EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
How Qatar is buying up part of the French political class. Look at this Old Europe that invented the "Cooperation and Verification Mechanism" to criticize and teach backward Eastern Europeans about democracy and Euro-Atlantic values.
On October 20, 2016, a scandalous book with the intriguing title "Our Very Dear Emirs" and authors - two representatives of the heavy artillery of French investigative journalism - Christian Chesneau and Georges Malbrunot - was released on the market in France.
Chesno and Malbrunot are grandsreporters, respectively at France Entre and Le Figaro, specialists in the Arab-Muslim world, authors of a total of six books dedicated to the Middle East and the intervention of French foreign policy in events in the region.
In their latest opus, they reveal how "the French ruling class, through its inconsistency, its conscious disregard for local realities, its addiction to "human rights," but also through its highly developed taste for profit from the sale of military equipment, serves the interests and whims of the Arab rulers, those who have largely contributed to the emergence of the so-called "mad dogs" - i.e., the Islamized jihadists, whether they are naive idealists or ordinary lawbreakers."
The authors describe how corruption does not bother the French elites, politicians and journalists at all, because they themselves are completely corrupt, and it is precisely this corruption that explains the inconsistency of French politics over the decades. This is the explanation for the ambiguities, turns and positions (or postures) of the "elites" - inconsistent with French national interests, which have marked the country's relations with the countries of the Near and Middle East for thirty years.
Socialists, Republicans, Frontists - they are all mentioned in "Our Dear Emirs", a very curious story about the dangerous connections between some French top politicians and the Gulf monarchies. And all this - against the backdrop of shocking terrorist attacks and a faltering economy.
The book abounds with extremely detailed examples - corrupt politicians are exposed by name and their specific actions.
The trigger for the explosive investigation was a banal fact: the replacement of Qatar's ambassador to France. Doha's new representative, Meshaal al-Thani, refuses to be as generous as his predecessor. After a three-year stay in Paris (he previously held positions in Belgium and the United States), he says the following: "I have never seen anything like this. I have met politicians from all over the world, but no one behaved like some French people. No one had asked me for money so brutally openly, as if I owed them something."
The ambassador also turns out to be talkative.
Here is a small part of what was shared on 300 pages about:
Jean-Marie Le Guin - The Shameless
According to an official source from Doha, Le Guin had no concerns.
when announcing his intentions: "As the minister responsible for relations between the Parliament and the Government, I hold the questions of all MPs from my camp. I can block all questions hostile to Qatar and vice versa - I can launch them. But I do not do this for free." In short - pure blackmail.
Rashida Dati - the two-faced one
The former Minister of Justice in Fillon's first government, currently manages the prestigious 7th arrondissement of Paris, which is home to many foreign embassies. She comes up with the brilliant idea of creating an Ambassador's Club, where foreign first diplomats would gather periodically. However, she needs funding. No problem! The resourceful Rashida decides to knock on the door of ... the ambassador of Qatar. Mashaal al-Thani is amazed: during a Sunday dinner (November 22, 2015 to be exact) Mrs. Dati asks him for 400,000 euros. The diplomat lets her know that it will be difficult for him to give her a positive answer, and the next day he sends an official refusal.
The next morning, Rachida Dati is invited to participate in the morning block of Radio Monte Carlo. The action takes place ten days after the attacks in the Bataclan and the Stade de France. The former minister changes direction and attacks directly: "Saudi Arabia and Qatar finance mosques, associations, imams ... structures that we do not control." The ambassador is amazed: "She has dinner with me and asks us to help her, and the next day she tramples us in the mud."
Jacques Lang - the user
The head of the Arab World Institute (and former long-time socialist culture minister) is known as an unscrupulous partner to the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. “He asked for three business-class plane tickets for his wife and a friend when he was invited to Abu Dhabi.” The diplomat from the Emirati embassy knows that if he accidentally refuses, he risks public criticism of his country.
Dominique de Villepin - only "first" and nothing else
De Villepin only requires first class for his travels. When he was offered to travel business class to Doha, he refused to participate in the conference organized there. Moreover, everyone knows that Chirac's former prime minister will not say a single good word about Qatar for free. Here is an example: on November 4, 2015, on radio Europe 1, the man was categorical: "France has no evidence of Qatar's involvement in the financing of terrorism."
Senator Natalie Goulet wants her Christmas present
Despite receiving a clear and categorical refusal several times, the senator of the Orne region calls the office of the Qatari ambassador: “The other senators have received Christmas presents, where is mine?” When Qatar is attacked after the Paris attacks, Madame Goulet does not hesitate and offers to organize a special colloquium, for a fee, of course. When the answer is “no”, she directly declares “I don’t like Qatar at all”.
The audacity of MP Nikola Bez
The socialist from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais department is a member of the France-Qatar friendship group. His distinguishing feature is close friends with the former Qatari ambassador in Paris, with whom he was used to not standing on ceremony. The new one arrives. And the MP continues, as he is used to: “I have financial problems at the moment. The mother of my young child is tired. I would like to take her abroad. But my budget is tight. Can you invite me to a hotel in Doha and pay for our plane tickets with Qatar Airways? You will help me a lot.” Undeterred by the first refusal, Mr. Bez sent the ambassador two more SMS messages – the first time to ask for money to renovate his home. The diplomat did not answer. Nothing - the MP again did not hesitate and asked for designer shoes.
Jean Vincent Plasset – fierce
The president of the Union of Democrats and Ecologists and the Secretary of State for Reform complains loudly during a PSG match that the new ambassador no longer invites him on weekends.
And it is known that he received more than just gifts from his predecessor.
Marine Le Pen – episode 1
...meeting with Egyptian President al-Sisi in May 2015. The UAE, allies and sponsors of the Egyptian regime, paid for everything – hotel, plane. The National Front did not spend a single cent.
Marine Le Pen – episode 2 - the proposal
During the traditional gathering of the frontists, the representative of the Emirates offers to finance Marin's election campaign with 1 million dollars, or if that's not enough - with two million. "We'll see," the chairwoman replies.
Cannes City Hall - what hypocrisy!
He allows two wealthy Saudis (one is the director of the Quranic television network Iqraa) to build mosques, in close proximity to the mythical boulevard "Croisette", in which the most dark version of Islam - Wahhabism - is preached. This is happening at a time when the local authorities are banning the wearing of burkinis on the beach...
Bruno Le Maire - returned the watch, the other ministers - did not
Accompanying the Emir of Qatar for just four hours in 2009, the then agriculture minister and now unsuccessful presidential candidate received a Patek Philippe diamond watch worth €85,000 (the annual salary of a French MP), which he handed to the ministry’s protocol. “That’s how Gulf monarchies operate – with flattery, with courtesy, with gifts. Look at the ministers’ wrists!” Bruno Le Maire sneers.
And so on.
Postscript:It seems that Mr. al-Thani's talkativeness did not please someone (or many). The book by Malbrunot and Chesneau was published on October 20, 2016. On November 6 of this year, the Emir of Qatar had to recall him and appoint a new one - Mr. Khalid bin Al-Mansourieh, announced as ambassador to the French Republic.
