Mouthpiece of the French Government

If anybody had any doubts about the independent newspaper, Wednesday's Le Monde showed how much of a mouthpiece it is for the French government

First, Corine Lesnes has this to say about the secret prisons in Europe:

For the Europeans, who contest the legality of this prison [Guantanamo], visited by the International Committee of the Red Cross, but where 500 alleged "terrorists" are held, the very passage of such [CIA] planes, if it is confirmed, is a violation of the values which form the foundation of the European Union.

Never mind whether France's "understanding of Russian sensibilities" represents the values which form the foundation of the European Union.

Never mind whether Germany's attempt to sell weapons to China represents the values which form the foundation of the European Union.

Never mind whether French and German dealings with Saddam Hussein represent the values which form the foundation of the European Union.

Notice how the piece, allegedly by an independent reporter, not only fits strangely into the French authorities' (self-serving) policy (stand up to democrats who you know won't do much against you, but refrain from antagonizing dictators you want to do business with), but also how it forms a message to the Eastern Europeans: "For the Europeans who contest" means that all real, true-blood Europeans stand up, or should stand up, to America; "the very passage of such planes … is a violation of the values which form the foundation of the European Union" means that countries that have been in the Common Market from its inception would naturally understand this and that any discussion thereof doesn't even have to be brought up, so clear-cut this is.

Next, we have Jérôme Gautheret's book review of Claude Ribbe's Le Crime de Napoléon, a work which he calls not a history book but only a polemical accusation.

…his partisanship creates a certain bad feeling. Such as the systematic and anachronistic use of the word "genocide" to qualify the repression that befell the peoples of the Caribbean

Gautheret goes on to complain about similar provocations, the ultimate being the book's cover,

a photograph of Adolf Hitler meditating on the tomb of the Emperor in June 1940.

I have no problem with that book review, except this: how many scores, nay, hundreds, of French (and European) novels, history books, school textbooks, and school essays use the term "genocide" for the treatment of Native Americans and American slaves, without a French journalist, historian, and/or teacher jumping in to say somebody may have gone overboard? And how many times have you heard, read, or seen comparisons of Bush with Adolf Hitler?

We have said it before, and we will say it again. We the bloggers on this weblog are not against France, per se. It is the double standards — and the fact that they form a long, unending pattern — which grates us and which we, consequently, document here.

Third, we have Dominique Dhombres' weekly chronique, about a TV film devoted to the Service d'Action Civique:

In other words, an agency mixing together militants, poster pasters, strongmen, policemen, and thugs in charge of supporting, by any means possible, the decisions of the General [de Gaulle]. Including, and especially, violence.

Francis Cornu and Martine Delahaye note that the "names of Chirac and Pasqua are mentioned".

Notwithstanding films and TV shows, how often do French newspapers and other media mention the SAC (who even knows the organisation's name, in France or elsewhere?) when they relate the heroics of Charles de Gaulle and the Fifth Republic, either to a foreign audience or to a domestic one? Not often, n'est-ce pas? In contrast, how often do French novels, documentaries, and schoolbooks mention the CIA (a word so present on everybody's lips we hardly need list that organisation's full name) in relation to periods of recent of American society? Now that's an entirely different story…

Finally, best of all, we have Christophe Jakubyszyn's story on Villepin's passage on CNN. The title in the newspaper of reference says it all: Mr Villepin Explains France to Americans, i.e., the clueless American dolts are put right by a lucid Frenchman. (Or, at least, he tries to, as the first sentence says; the Yanks are that clueless.) The "French prime minister corrects straight away the star journalist, Christiane Amanpour." The newspaper that has been independent since its inception goes on: "The reply of CNN, a band at the bottom of the screen while the prime minister is speaking", indicating that the riots broke out when two adolescents were electrocuted.

The French speak as if CNN represented America, and that every America media outlet is out to "get" France, no matter how low they stoop, even going to the point of . Wake up, guys: You are not getting special treatment, ill or otherwise; Americans do this to everybody (although the MSM does do it less to America's Democrats and their ilk, but that needn't concern foreign countries).

"'Affirmative action?' asks the CNN journalist, who is finally seeing a point of convergence between the two countries" writes the newspaper of reference, pointing her out as a clueless American who is uninterested in seeing the truth — i.e., that France is far above America — but who is frothing to get France down to America's (low) standard.(I guess Jakubyszyn doesn't realize Amanpour is not American.)

There is more about Villepin's wisdom, "which he spectacularly defended at the UN tribune in February 2003." But I think we have heard — and read — enough.

Again, the only creatures capable of understanding everything in the world, about themselves and about others, are the French. The French and their ruling élites.

Update: See what Villepin forgot to tell his American audience…