No wonder the French are so bleu

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 8:11am

Gideon Rachman notes that despite the French concern with happiness, the French themselves are pretty depressed. 

I'm pretty sure stories like this are not going to lift the mood of French President Nicolas Sarkozy: 

There is no Club Sarkozy nearby in this sweltering, squalid capital [of Guinea]; in West Africa, the French president cannot compete at present, despite his country’s historic connections as the former colonial power here. Right now, in this volatile region, mere mention of being from America — Obama’s America — is enough to avert an armed soldier’s grim gaze, defuse a mob’s anger, soften an unyielding border guard or lower the demands from ubiquitous bribe-seeking policemen.

The president’s name, freshly painted, appears above a barbershop, a grocery, a school, even tire stores here, as well as the cabaret in Boulbinet. In a leading bookstore downtown, a full-scale poster of Obama looks out from behind a closed door, a visual echo of the sentiments of those who go in to discuss politics.

The implications of this new American authority in an unfamiliar spot received a tryout last week, when the Obama administration sent a senior diplomat here to condemn the massacre of dozens of unarmed civilians protesting Guniea’s military government in September. They seem clear: America punches above its weight, in a part of the world that it has hitherto left to the French. The United States, with few practical sticks to beat the junta, nonetheless has a moral authority in the streets that the big-dog French do not match....

[W]hen Mrs. Clinton said the next day that she was “appalled” by the “vile violation of the rights of the people” in Guinea, Captain Camara had nothing to say, publicly at least. But when Mr. Kouchner called for an international intervention force, the captain angrily said, “Guinea is not a subprefecture, is not a neighborhood in France.”

The differing reactions were not lost on local observers. Mamadou Mouctar Diallo, an opposition leader, said Captain Camara “dared to defy France, but he didn’t dare defy the U.S.”

“America is a power that counts,” Mr. Diallo said. “You can’t turn your back on them.”

Oh, snap. 

 

Daniel W. Drezner | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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Mrs. Clinton was "appalled".

by zjin on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 9:12am

Mrs. Clinton was "appalled". I am appalled that she was appalled. And I am sure that Captain Camara was also appalled that Mrs. Clinton was only "appalled" so that he was speechless.

But then Mr. Kouchner was calling for an international intervention force. How dare he! Those dump and weak French! How dare they actually propose to act! Why can't they just follow the good, popular, and powerful American and just said that they were "appalled", too?

You notice the French aren't

by Grant on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 9:58am

You notice the French aren't suggesting that they send in soldiers right away. As the U.S has proven, it costs nothing to call for a force but a ludicrous amount to produce one.

As for the people, it's nice to know that the U.S is appreciated somewhere.

I do not doubt that many

by zjin on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 12:02pm

I do not doubt that many people in the world actually like U.S.

But, seriously you should have a second thought whenever the newspapers call opposition leaders/activitists "local observers" or "regular people". Those opposition leaders/activitists have their skins in the game and they can hardly be objective. And newspapers have their own agenda/bias when they describe those glocal uys like that.

For those local power players, they either want your money or fear your guns. I would not put "moral" into the analysis.

That is so often true of the

by Grant on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 1:32am

That is so often true of the opposition in any nation. Many of them are called 'opposition; simply because they were on the wrong side when it came time to decide who was in power. That doesn't mean that the real opposition* doesn't exist, simply that one should presume that at least a sizable portion of it are accidental enemies of the regime.

*By opposition I mean pro-people and pro-human rights. If you stand for those things in many nations you are automatically an enemy of the government.

Also from the

by zjin on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 12:17pm

Also from the nytimes:
"America punches above its weight, in a part of the world that it has hitherto left to the French."

So does this sentence mean that that part of Africa is America's to give and it is French's responsibility to govern? I thought that those countries became independent long ago. Is it ironic that colonists still believed that they have "a moral authority in the streets" in Africa?

This would be more

by blue13326 on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 3:28pm

This would be more appropriate for your speech in front of the Miss USA judges, Drezner. America is in retreat around the world, but in some remote corner of Africa they...they like us....(cue tears of happiness)...who could have ever thought we would see the day...

It's a sad day when the French are more assertive than us in advocating vital causes of the West and human rights and freedom, in general, but there it is, and that's where we are...

No doubt some of this is due

by tagryn on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:20am

No doubt some of this is due to Pres. Obama's personal charisma, but something else that's probably contributing is that Bush tripled the amount of U.S. aid going to African countries. This has the effect of both "winning hearts and minds" as well as giving the U.S. a tool to leverage otherwise-hostile governments there.