By ERIC MARGOLIS
PARIS -- Ah, Paris in the springtime! Winter has recently arrived, dropping a cold, wet blanket on the City of Light's fabled "month of love."
On Monday, Paris was thrown into chaos by anti-Chinese demonstrations against the Olympic torch ceremony, which brought newspaper headlines of "Le Fiasco!" and "Chaos." Traffic was paralyzed. Three thousand short-tempered French police struggled to protect busloads of frightened Chinese athletes and the Olympic flame bearer from angry supporters of free Tibet.
Many policemen, led by the fierce CRS riot police, wore full black body armor a la Star Wars and seemed eager, as ever, to pound demonstrators into pate.
The Olympic procession began in front of my window. Later, I found myself right in the middle of a violent street fracas. Happily, I avoided both police batons and being trampled by anti-Chinese protesters. Almost none of them have ever been to Tibet.
What was to be a giant commercial for the Olympics turned into a disaster for the Chinese and French governments, both of whom lost much face and suffered international embarrassment.
I have little sympathy. I'm not a sports fan. I've always considered the Olympics a grotesque orgy of commercialism and totalitarian kitsch, closer to Soviet and Nazi rallies than ancient Greece's simple athletic games.
I'm writing this column from my apartment which overlooks the Eiffel Tower in the Champs de Mars. It was here, during the French Revolution, that a big political public spectacle put on by the bloodthirsty dictator Robespierre turned into a fiasco that began his downfall and execution.
This, in turn, reminds me of his famous bon mot, "all the world hates armed missionaries," which brings me to Iraq. I watched the Bush administration's latest efforts to deceive Americans about its "crusade for freedom" in Iraq.
The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. "ambassador" to Baghdad (read proconsul) Ryan Crocker testified to Congress they needed to keep at least 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. At the same time, the U.K. Guardian published a leaked U.S. plan to keep bases in Iraq "indefinitely."
INFINITE UNPOPULARITY
President George W. Bush, who commands infinite unpopularity here in Europe, keeps saying, "I will listen to my general's advice over Iraq." Bush and "boss" Cheney then appoint yes-men like Petraeus and Crocker who tell the public what the White House orders them to say. Patriotic generals, admirals, and diplomats who violate the party line are fired. Last year, Petraeus helped the White House fool war-weary Americans by insinuating a U.S. troop withdrawal was months away. Now, it's back to stay or face calamity.
As Baghdad and Basra burned, Crocker echoed Petraeus' claims things were getting better in Iraq. While ambassador to Pakistan, Crocker made a notable contribution to American diplomacy by insisting Musharraf's squalid dictatorship was a "fully democratic government." This whopper recalls Ambrose Bierce's pithy definition of diplomats as "patriots ready to lie for their country."
Iraq remains chaotic, with half of all U.S. ground forces stuck there.
U.S. efforts to create a puppet Iraqi army failed miserably, as seen by its recent rout in Basra. But John McCain and fellow Republicans are determined to keep Iraq a permanent U.S. colony.
I am struck by Vietnam War deja vu. Republican politicians have too much of their careers invested in the Iraq War to risk accepting defeat. Bush and Cheney, like President Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara, are keeping U.S. troops at war rather than admitting they made a horrible mistake. Ditto for Ottawa in its little Afghan expedition.
Senior French officials here despair over U.S. policy in Iraq, though they won't say so in public. The British and Germans are equally glum. Adding to the unease, an Israeli cabinet minister just threatened to nuke Iran.
Gloom, yes, but the sun just made a brief celebrity appearance, and I am about to go have an excellent French lunch in the world's most beautiful and enjoyable city.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2008/04/13/5272841-sun.php
PARIS -- Ah, Paris in the springtime! Winter has recently arrived, dropping a cold, wet blanket on the City of Light's fabled "month of love."
On Monday, Paris was thrown into chaos by anti-Chinese demonstrations against the Olympic torch ceremony, which brought newspaper headlines of "Le Fiasco!" and "Chaos." Traffic was paralyzed. Three thousand short-tempered French police struggled to protect busloads of frightened Chinese athletes and the Olympic flame bearer from angry supporters of free Tibet.
Many policemen, led by the fierce CRS riot police, wore full black body armor a la Star Wars and seemed eager, as ever, to pound demonstrators into pate.
The Olympic procession began in front of my window. Later, I found myself right in the middle of a violent street fracas. Happily, I avoided both police batons and being trampled by anti-Chinese protesters. Almost none of them have ever been to Tibet.
What was to be a giant commercial for the Olympics turned into a disaster for the Chinese and French governments, both of whom lost much face and suffered international embarrassment.
I have little sympathy. I'm not a sports fan. I've always considered the Olympics a grotesque orgy of commercialism and totalitarian kitsch, closer to Soviet and Nazi rallies than ancient Greece's simple athletic games.
I'm writing this column from my apartment which overlooks the Eiffel Tower in the Champs de Mars. It was here, during the French Revolution, that a big political public spectacle put on by the bloodthirsty dictator Robespierre turned into a fiasco that began his downfall and execution.
This, in turn, reminds me of his famous bon mot, "all the world hates armed missionaries," which brings me to Iraq. I watched the Bush administration's latest efforts to deceive Americans about its "crusade for freedom" in Iraq.
The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. "ambassador" to Baghdad (read proconsul) Ryan Crocker testified to Congress they needed to keep at least 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. At the same time, the U.K. Guardian published a leaked U.S. plan to keep bases in Iraq "indefinitely."
INFINITE UNPOPULARITY
President George W. Bush, who commands infinite unpopularity here in Europe, keeps saying, "I will listen to my general's advice over Iraq." Bush and "boss" Cheney then appoint yes-men like Petraeus and Crocker who tell the public what the White House orders them to say. Patriotic generals, admirals, and diplomats who violate the party line are fired. Last year, Petraeus helped the White House fool war-weary Americans by insinuating a U.S. troop withdrawal was months away. Now, it's back to stay or face calamity.
As Baghdad and Basra burned, Crocker echoed Petraeus' claims things were getting better in Iraq. While ambassador to Pakistan, Crocker made a notable contribution to American diplomacy by insisting Musharraf's squalid dictatorship was a "fully democratic government." This whopper recalls Ambrose Bierce's pithy definition of diplomats as "patriots ready to lie for their country."
Iraq remains chaotic, with half of all U.S. ground forces stuck there.
U.S. efforts to create a puppet Iraqi army failed miserably, as seen by its recent rout in Basra. But John McCain and fellow Republicans are determined to keep Iraq a permanent U.S. colony.
I am struck by Vietnam War deja vu. Republican politicians have too much of their careers invested in the Iraq War to risk accepting defeat. Bush and Cheney, like President Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara, are keeping U.S. troops at war rather than admitting they made a horrible mistake. Ditto for Ottawa in its little Afghan expedition.
Senior French officials here despair over U.S. policy in Iraq, though they won't say so in public. The British and Germans are equally glum. Adding to the unease, an Israeli cabinet minister just threatened to nuke Iran.
Gloom, yes, but the sun just made a brief celebrity appearance, and I am about to go have an excellent French lunch in the world's most beautiful and enjoyable city.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2008/04/13/5272841-sun.php