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Zemmour and Putin: the boomerang effect

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On Thursday 24 February, Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine was unanimously condemned in France.

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Including by Éric Zemmour,
an ardent admirer of Vladimir Putin.

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Here are the remarks
coming back to haunt him today.

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1. Admiration

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If we look elsewhere in the world
for someone who defends his country

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and who, against all odds, even
against the intellectual elite,

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wants to defend its history
and his vision of the country — who is it?

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Putin. Let me tell you.

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First of all, I think
he is a Russian patriot.

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He defends his country’s interests.

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That is what I admire about him above all.

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He has shown that a great power
can become a great power again,

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with a great foreign policy
and military power.

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— Of course, you’ll…
— It’s strength, power that you…

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No, it’s greatness.

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I’d say Putin could have been French.

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You see what I mean? He takes
a country that was an empire,

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a great power, now an empire in
decline, and tries to restore it.

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We experienced that after 1815.

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Do you dream of a French Putin?

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Yes, I would. Yes.

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2. Justification

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Vladimir Putin is trying,
like all Russians for a thousand years,

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to have a protective buffer zone.

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For thirty years, the Americans have been
gradually eating away at that buffer zone.

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I think Europe made a blunder with this
association agreement with Ukraine.

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I’m sorry, we must not forget that
Ukraine and Russia, for centuries,

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have been together, and Russia
considers Ukraine to belong to it,

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and that Crimea has been Russian
since the eighteenth century.

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For weeks, we’ve had a media, ideological

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and political bombardment
in the West, saying:

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“Watch out, Putin. Don’t divide Ukraine.

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Don’t break Ukraine apart.
Respect Ukraine’s unity.”

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But who attacked Ukraine’s
unity, if not Europe?

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What I mean is that the Americans have
no business in Georgia or Ukraine,

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that Vladimir Putin’s claims
and demands are entirely legitimate,

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and that it would normally
be France’s role to say so.

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And to tell Vladimir Putin:
“Yes, you are right.

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In this case, your demands are legitimate.”

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At the very least,
Ukraine must be made neutral.

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Ukraine must be “Finlandised”,
as we said during the Cold War.

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Ukraine is not meant to join NATO.

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3. The bad bet

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On Ukraine, the problem is not,

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if you like, that Russia is threatening
an invasion. I don’t believe it.

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Russia has no interest…

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There are tens of thousands of Russian
soldiers stationed at the border.

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Russia — I’ll bet on it —
will not invade Ukraine.

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Footage: France Télévisions,
Canal+, L’Opinion, AP, HuffPost.

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Music: Bending Dreams — Charles Holme.