Want to waste resources? Ask the French!
The French are going to be the first western country other than the U.S. to have a permanent military base in the middle east. Yes, the Brits have some airplanes on an American owned airbase in Qatar, and yes they also have a naval presence in Bahrain, but that doesn’t really count. What and Why would the French do such a thing? Didn’t they learn from all the ire that the military bases brought to the Americans? Is President Sarkozy the French version of Bush?
If the French are trying to become an alternative to the U.S., they are going to have to try a lot harder than one military base with only 500 personnel. The U.S., excluding Iraq, has 40,000 soldiers around the Middle East. One reason, which is a reasonable one, is that they are also selling civilian nuclear technology to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a cost of 6 billion dollars. That ought to bring money to the much needed French economy, which by the way, is doing terrible. Expected growth for the French economy is going to be at 2% or less! Plus, those 500 soldiers are probably going to be guarding the new nuclear facility, whether directly or indirectly.
Overtime though, will the French be able to afford those troops? What if they have to increase those numbers? What if this just exacerbates domestic problems? The French have always gone through periods where they try to reassert themselves internationally, and some of the right-wing frenchies love military power, so perhaps this will help in a weird way, domestically for Sarkozy.
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