet flexible and open to change) Baverez charges that the failure of French policy on Iraq and Europe - resisting the United States with nothing to offer in exchange, and attempting to force the rest of Europe to follow its lead - "crowns the process of the nation’s decline" and leaves France in growing diplomatic isolation everywhere.
Do you think that Andre paid attention to simple math (2+2=4) in "ecole?" I believe so. The book, also a bestseller, maintains that this flight from confronting trouble carried with it an attempt to create two opposing notions of the West: a serene Europe, sheltered from terrorist kamikazes, and a warlike, imperialist, autistic United States. Glucksmann wrote that the central question of the future was not hegemony or multipolarity, the key French terms illustrating the Chirac government’s seeming obsession about the United States and its desire to counter the Americans, but civilization versus nihilism, and whether the West together could make a fight to protect civilization.
(Chirac "Arrogant, Moi?") the authors suggest, is in continuing to act as if the world community and its European partners do not comprehend that for the French leadership, the "EU serves as the means for France to recover its influence and to reconquer its lost power." Cluetrain paging Eurocentrists ...the fact is, after Sweden’s rejection of the euro (in part because of France’s refusal to conform to the economic performance standards it set up itself for the currency’s credibility), and the likely splintering of the EU into groups of several speeds without any semblance of a unified foreign or defense policy, France has come up empty. It’s da unilateralism, I tells ya! But for Bavarez, and most of the other writers now gaining the nation’s attention, the present reality is harsh for France. "Overtaken by the democratic vitality and technological advance of the United State," Bavarez concludes, "downgraded industrially and challenged commercially by China and Asia, the decline of France is accelerating at the same rhythm as the vast changes in the world." "Besides, Sabine Herold is hotter and hipper than Chirac, anyway"
| |||
| Posted by:Ernest Brown |
| #9 Giving France any due as a counterweight to America is laughable. The only importance they have in this world is their UN veto. Without the UN they are marginal at best. Chirac wants a piece of the authority to make world decisions but can't find a way to back it up except with Maureen Dowd pinup boys. The best way to treat the French is to patronize them and make them feel important but in our minds impotent. Remember, the easiest way to make a million is to buy a Frenchman for what he is worth and sell him for what he thinks he is worth! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2003-10-2 6:53:03 PM |
| #8 Dcreeper: Autism is a complex syndrome, and I understand (from this first-person account) that one element of it is sensory hyperperception--the autistic perceives the world in so much detail that she can't process all of the input. If "autism" is a valid metaphor for the current world situation, I'd wonder if it's not the Islamofascisrs or the Euro-elite (or both) who are the autistics here. |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-10-2 4:52:10 PM |
| #7 autism is not retardation, it's a break down of the ability to communicate and impart ideas, so it can at times appear that they are retarded because the passing on of information is a VRY difficult process for people afflicted with autism, buh make no mistake they are NOT stupid, they can be very clever and will try to control you even as you try to control them assuming the writer knows what autism is, then what he means to say is we dont communicate well with the world and when things dont go well we result to violence/threats/pain to achieve our goals.. which I agree with, tho I dissent that the failure to communicate involves a break down on the american end, the bush administration has been very upfront with their feelings on matters... |
| Posted by: Dcreeper 2003-10-2 4:32:42 PM |
| #6 Couldn't we just send them to self-esteme camp? Do you think the EU actaully performs that function for them? |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-10-2 2:31:54 PM |
| #5 Okay, perhaps we can get the Euro innalekshuls to agree: we're autistic, you're idiot savants: you make good beer or wine or whatever, but useless for anything else. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2003-10-2 2:15:40 PM |
| #4 Those aren't patronizing enough. (Autism {aside from Asperger's syndrome} also implies retardation) |
| Posted by: Ernest Brown 2003-10-2 1:48:06 PM |
| #3 Couldn't be just have "anger management" issues or maybe Torretz Syndrome? |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-10-2 12:37:05 PM |
| #2 "Autistic" in the sense of lashing out without taking in input from the outside world, as the severely autistic do. It's still stupid, though. |
| Posted by: Ernest Brown 2003-10-2 11:43:55 AM |
| #1 two opposing notions of the West: a serene Europe, sheltered from terrorist kamikazes, and a warlike, imperialist, autistic United States "autistic" ? Jeez, you would think that being an imperialist warmonger would imply the direct opposite of autistic; I can think of no way to be more directly engaged with the world than chasing its various vicious degenerates to their lairs and shooting them. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2003-10-2 11:36:27 AM |