HOPEFULLY, TRUMP CAN ELBOW OUT MACRON

Keep France away from the Middle East peace process

French President Emmanuel Macron doesn’t mind being on Iran’s side when he believes it benefits his own country. 

 

By Joseph Epstein

 

JNS

Dec 24, 2024 

 

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Brussels, June 14, 2021 

 

“He will take the shirt off your back,” is how U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has described French President Emmanuel Macron.

Under Macron, France wheels and deals, exploiting international problems and conflicts under the guise of promoting liberal ideals. Condemning colonialism as a “crime against humanity” and denouncing Russia’s “predatory influence” in Africa, he oversees the printing of currency for 14 former French African colonies, creating what some call “monetary servitude.”

While calling for a weapons embargo on Israel for “human-rights violations” in the Gaza Strip, French ammunition is used in Iran to suppress peaceful protests; in Myanmar, it is used by the military government to commit war crimes. In the French-ruled Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia, Macron decries colonial-era inequalities while pushing policies that further marginalize the poverty-stricken, indigenous Kanak population.

France’s involvement in the Middle East is no different.

Earlier this month, France announced that it would co-host a conference with Saudi Arabia in May on establishing a Palestinian state. Macron also inserted himself into a mediating role in last month’s Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire talks despite Israeli opposition. For days, French officials grandstanded on the need to support international values by enforcing International Criminal Court warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Some French officials openly condemned German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for saying he wouldn’t arrest the Israeli leaders if they visited Germany. Days later, Macron told Netanyahu he would not enforce the warrant in exchange for a role in the ceasefire negotiations. When he agreed, French officials suddenly changed their tune.

For Macron, the lofty ideals and international values he preaches are nothing more than a veil that he hides behind as he cynically feeds off global conflicts.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Lebanon.

In October, Le Figaro journalist George Malbrunot reported that Macron struck a secret deal with Hezbollah in 2020 following the explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut that killed 218. The agreement saw Rodolphe Saadé, an associate of Macron and the owner of French shipping behemoth CMA-CGM, secure a multibillion-dollar contract with the support of the Iranian-backed proxy to rebuild the port. In exchange, Macron allegedly pledged to overlook Hezbollah activities in Southern Lebanon.

If Malbrunot is correct, this may explain why Macron was so insistent on sending weapons to U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) last year despite concerns they would end up in Hezbollah’s hands. It also explains why France condemned Israel for violating a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah while remaining silent after the terrorist group re-entered Southern Lebanon, violating the same agreement.

It bears reminding that Hezbollah is not an independent group but an extension of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the strongest branch of the Iranian armed forces. Thus, making deals with Hezbollah is no different than making deals with Iran.

During Macron’s presidency, France has often found itself on the same side as the Islamic Republic. In 2018, Macron was one of the largest proponents of getting then-President Trump to return to a nuclear deal with Iran. In the South Caucasus, France sold armored personnel carriers and an air-defense system to Armenia despite concerns that these weapons could be transferred to Iran or Russia, both of whom are close allies of Armenia.

In Lebanon, Iran and France demanded premature cease-fires that would have left Hezbollah’s leadership structure, missile stockpiles and deterrent capabilities largely intact. In fact, Iranian and French interests have been so in line that Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, offered to cooperate with France on implementing a truce deal with Israel.

To be sure, Paris is no friend of Tehran. France recently joined Germany and the United Kingdom in threatening snapback sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. It also helped shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles targeting Israel on Oct. 1.

But Macron doesn’t mind being on Iran’s side when he believes that it benefits France. In fact, such unscrupulous mercantilism is a key feature of his presidency.

In 2022, The Guardian revealed that Macron secretly lobbied for the Uber car-sharing company when he served as economy minister. The same year, anti-corruption prosecutors in France launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Macron gave government contracts to the U.S. consulting firm McKinsey after it helped him with election campaigns in 2017 and 2022. Following his 2017 campaign, he faced allegations of benefiting from illegal financing.

Many in his government have also faced corruption charges. His labor minister, Olivier Dussopt, is on trial on allegations of favoritism in awarding a government contract. His chief of staff, Alexis Kohler, was indicted for not revealing family links to a shipping giant that received government contracts. And one of his top aides, Alexandre Benalla, reportedly profited from security contracts with Russian oligarchs while working for Macron.

Clearly, corruption permeates Macron’s domestic and foreign policy.

Just this month, Macron invited Trump to witness the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. No doubt, the two spoke about potential cooperation in the Middle East. Considering France’s profit-over-all policy, as well as its neocolonialist, exploitative tendencies, it will be best for the region if Paris stays away.

Hopefully, Trump can elbow out Macron. Otherwise, he may find himself shirtless.