France: The New Soviet Union

Would it surprise you if true?

Opposition spokespersons out of London said the Chirac government had cut a deal with the Iranian regime. Because of its attitude on Iraq, France was kept out of post-Saddam's financial benefits. Iran is an oil-producing country and a rising arms client. Its needs in technology parallel those of Baghdad before the invasion, and may surpass them. But perhaps the most converging interest between Chirac and the mullahs, according to exiles, may well have been the new geopolitics of the region. The U.S. has removed Saddam's Baath party and is now moving on Khamenei's theocracy. Paris, alleges observers, lost in Baghdad, but it wants to resume the battle against Washington's influence in Tehran. The Iranian opposition claims an obscure deal selling out the anti-mullah organization based in France in exchange for a French role in Iran. The idea may seem to be Machiavellian, especially as domestic tensions are exploding on Iran's campuses. But the Iranian opposition insists. They say evidence is omnipresent.

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Long Live the Crusade,

Monk