Does President Chirac have personal motives, a view of himself, his own place in history and so on?
I think that’s difficult to say. Clearly, President Chirac’s first mandate was difficult. The first two years were difficult because of the social upheaval. The five years that followed were difficult because his prime minister didn’t agree with him politically. So clearly his re-election gives him a chance to make a mark. I don’t think, frankly, this is the reason why he’s doing this. He’s doing this because he has a genuine concern for the Middle East. He’s always had that; that is not new. He sees this as a make-or-break event for the international system. If the international system becomes one where countries can, without reference to the United Nations Security Council, decide on this or that political structure in neighboring countries and other countries, life would become very dangerous. I mean, we are no longer in a perfect system of Westphalia, the system which established the nation states. But still the idea that we can interfere in other countries’ domestic politics witho
