Monday, November 08, 2004
A Thought on Cote d'Ivoire
Why attack France? France is a first world power with a robust, capable military. Outside of Britain, it is the country in Western Europe best able to project force, and is pretty unapologetic about it. Gung ho, you might say.
Nonetheless, the government of Cote d'Ivoire seems intent on attacking the French presence in their country. Why?
They could simply be unbalanced or irrational.
But then the question would be why now?
I'm going to guess that they're taking a hard look at events in Iraq. Watching the slow-motion withdrawal of the international community from Iraq would lead one to believe that international resolve to engage in costly rebuilding or monitoring operations is low. Granted, France isn't involved in Iraq, but it could be that the Ivorian government thinks the lesson applies there: countries that take losses pull their troops out.
Iraq turns out to be even more important now, in that sense. It is where the credibility of national-building and peacekeeping efforts for the coming decades will either be salvaged or lost. Opportunistic actors like the Ivorian government are watching . . .
Why attack France? France is a first world power with a robust, capable military. Outside of Britain, it is the country in Western Europe best able to project force, and is pretty unapologetic about it. Gung ho, you might say.
Nonetheless, the government of Cote d'Ivoire seems intent on attacking the French presence in their country. Why?
They could simply be unbalanced or irrational.
But then the question would be why now?
I'm going to guess that they're taking a hard look at events in Iraq. Watching the slow-motion withdrawal of the international community from Iraq would lead one to believe that international resolve to engage in costly rebuilding or monitoring operations is low. Granted, France isn't involved in Iraq, but it could be that the Ivorian government thinks the lesson applies there: countries that take losses pull their troops out.
Iraq turns out to be even more important now, in that sense. It is where the credibility of national-building and peacekeeping efforts for the coming decades will either be salvaged or lost. Opportunistic actors like the Ivorian government are watching . . .
