RUTHFULLY YOURS

On Thursday, French president Emmanuel Macron criticized the United States and Israel for encouraging anti-regime protests in Iran claiming, inter alia, that such talk would lead the world closer to war. “The official line pursued by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, who are our allies in many ways, is almost one that would lead us to war,” Macron told reporters.

Unlike his predecessor, who capitulated to the whims and dictates of the mullahs, President Donald Trump voiced strong support for the protesters and leveled harsh criticism against the oppressive theocratic regime.  Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Europe’s tepid reaction to the rapidly unfolding events throughout Iran and issued encouragement to the protesters, referring to them as “heroic” and “brave.”

With his pusillanimous comments, Macron demonstrates yet again why France is, and will always be a third rate power. Few nations in the world today pose more of a threat to world peace than the Islamic Republic of Iran. But France, steeped in the craven mindset of 1938 Munich is either unwilling or unable to recognize the clear and present danger posed by this malevolent regime.

Iran has planned and carried out dozens of acts of terror across five continents. The regime currently provides financial and military support to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, groups listed as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) by the State Department and designated as terrorist organizations by the European Union as well as several Arab nations. Iran enabled Assad to perpetrate genocide against his own people, enabled Hezbollah to swallow Lebanon whole, has spread misery in Yemen and provided deadly Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFP) to Jihadists battling American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the thuggish group responsible for ensuring the survival of the theocracy is involved knee-deep in all sorts of nefarious activities, including drug and arms trafficking, and money laundering. They’ve also helped North Korea evade international sanctions, established partnerships with drug cartels and have been instrumental in propping up the brutal regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

According to German intelligence sources, Iran has not skipped a beat in its efforts to obtain dual use technologies for its rogue nuclear program by utilizing fraudulent front companies. The signing of the deleterious Iran deal has had little effect on these nefarious activities.

The Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program continues at full speed in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. The Iranians have even threatened to extend the range of their missiles to target Europe and have emblazoned genocidal slogans on their missiles openly calling for Israel’s destruction.  If there exists a conflict in the world, it’s a sure bet that Iran, either directly or through use of its many proxies, has a hand in it in some capacity. Their aggression knows no bounds.

Given what we know about Iran and its malign activities, Macron’s comments on the surface seem puzzling. There is a consensus among many Western intelligence agencies that the best way to stop Iran without resorting to overt military force is through regime change, and Iran is at the moment, very vulnerable. 40-50% of the population is non-Persian. The regime has been waging an endless battle with insurgents in remote areas populated by non-Persian minorities. A sustained popular revolt, driven by a desire for genuine democratic reform will serve to add additional pressures on the regime.

But France is a nation prone to cowardice and greed. Its foreign policies are driven by short term political expedience and economic dictates. Morality rarely falls into the equation.

During World War II, France eagerly collaborated with the Nazis in rounding up its Jewish citizens for deportation and eventual slaughter. In May 1967, just prior to the Six-Day War, France imposed an arms embargo on Israel just when the Jewish State needed the weapons most (fortunately, it had no effect). France was responsible for supplying Iraq with a nuclear reactor (destroyed by Israel in 1981) capable of producing atomic bombs and maintained warm relations with Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad, and Yasser Arafat among other assorted despots and gangsters with abysmal human rights records. And of course, it was France that provided the monstrous Shia cleric Ayatollah Khomeini with safe haven during his period of exile from Iran, and facilitated his calamitous return.

These toxic policies have come back to haunt France. Its liberal immigration laws have transformed much of the country into no-go zones and hotbeds of Islamist radicalism. Islamic terrorism has become the new norm. Parts of the country now resemble armed camps, with machinegun-toting troops in full battle dress patrolling the streets and standing guard at sensitive sites. In the meantime, France is continuing to experience a brain drain with surging emigration rates among its Jewish citizenry.

Macron’s latest comments unsurprisingly mimic those of the repressive, pugnacious and often unhinged Turkish leader, Recep Erdoğan. They also demonstrate with utmost clarity why France is, and will always be – to borrow a phrase of a French diplomat – “a shitty little country.”