THE WEEK THAT WAS... (September 2, 2013)

Today it’s about brave men of war: Cameron, Hollande and Obama. But let me start with a brave woman of no-war: Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel of Germany. She has indicated that her country will not take part in any military strike on Syria. She also made it known that military action without a UN mandate is ‘hard to imagine’. Mrs Merkel plays her role. She agreed in a call with British Prime Minister Cameron, that the use of chemical weapons ‘was a very grave incident and that there was very little doubt that it had been carried out by the regime’. But the Chancellor’s conclusion stays clear: Germany will not participate in any attack. Maybe she doesn’t want to risk further alienating Moscow, a firm ally of Bashar al-Assad. Germany is highly dependent on Russian energy deliveries and Russia is one of Germany’s biggest trade partners…

In the meantime David Cameron, asking for a rapid response on the alleged chemical weapons attack, was halted in his efforts by the British Parliament. He bowed his head and said: ‘The British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action… I get that and will act accordingly’. How different is the attitude of French President Francois Hollande. He started in the same way as Cameron: air strikes on dictator Assad, immediately. But Hollande, the most unpopular French President since WW2, does not have the guts to bring the question to the Parliament; he knows the public opinion in France is against a military intervention. He stands firmly by the key player in this drama, US President Obama.

And what is Obama doing? After his usual firm rhetoric, he is suddenly playing it down and bringing the Syria case to the American Congress for a decision even though, like Hollande, he is not required to. Somewhere mid-September we will see what will (not) happen; the US Congress is on holiday now. Till then poor Francois can do nothing else than wait and bite his nails in the Elysée in Paris…