French President François Hollande* announced yesterday "As things
stand in the international trade negotiations, the French position is
'no'," Hollande proclaimed in a speech in Paris. (That's non in
French.) Hollande dressed the move up in the garb of high principle,
namely the need to defend French culture. Other "principles" enumerated
were protection of the environment and of French agricultural interests.
(French farming probably wouldn't exist without protectionism. Notice
how in the context of current U.S.-capitalist ideology, "protectionism"
is a dirty word? Since when is protecting something bad?
"Protecting American interests" on the other hand, is a GOOD thing.
What's unsaid is that "American interests" consist of U.S. state power,
and big corporate business interests, NOT the interests of most
Americans. Maybe someday they will realize that.)
Earlier in the day, French Trade Minister Matthias Fekl signaled what was coming, saying a halt in the trade talks was likely. France has been complaining about the stubbornness and inflexibility of the U.S. position.
The move followed on the heels of the environmental activist group Greenpeace releasing 248 pages of the latest secret negotiating text of a trade deal the U.S. is trying to shove down the throat of the European Union. The proposed treaty is grandly titled the " Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership," or TTIP to political sophisticates. The documents show the U.S. predictably pressuring European countries to rip holes in their environmental and consumer protections, and to give giant corporations even more power during trade talks. They also expose yet another double-cross by Obama, who in public always claims he's interested in protecting workers, consumers, and the environment. [1]
The French public, already deeply dubious of a "free trade" treaty in the mold of the notorious predecessors NAFTA**, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), and others of that ilk, were aroused by the Greenpeace expose. Hollande doubtless behaved as a political weather vane, blowing with the prevailing winds of public opinion, rather than a stalwart defender of principle. Oh, did I mention there's a French election next year, and Hollande is very unpopular already? Not that it's relevant, oh no. [2]
So what has that to do with the upcoming June UK public referendum on exiting the European Union, so-called Brexit, or British exit? Obama, a few weeks ago when he was in Britain (according to him, he flew all the way there just to wish the "Queen" Happy Birthday- I suppose after he leaves the White House he'll be selling the Brooklyn Bridge to some suckers) writing a column (in the reactionary rag The Telegraph) and making public pronouncements and giving interviews urging the British public to stay in the EU, he make a bit of a threat, saying Britain would have to cool its heels at the back of the trade treaty line, after a deal was cut with the EU. [3]
Well, the EU just left the line.
That means that the country that apparently can't chew gum and walk at the same time can impose a bad trade deal to Britain. Unless the trade deal window is closed for lunch.
* Hollande's full name is actually François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande. I guess that's so in case he loses a few names, he'll have spares on hand.
** NAFTA stands for North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal between the U.S., Mexico, an Canada, crafted to put big corporations in the economic driver's seat, that has devastated workers in the U.S. and farmers in Mexico, and helped lead to the forced migration of millions of Mexicans to the U.S. to seek employment, driving down wages in America.
1] There's some irony in Greenpeace being the bearer of information to the French public that forced Hollande's hand, as in 1985 a previous French president with too many names, the horrid François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand, ordered French frogmen to blow up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was interfering with French nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific, spreading radiation and thus vandalizing the human genome. The terrorist bombing murdered a young photographer and father of two young children, inflicting a lifelong psychic wound on them and their mother. See "Russia Outdoes U.S. Five-Fold In Bombing Hospitals," paragraph 3, and footnote 3.
Earlier in the day, French Trade Minister Matthias Fekl signaled what was coming, saying a halt in the trade talks was likely. France has been complaining about the stubbornness and inflexibility of the U.S. position.
The move followed on the heels of the environmental activist group Greenpeace releasing 248 pages of the latest secret negotiating text of a trade deal the U.S. is trying to shove down the throat of the European Union. The proposed treaty is grandly titled the " Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership," or TTIP to political sophisticates. The documents show the U.S. predictably pressuring European countries to rip holes in their environmental and consumer protections, and to give giant corporations even more power during trade talks. They also expose yet another double-cross by Obama, who in public always claims he's interested in protecting workers, consumers, and the environment. [1]
The French public, already deeply dubious of a "free trade" treaty in the mold of the notorious predecessors NAFTA**, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), and others of that ilk, were aroused by the Greenpeace expose. Hollande doubtless behaved as a political weather vane, blowing with the prevailing winds of public opinion, rather than a stalwart defender of principle. Oh, did I mention there's a French election next year, and Hollande is very unpopular already? Not that it's relevant, oh no. [2]
So what has that to do with the upcoming June UK public referendum on exiting the European Union, so-called Brexit, or British exit? Obama, a few weeks ago when he was in Britain (according to him, he flew all the way there just to wish the "Queen" Happy Birthday- I suppose after he leaves the White House he'll be selling the Brooklyn Bridge to some suckers) writing a column (in the reactionary rag The Telegraph) and making public pronouncements and giving interviews urging the British public to stay in the EU, he make a bit of a threat, saying Britain would have to cool its heels at the back of the trade treaty line, after a deal was cut with the EU. [3]
Well, the EU just left the line.
That means that the country that apparently can't chew gum and walk at the same time can impose a bad trade deal to Britain. Unless the trade deal window is closed for lunch.
* Hollande's full name is actually François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande. I guess that's so in case he loses a few names, he'll have spares on hand.
** NAFTA stands for North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal between the U.S., Mexico, an Canada, crafted to put big corporations in the economic driver's seat, that has devastated workers in the U.S. and farmers in Mexico, and helped lead to the forced migration of millions of Mexicans to the U.S. to seek employment, driving down wages in America.
1] There's some irony in Greenpeace being the bearer of information to the French public that forced Hollande's hand, as in 1985 a previous French president with too many names, the horrid François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand, ordered French frogmen to blow up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was interfering with French nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific, spreading radiation and thus vandalizing the human genome. The terrorist bombing murdered a young photographer and father of two young children, inflicting a lifelong psychic wound on them and their mother. See "Russia Outdoes U.S. Five-Fold In Bombing Hospitals," paragraph 3, and footnote 3.
2] The reactionary Wall Street Journal saw shades of the Munich sellout of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in Hollande's move: "Hollande: France Won’t Compromise Principles in Trans-Atlantic Trade Talks- A year ahead of presidential elections, Hollande is looking to appease many on the left suspicious of a trade deal," May 3, 2016. The word "appease" has a negative connotation in U.S. political discourse as the word appeasement is habitually used to make invidious comparisons to the infamous 1938 sellout of Britain and France to Hitler.
3] See "Obama Threatens Britons Over Leaving the European Union," and "Obama Gives Another Reason For Britons to Stay In the EU: The Better To Spy On Europeans."
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