There Will Necessarily Be a Break

by: Clotilde Cadu Interviewing Jean-Gabriel Fredet, Le Nouvel Observateur

George W. Bush's European Farewell Tour. (Art: Horsch/Die Standard)

    Clotilde Cadu: George W. Bush is just finishing up his round of Europe these last few days. What is the point of European leaders talking to an American president on the eve of his departure? Was there any real diplomatic substance to Bush's visits with European heads of state or were they purely symbolic?

    Jean-Gabriel Fredet: They were largely symbolic in nature. France's reputation for anti-Americanism precedes it. Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to get off on a different foot, to show that we are the United States' best allies. The announcement of France's arrival in NATO's integrated command was already a symbol that he addressed to American public opinion, not only to Bush. These are symbols of reconciliation, of the return of the friendship between France and the United States. Sarkozy is taking the risk of meeting with a president at the end of his term, which, moreover, is certainly one of the worst in the entire history of the United States. He wants to show that we remain reliable allies. With his strong gestures, he wants to make it known to Bush and to his successor that after the sour moon, now it's the honeymoon between France and the United States. It's also symbolic in Germany. That country condemned the intervention in Iraq. But it's very Atlanticist, very pro-American. There are connections between these countries that go beyond the person who represents them. These connections persist in spite of those persons.

    What will history preserve of the George W. Bush presidency?

    - Bad things! Three specifically. First, unilateralism, force that takes precedence over law. That's the philosophy of the Iraq invasion. To satisfy an almost personal revenge, George W. Bush flouted international law.

    Then, the failure of the war against terrorism. The Iraq invasion had a counterproductive effect; that is, it provoked a feeling of hostility towards the United States from all Muslim countries. There are buds of insurrection in Afghanistan, fires poorly extinguished in Iraq.

    Finally, under the Bush presidency, the fires of free-trade neo-liberalism were pushed to a level never before achieved under his predecessors. The rich got richer; the poor, poorer; deficits deepened.... The American economy is in recession and unemployment is on the rise.

- more -