remember Villepin Chirac, and summary for current war

What were the most courageous decisions taken by French presidents?

February 2003. President Jacques CHIRAC stood up against immense pressure from the US and opposed in the UN Security Council the ill thought out Second Iraq War. Let me remind you of that page of history.

After the Twin Towers attack, the US benefited from a lot of sympathy all over the world and the 2001 expedition against the Taliban in Afghanistan was approved unanimously by the Security Council. Two years later in 2003 it was important for George W. Bush to have a UN sanction for the invasion it planned against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

The pretext for that invasion was the purported possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction by Iraq. There is however quite a bit of evidence that the entourage of Bush had been preparing that war for over a year. Indeed VP Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld believed that democracy could be established in the whole of the Middle East starting with Iraq and then Syria. However the UN by the resolution 1441 had established a regime of inspections of Iraq and two neutral inspectors (backed by a lot of experts) have been travelling around the country and looking for the WMD’s – and not finding any.

The CIA to please its political masters had been supplying some fake evidence…it is debatable whether President Bush and Secretary Colin Powell believed in good faith that an invasion of Iraq was warranted.

FRANCE ALONE IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL STOOD UP TO CONDEMN THE WAR.

Jacques Chirac knew something about wars : he had volunteered for service in the Algerian War and had seen first hand the terrible consequences of armed conflicts. One of his much quoted sentences was : “You don’t bring democracy to a country in an armoured car”.

Chirac’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin made a much celebrated speech and pointed out the reasons why the US was about to lead the world in a an enormous disaster

In this speech Villepin foretold all the consequences of the American initiative : destabilization of the whole region, civilian and military casualties . (the death toll would include 140.000 Iraqi civilians and 4000 US soldiers).

Chirac’s envoy also pointed out that the US would step in a very complicated region it knew little about. Shiite-Sunni opposition, Kurds, Saddam Hussein’s Baathist Party, warring tribes…barging in a beehive was not only stupid but even counter productive !

Chirac’s initiative broke the unanimous Security Council front the US tried to create : while some traditional allies followed the ill conceived American initiative (UK’s Tony Blair in particular) Germany as well as Russia and China voted against the war.

France had to pay a heavy price for not going with Bush. It was one of the leading creditors of Iraq. When the US restarted the oil exports and generally resumed serving Iraq’s debts, it forced the French to write off 95 % of its pending loans. Initially US public opinion became strongly anti-French…until it became conscious of the full effects of the second Iraq war . The best selling book by Bob Woodward “Plan of attack” did a lot to inform the general public about the true background of Bush’s initiative; The world is still suffering from its consequences.
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Putin started this war to strengthen Russia’s strategic position and begin steps toward dismantling NATO or removing them as a threat. Ironically, the opposite happened.

    The Russian military has proven itself to be sub-par in every respect. Their airforce is incapable, their ground forces are poorly supplied, their weapons are outdated, and their commanders are bafoons
        American military planners are LOVING this. We get to see what Russia is capable of militarily and what its flaws are. Now we know exactly how strong Russia is and what they can do.
    NATO has only gotten stronger. Thanks to Russian aggression NATO countries are rapidly expanding their militaries and the US is deploying more troops to Europe.
    10 years ago being “neutral” was seen as an alternative to siding with NATO or Russia. You could trade with both nations and keep out of the drama. Today it’s been demonstrated what happens to “neutral” countries like Ukraine and so many nations are seeking NATO membership and protection
    Russia can’t do anything. 75% of their military is locked down in Ukraine and they cannot afford to pull a single troop out. The remaining 25% is needed to secure the border and put down riots and protests. Russia doesn’t have any men left to attack another country

Then we get to nukes- Putin loves to saber rattle with nuclear bombs.

Here’s the thing. Russia has not deployed its nuclear submarines nor is these submarines being fitted for combat. Russia has not increased activity around nuclear silos. Russia has not scrambled its nuclear bombers.

For all of Putin's talk about nuclear war, he isn’t taking any action to actually start said war. Why?

Well because the US has 400 Minuteman III ICBMs prepped for launch. Within minutes 400 nuclear warheads can be en route to Russia. This many nukes would destroy the Russian population, render the country uninhabitable, and likely kill Putin and his family. If Putin is lucky- he will survive as the dictator of nothing but craters (and that’s a big if).

So Putin won’t nuke anyone. It makes no sense. He would rather take his chances and surrender because the second he launches nuclear weapons he for sure loses everything.

Russia has proven itself to be a threat. It’s not a dangerous threat (minus the nukes) and can easily be defeated by NATO forces but it is a threat regardless.

So every “neutral” country within range of Russia needs to join NATO. Putin will be pissed but he can and won’t do anything.

Then we let Putin make his choice. He can invade Finland and be absolutely crushed by the weight of NATO forces or he can back down and hopefully die like the good little fascist he is.

We aren’t going to get anywhere if we tiptoe around because we are afraid of Russia. The US and NATO need to take drastic steps now and call Putin’s bluff.