Anti-war troika getting ready for next battle

The idea that France's aristocratic president, the suave and deliciously animated Jacques Chirac, is on tenterhooks wondering when he will be invited to mosey on down to his American counterpart's favourite burger joint in Crawford, Texas is, frankly, laughable.

U.S. President George Bush doesn't see it that way, of course. He believes that depriving Chirac from the ritual helicopter ride to his ranch and the chance for an intimate tete-a-tete with the anorak-clad new world emperor is a form of punishment.

Bush appears to attach a certain cache to not only his granting of audiences but also their location. The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, for example, never got an invite to the Bush White House, although the newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), has been graced with this honour.

Abu Mazen, however, is prepared to wait for his presidential anointing until Israel allows the veteran Arafat to travel freely - a move that is likely to infuriate the Bush cabal, long bent on rendering Arafat as irrelevant. Snubbed by Abu Mazen, who is eager not to be perceived as a White House puppet, it is Bush who is doing the snubbing when it comes to the French President.

Banishment

"I doubt he'll (Chirac) be coming to the ranch any time soon," said Bush, adding that many in his administration have viewed the French position as "un-American". One can only wonder about Chirac's thoughts upon hearing of his banishment. In his shoes, mine would be unprintable. In any event, the French President is far too dignified to indulge in exchanging insults. Except, of course, with Tony Blair, whom he has accused of being "very rude".

The American leader further warned the French not to use their position within Europe to create alliances against "the U.S., or Britain, or Spain or any of the new countries that are the new democracies in Europe."

Since the French took a principled stand over Iraq demanding a peaceful resolution to America's differences with the Iraqi regime, the invective out of the U.S. grows more malicious by the day.

Former dove, turned hawk, Colin Powell, admitted during a television interview that France would be punished. He is obviously still smarting from being outshone and taken to task by the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, whose speech received an unprecedented ovation during a Security Council meeting on Iraq.

One report says that a French official was told by one of Bush's representatives: "I have instructions to tell you that our relations have been degraded."

After Congressmen were seen pouring fine French wines down the drain and munching on 'Freedom Fries' with descriptions of the French as 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys' being bandied about in American publications, one wonders how much worse Franco-American relations can get.

We won't have to wonder for long, however. A Franco-German-Belgian summit will be held in Brussels this week to discuss the strengthening of European defence. France has long wanted a European rapid-reaction force, entirely independent from NATO and the U.S.

According to France's Defence Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, Russia will be involved in discussions on European defence. At a press conference held in Moscow she stressed: "The larger the peace zone, the more people will feel safe, which is a goal all politicians share." All politicians? Surely you jest Madame.

Robert Bradtke, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, has described the summit as "unhelpful". By this, he probably means that the anti-war trio are adding fuel to the flames of suspicion across the Atlantic that some members of Donald Rumsfeld's "Old Europe" are opposed to America's hegemony and uncomfortable with their own increasingly vulnerable niche in a lopsided world.

There is a lively discussion on this subject in the European corridors of power with Britain, Spain and Italy leading most of Europe's newcomer nations in desiring amicable engagement with the U.S, as opposed to confrontation.

France, Germany and Belgium would also like engagement but not if this means that they will be relegated to a subservient role in the New World Order. They believe that there are times when allies will disagree and that such disagreements are normal and healthy.

The U.S., on the other hand, is clearly displaying that it is not prepared to agree to differ. "You are either with the U.S. or with the terrorists". Remember? Without a universal definition of "terrorists", this can mean any individuals or states on Washington's lengthening blacklist.

National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, has come up with a format for reacting to the anti-war alliance she terms as non-nein-nyet: France should be punished, Germany ignored and Russia forgiven.

Lucky President Putin! He's to get an olive branch even though his anti-war stance was just as firm as Chirac's. Although Washington has once again taken up the gauntlet over Chechnya and began sniping over Russia's alleged human rights abuses - a definite 'no-no' post 9-11 so as to keep Russia on board the "war-on-terror" bandwagon.

The passionate German Foreign Minister, Joshscke Fischer, who once waggled his finger at a tight-lipped Donald Rumsfeld, must be wondering where he went wrong. Being ignored is not his personal forte.

Notice how China doesn't come in for any criticism at all even though, it too, opposed the war, while North Korea is offered diplomacy even while it busies itself re-processing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods and waving photographs of its missiles under the noses of American delegates engaged in politely urging Pyongyang to disarm.

Let's face it. Attacking the French is almost de rigueur among the pro-U.S. camp, an obligation to which some British Members of Parliament have rigorously adhered, going as far as to blame France's pacifist stance for the invasion of Iraq.

The Americans have told the objects of their displeasure that they will be scaling down their official presence at the upcoming Paris Air-show, but sweetened the pill by saying that Bush will deign to overnight in Evian during the forthcoming G8 Summit. What a relief! Canada hasn't been as fortunate. Bush has indefinitely postponed a visit to his wayward neighbour due to Ottawa's refusal to provide military assistance in Iraq.

Never mind that the French are likely to be sidelined in Nato, crossed off Washington's invitation lists and ignored when it comes to benefiting from Iraqi contracts, France must surely be grateful that the American administration is still on speaking terms, if only just.

As the two protagonists line up to do battle once more in the Security Council over the permanent lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq and the cessation of the 'Oil for Food Programme', France has promised to adopt a 'pragmatic' stance. Given that Paris was initially reluctant to afford any legitimacy to the Anglo-American invasion, we have yet to see how this will translate. Dominique de Villepin has stated, somewhat ominously: "France has acted throughout the Iraq crises, along with a very large majority of the international community, in accordance with its convictions and principles in order to defend interna