Macron in Iraq … the eye is insightful, the hand is short – The Spider | Alankabout – News from Lebanon – News from Australia

France is trying again to find a foothold in Iraq. She tries to take advantage of various factors of a regional nature and the presence of Mustafa Al-Kazemi as Prime Minister. France took note of Al-Kazemi’s effort to restore Iraq to its position as one of the important countries in the region that enjoys a modicum of independence in the sphere of decision-making and the exploitation of its wealth.

It was inevitable that the French president would move in the direction of Baghdad, especially since his country knows Iraq well and has previously played a role on a different level on several occasions. It is not known to what extent Macron can be successful in his Iraqi mission. In fact, the French president has gone to a country that needs a lot to restore its infrastructure. What can help you in your mission is that French companies know about many Iraqi archives, from weapons to electricity, to the Baghdad metro …

President Emmanuel Macron moved from Beirut to Baghdad after he succeeded in forcing officials in Lebanon to walk the path toward forming a new government led by Mustafa Adib, who suddenly relegated Qadir to the post of prime minister. There is still a long way to go before France seeks to save Lebanon from the Lebanese and from what they did to their country, which came under the rule of “Hezbollah”, that is, Iran.

It is no secret that there is a big difference between Lebanon and Iraq. But it is true that there are meeting points between the two countries. Perhaps the most important point of convergence is Iran’s ambitions in Iraq and Lebanon, which separates the Syrian land between them, a land that has been the subject of five occupations, and in which no one believes that the Syrian Arab Republic does not need to be reconstituted. again, except for Bashar al-Assad. This is due to the fact that the president of the Syrian regime lives in a world of his own, somewhere other than Syria and in another region that has nothing to do with the Middle East and what is happening in it.

What can the president of France do to help Mustafa Al-Kazemi meet the challenges facing Iraq? Is it enough for Macron to go to Baghdad to show that his country can support Iraq to face the new challenge called the Turkish challenge that links Baghdad and Paris? In short, the problem with France is that it has the projects for Iraq, but it does not have the capacity to finance these projects. France is not in a comfortable financial situation, as is Iraq, which can be considered a bankrupt country after pro-Iranian governments squandered all the money that entered the treasury since 2006 at a stage in which the price of a barrel of oil was high. These funds are estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars.

France has all good intentions, but the question is, does it have the means that will enable it to turn these intentions into reality, including dealing with the dangerous policies of Iran and its expansionist project and with Turkey’s effort to restore the glories of the Ottoman Empire? from Iraq to Libya, passing through the riches of the Mediterranean?

It is no secret that there is a great difference between Lebanon and Iraq, but it is true that there are points of convergence between the two countries. Perhaps the most important point of convergence is Iran’s ambitions in Iraq and Lebanon, which are separated by Syrian land.

Emmanuel Macron will be able to play a positive role if there is deep coordination with the US administration. It is not known, to this day, is there such coordination and what is the position of the United States on France’s effort to be present in Iraq?

In any case, Macron is working to make France a regional player. Is this possible in the year 2020? There is no doubt that it achieved relative success in Lebanon, especially if a new government was formed that includes specialists and experts, in which there is neither Hezbollah nor the Aoun Movement, which could not participate in any Lebanese government except with failed ministers. and fallen on all levels. All that Gebran Bassil did, when he was Foreign Minister, was to be Foreign Minister of the “Islamic Republic” in the Council of the Arab League and vote.

Macron will need more than the ties that linked France to Iraq in the past to make a breakthrough in Baghdad. It will need more than the response of the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi. It will need, first of all, US support. There is no indication that it is available and of coordination with the Persian Gulf countries, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has improved its relationship with Iraq since Mustafa Al- Kazemi became prime minister.

France knows Iraq well. I supported him in the war he fought with Iran between 1980 and 1988. Francois Mitterrand, the then French president, knew exactly what the Iranian victory over Iraq meant, and what the collapse of the borders between Iraq and Iran especially meant, which was what really happened thanks to the stupidity of the George W. Bush administration in 2003. At that time, President Jacques Chirac opposed the American war in Iraq, he warned of its results and he was right. On the other hand, the US administration did not appreciate the significance of the overthrow of the Iraqi regime without having a clear and practical plan of action for the next stage … except to satisfy Iran’s wishes.

In theory, France was always ahead of the rest. In practice, France applies the proverb that says: The eye is insightful, the hand is short. In the end, what could it do in Libya in the face of the Turkish invasion by that country, and what can it do in Lebanon and Iraq to limit Iran’s sabotage role?

The truth is that the overwhelming majority of the Lebanese are not opposed to a French role in Lebanon, but it is not known, with regard to Iraq, if the Iraqis remember anything of the history of their relationship with Paris despite the fact that This story goes back to the late seventies of the last century, that is, to about only half a century.

It will be difficult for France to find him a place in Iraq in light of the interactions between the United States and Iran, especially since the regime of the “Islamic Republic” is playing the card of its future in Iraq. As for facing the Turkish role in the region, a role that now also threatens Iraq, it is not known what France can do in this field except for diplomatic coordination with a country in which everything is pending the success of the government of Mustafa Al- Kazemi to return it to the map of the region …