The Frenchifying of UAE
What do two nuclear reactors, a naval and air force base, 5oo troops, an overseas branch of a major European museum, Rafale fighter jets, a $53 billion trade deal, and the Strait of Hormuz have in common? Surprisingly the answer is French President Nicholas Sarkozy and the United Arab Emirates. While there are many valid reasons to be critical of Sarkozy, including his sometime lack of tact, his attraction to the bright and shiny, and his unbridled hegemony, he is also the ever-ready Energizer bunny of world leaders in the art of cutting the deal.
Sarkozy is opening the first French military outpost overseas in over 50 years, which is dangerous territory indeed for the French with a checkered colonial legacy in region. Sarkozy is injecting French influence into a complex environment. The nuclear deal is hot on the tails of the Bush Administration deal, just ratified by President Obama, and Sarkozy did likewise with India, so this is a pattern. The ‘prostituting’ of the Louvre art collection to a Dubai museum as some intellectuals termed it, is nothing more than commercialism and pragmatism for a nation hungry for international trade. The sweetener for the UAE to buy Rafale jets is to be expected, Sarkozy has been attempting to sell them overseas for an age.
The most difficult part of the package potentially for the French electorate will be the troops and the base. Sarkozy has already taken France back into the NATO command structure, and to now have French military personnel on a base in the Middle East in a permanent presence is either an act of diplomatic brilliance or political suicide. It is not for us to decide, but it a sure thing that the French press will have much to say on the matter.
The opening of “Peace Camp”, a naval and air force base located less than 150 miles from Iran’s coastline, demonstrated France’s resolve in protecting the United Arab Emirates, said an Elysée official. “If Iran were to attack, we would effectively be attacked also,” he said.
Up to 500 troops will be stationed in three sites on the banks of the strategic Strait of Hormuz at a navy and logistics base, a desert air base with three fighter planes and a training camp.
Some 40 per cent of the world’s crude oil is shipped through the Strait, which Iran has threatened to block if attacked. The area is also plagued by piracy.
“Through this base – the first in the Middle East – France is ready to shoulder its responsibilities to ensure stability in this strategic region,” Mr Sarkozy said.
Mr Sarkozy has toughened France’s stance regarding Iran and its suspected nuclear programme, warning shortly after his 2007 election that everything must done to avoid “the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran” – Nicolas Sarkozy’s Napoleonic ambitions expand to the Middle East – Telegraph.
