The Mediterranean Union revisited

Letters from France
The Mediterranean Union revisited
By Robert Thompson
Jun 27, 2008, 05:00

President Sarkozy's idea of a Mediterranean Union may seem to many across the Atlantic to be of minor interest, but a substantially modified form of such cooperation could form the nucleus of a settlement of some of the world's longest running causes of dispute. Mutual cooperation on the part of all the countries clustered around our middle sea is therefore of importance to all including those thousands of miles away. On the other hand, interference by outside forces, such as the imperialist corporations which rule the rulers of the USA, is certain to be counterproductive, since they draw enormous financial profits from encouraging wars (and the fear of wars) between neighbours.

We know that the creation of the Zionist 'state' was the basic final blow in modern times to any hope of improvements in relations between the 'west' and the Arab world. This came as a logical result of the imperialist greed of the British and French Empires which both wanted 'their share' of the collapsing multi-ethnic Ottoman state, which led to the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 and the Balfour Declaration of the following year. The creation of the puppet kingdom of Iraq and the influx of supposed 'Jews' who had been rejected by the USA and many European countries when driven out of Germany and its satellites created the conditions to destroy any trust which could have arisen from the vital help given by Arab armies to end what was left of Ottoman rule. The USA gave its backing to the extremist Wahabi tribes to incorporate most of the Red Sea coastal area of Arabia, formerly ruled by the Hashemite descendants of Mohamed, and thus empowered them to pretend to be the Guardians of the Holy Sites of Mecca and Medina, which they were thereby able to capture. It was this alien invasion of these Holy Sites which obliged Britain to give minor consolation prizes to the Hashemites, namely Transjordan and Iraq, instead of the greater Syria which they had largely liberated, with Damascus as its traditional capital, and Jerusalem as its principal Holy Site. As we know this area was divided between British and French zones of influence, by means of League of Nations Mandates without regard for the views of the inhabitants. This was repeated after the Second World War by the United Nations when it totally disregarded the inhabitants when proposing a partition of Palestine. Also, beyond the Arab world, but in other majoritarily Muslim countries further to the east the USA later again removed the democratically appointed government of Iran in favour of their client, the pliable but despotic Shah, and, as they had in what became Saudi Arabia, they gave their backing to other Islamist extremists (the Taliban) in Afghanistan.

All this history bodes ill for Mr Sarkozy's simplistic plan, which has already (as I have previously written) raised problems for the leaders of Germany and Libya, the one wanting to be in and the other to be out. His only obvious strong supporters have been President Ben Ali of Tunisia who has his own internal problems arising from his scant regard for human rights, and King Mohamed VI of Morocco whose r�gime is disappearing faster and faster into a colonial status after passing through the gaping jaws of USA imperialism.

If some form of democratic process appropriate to the local situation could be installed in all the countries which surround the Mediterranean, some form of cooperation could be instituted, but those outside the region should stay out and stop every form of interference in any state or other entity potentially involved, and, above all, we can all do without any 'USA input' which can only be harmful. Whichever r�gime takes over the government of the USA should first settle its own country's collapsing economy and battered suffering society rather than diverting the attention of its populace with direct and indirect foreign wars in other parts of America, as well as in Iraq, the Lebanon, Palestine and potentially Iran. Once this government's own finances were in order and its inherent political corruption ended, the USA could be truly free to compete on the world stage and to do very well for all their citizens. Until then the USA's totally horrendous record on freedom and democracy will repel the rest of the world, particularly where they have so disastrously interfered, where hatred will grow in proportion to their insistence on their imperialist so-called 'American' dream, which leaves most of their own citizens out in the cold.

Mr Sarkozy's dream will not succeed, even if a formal organisation comes into existence, but we can still hope for better understanding and cooperation around the Mediterranean if we are left to get on with it without 'Big Brother' breathing down our necks.

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