February 23, 2003
P[ET]AINFUL MEMORIES:
The French Lesson (ReGIS DeBRAY, February 23, 2003, NY Times)In the year 212, Emperor Caracalla granted citizenship to all free men in the Roman Empire. Emboldened by that precedent, a friend of mine, a former high French official, once asked a president of the United States to treat Europeans as compatriots. It was an agreeable fantasy; only vassals were wanted.For the current trans-Atlantic crisis to be defused, the White House would do well to steer between those extremes and to treat its European allies as what they are - citizens of independent states, each with an idiosyncratic history and geography. That approach would spare us many a useless bout of hysteria as the Security Council this week considers Iraq. To each its own geopolitics.
Eight out of 10 Europeans on the street agree with the French-German position, and the governments of Britain, Spain, Italy, et al., have cut themselves off from public opinion. In confronting that awkwardness, the United States has chosen France as its scapegoat. Not having any training as a satellite state, unlike the countries of Eastern Europe, France has assumed the right to judge for itself (despite a number of elites firmly in the American camp).
Holy incoherence, Batman! First he asks to be subsumed into the American Empire and granted American citizenship. Then he starts prattling about how Europeans want to be independent. Then he apparently writes Vichy France out of existence, that unfortunate episode when the proud French made themselves a satellite of Nazi Germany. Does anyone edit the Times? Posted by Orrin Judd at February 23, 2003 8:06 AM
He also holds that Eastern European experience with "satellite" status has made them eager to become satellites again. That notion, I think, was refuted by the Eastern European response to Chirac's comments last week.
Moreover, his notion that we should treat 38 European countries as "independent states, each with an idiosyncratic history" would seem contrary to the desires of the leaders of the European Union movement.
Finally, I must disagree with your suggestion that the Times is badly edited. This article presents a dozen novel though idiotic thoughts, succinctly and clearly, in only 3 paragraphs. Who knows what it read like when the author first submitted it?
Well, I'm really happy. I read that very essay in the Grey Lady a few hours ago and couldn't make heads or tails of it. I thought that perhaps it was me, that I was missing some subtle and highly evolved and cultivated French logic.
It's good to see I am not alone in my foolish and simplistic American knavery. I feel vindicated.
Andrew Sullivan effectively takes M. DeBray's brazen brays apart pretty effortlessly.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at February 24, 2003 5:06 AM