A deadly scam

To summarize the situation, we can say that since the fall of the Berlin Wall, French based multinational arms manufacturers decided to widen their market reach. They have used politicians or government representatives as “sales reps” in Third World countries to sell arms they produce. As a matter of fact, they are dictating French foreign policy in a pure commercial strategy framework even if it means to arm dictators, ethnic groups, political activists, terrorist networks or states which have no need of these arms or which should not have them considering the threat they pose as far as international security and peace is concerned. Using well introduced middlemen, those “reps” get in contact with leaders of those various entities to negotiate contracts. And they are not very difficult to convince since the buyers (as well as the middlemen) receive a very important “commission” which can total up to 10% of the whole deal.

But this is only a part of ugly scandal. Of course, since these deals are often worth several million or billion francs, one wonders how certain countries having an unbelievable exterior debt can pay the signed contracts. In other words, why these multinational companies sign contracts with insolvent countries or groups (Saddam Hussein just before the Gulf War for instance). The answer lies in the fact that contrary to other countries, France covers these deals with an export insurance fund managed by a public organization called Coface which warrants to pay the seller in case of the seller’s insolvency. And even the bribes are included in the insurance policy signed for the deal and approved by the highest executives of the State. Since the buyers don’t pay and since Coface is managed by the French state, it is the French tax payers who buy those death machines from these multinationals to offer them as a “gift” to the various terrorists or dictators in the world. And, on top of it all, French tax payers also pay for the bribes.

But why, since the seventies, have various Governments become the accomplices and then the puppets (because of black mail) of these death merchants? Unofficially, they pretend it is to support this French industry to protect employment and other economic considerations. But reality is very different. It is enough to know that an important portion of the planned bribes is never given to the local dictators but comes back discreetly into France in cash, to “reward” political parties and their representatives who helped to sign these contracts up.