Hollande’s Attempt to Score Political Points by Talking with Putin was Derailed by Washington

In recent years, in an unannounced agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia have become a sort of a trump card among Western politicians. This card allows them to increase their ratings whenever they deem necessary. Some of these politicians are choosing to engage in negotiations with Russia when they feel especially vulnerable, yielding significant personal benefits. This tactics has been used a few days ago by the Turkish President Erdogan, who used the last personal meeting with Vladimir Putin in Istanbul to mend the previously damaged relations with Moscow even further, along with negotiating the deal on the construction of the Turkish stream pipeline.

Others politicians, those who witness their ratings dropped abruptly over the recent years, are engaged in spreading Russophobia. However, those speculative strategies do not yield good results, since the ratings of those Western powerbrokers continue to plummet.

Among such politicians one may name Barack Obama that has witnessed his approval ratings hitting the rock bottom. Just take a look at the titles that Western journals publish on this subject:

• Why President Obama Has Difficulty Garnering Respect Internationally
• Who Is Making American Foreign Policy-the President or the War Party
• Putin’s lesson for Obama in Syria
• Election Is Referendum On Obama’s Failures
• Obama’s Russia Policy Is in Flames

A similar political disaster can be witnessed in Germany today, where the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has witnessed her political career going down in flames. The extent of the ongoing disaster can be seen in the following titles:

• Angela Merkel damaged as German far-Right surges in Berlin elections

• Merkel auf Fünf-Jahres-Tie

But among all Western politicians, nobody has hit a worse wall of rejection among the population than the French President François Hollande that, according to various analysts, has little to no chance to get reelected, even though he has been pretty desperate in pursuing this goal. Francois Hollande has virtually become the most unpopular French president in history, with media sources publishing a wide range of critical articles:

• Présidentielle: à gauche, tous désunis contre François Hollande

• France’s Hollande is so unpopular that his own party may not support him

Hollande seems to be well aware of the fact that he’s considered the most useless leader in the French history, so he wants to boost his ego by achieving a major “breakthrough.”

It’s noteworthy that back in July 2013 Hollande made the decision of forcing the airliner of the Bolivian President Evo Morales to land in Austria in accordance with Washington’s demands, which was a flagrant violation of all international norms!

To manifest its loyalty to Western special interests, the Elysee Palace got heavily engaged in a disinformation campaign back in 2013, in a bid to persuade the international community that Damascus used chemical weapons against its population only to announce that Paris is willing to launch military strikes against Syria. Back then the French military pilots were raised on alarm to execute Hollande’s orders, but then Washington did not even care enough to promptly inform Hollande that Western policymakers had a change of hearts. This resulted in the French president finding himself in a pretty peculiar position.

One can also mention Hollande’s fooling of Russia with the notorious Mistral deal, when he forced France to return all the advance payments to Russia along with the costly fines it paid for breaking the deal.

On top of all, the Fifth Republic has canceled Hollande’s visit to Poland, that was scheduled on October 13, due to the fact that Warsaw has given up the three billion contract on the purchase of fifty French military transport helicopters.

The French president has proven that he can be neglected, not only domestically, but internationally too. Therefore, in a bid to somehow improve his image, this October Holland sent his Foreign Minister to Moscow to lure the Russian President Vladimir Putin into visiting Paris, for Hollande to present himself after the meeting as a “notorious peacemaker “.

However, these plans were derailed by Washington, which did not give its consent for such a meeting to take place. As a result, the Elysee Palace and personally Hollande has made a series of bold and arrogant statements against Moscow, which has effectively derailed any possibility for bilateral discussions between Russia and France over a number of today’s important political events. The world has once again seen the true face of the French president that has no say whatsoever without Washington, virtually transforming France into a 52nd US state.

The great French politician Charles de Gaulle must be spinning in his grave, since, unlike the sitting French administration, he cared about his country and its image in the world. Even though the Russian trump card has been played yet again, the truth is quite different. Only by pursuing a close cooperation with Moscow, France can successfully address modern international challenges, including the rise of fascism, and strengthen its economic and trade positions.

Grete Mautner is an indepenent researcher and journalist from Germany, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”