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fdelangre - 5:45 AM ET September 1, 2005 (#12328 of 12335)

Forum : Wester Europe - NYT

Lance armstrong against France
here a French specialist on international affairs comments the political
exploitation of the case :
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/050901/295/4k9w2.html

IRIS (Paris) - the revelations concerning doping with EPO of the American
cycling champion ance Armstrong, seven times winner of the Tour def France,
are agitating for now several days not only the sports world, sport, as one
would have exepected it in such a case, but also, and that is more
surprising, the polirical world. In blaming the French laboratories and
media, Lance Armstrong suddenly revived the resentment between France and
the United States appeared with the begining of the military operations in
Iraq in spring 2003,.

The American media, CNN and Fox News at fist, seized the case to point out
the "clinical" animosity of the French towards the United States and the
most famous of its champions. In a talk show of the most famous American TV
broadcast in the world, that of Larry King, diffused in the whole world,
Armstrong pointed the jealousy of Europeans, the French in particular,
toward America and of its boys.

This issue is also the occasion for the amateurs of "french-bashing" to
start again their attacks. The blog website "f**kfrance.com" is delighted by
the case, proposing new messages of insults as stupid as unbearable. The
American champion would be thus victim of a plot fomented by the French
authorities... From the "freedom fries" to the case " Lance against France
", the level frankly does not seem to have been raised higher.

The "French alibi", so useful in the difficult moments (the war against
Iraq, the accusations during the election campaign 2004, or the Newsweek
scandal), made its great come back, and recalls thus, if that was necessary,
that animosity toward France remains very deep in the American conservative
media, ready to use the least occasion to make disappear all critics on
their actions, and to focus the attention on their favourite enemy. The
American media are the brightest proof of this trouble, which is not with
their advantage.

On a more sportive level (but is it about sport?), the accusations of Lance
Armstrong against those who question his honesty are, if not founded, at
least understandable from a sportsman on the defensive. On the other hand,
the fact of wanting to attack France in a general way seems to be as
ridiculous as unappropriate. Should it be recalled here that the other
victorious American runner of the Tour de France, Greg Lemond, which had
moreover was well known for having defeated in 1989 by eight seconds the
French champion Laurent Fignon, is cherished by the French public, which
never had any resentment against him. But, on the contrary with the champion
of the 80's, Lance Armstrong recently declared to have some political
ambitions. This case is thus not only the occasion for him to show his
political opinions (he was seen with George W. Bush at Crawford), and to cut
the sport links which seemed to link him with France, to join this category
of political agitators who, on both sides of the Atlantic, disappoint much
more than they gather, and poison the relations between Paris and
Washington. One would undoubtedly have hoped better from a former sportsman.

Barthélémy Courmont is a researcher of the IRIS (Institute of International
and Strategic Research). He recently wrote "the wounded empire : Washington
facing with asymmetry", Montreal, PUQ, 2005 and "America of Bush: stakes of
a reelection", Paris, CVMag, 2005.