http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Wed, 19 Feb 2003 19:26:11 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/19/175551.php#comment-3654 I am relieved. 3654@blogcritics.org Wed, 19 Feb 2003 19:26:11 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/19/175551.php#comment-3653 If you mean the Negri/Hardt book, don't worry. That thing is completely incomprehensible, probably even to the clowns who wrote it. 3653@blogcritics.org Wed, 19 Feb 2003 19:11:27 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/19/175551.php#comment-3651 That was very interesting and informative Mike - I actually meant complicity in much more recent banned or questionable business dealings with Iraq, but the rest makes plenty of sense. You do have that thing about "empire" though. I hope you didn't read that book. 3651@blogcritics.org Wed, 19 Feb 2003 18:49:13 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/19/175551.php#comment-3650 Sign I saw at the SF anti-war demo: "The French hate us because they're free." Neutralizing domestic anti-war sentiment is one goal. More importantly, however, Chirac's is a conservative government eager to expand its global reach. Chirac is guessing that the U.S. is approaching imperial over-reach, and that Iraq may well break the bank. In that case, France would be poised to emerge as a mini-superpower to the developing world, obtaining strategic advantage cloaked as "humanitarian" intervention. There has been a recent increase in such activity by the French. I doubt fear of history revealing past French complicity with Saddam is part of it, since France's role pales compared to the U.S.'s (Rumsfeld sold them the chemical weapons in the 80s, remember?) Of course, Chirac's machinations could all be designed to secure better terms for getting Iraqi oil (it's all about the oil, baby), and France may well sign on at the last minute, as they did during Gulf War I. But even if that happens, I still think Chirac is betting on U.S. imperial exhaustion. When empires seize and run territories directly, it is often a prelude to collapse. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results. 3650@blogcritics.org Wed, 19 Feb 2003 18:40:20 EST