THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES

The current president of the USA could have hardly felt more flattered than to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran in the grandiose setting of the Palace of Versailles. Does he not consider Louis XIV, the creator of this manifestation of absolute power, a role model he aspires to imitate. “L’Etat, c’est moi!” However, he should have also remembered the dark legacy of this place.

Roughly 100 years after the palace’ inception, the French Revolution put a bloody end to the French Monarchy. Marie Antoinette, who loved to frolic on its grounds, ended up under the guillotine. Bismarck, the German “Iron Chancellor” deliberately chose the same historic place – the symbol of French grandeur - to declare the founding of the Second German Empire in 1871, adding humiliation to the devastating defeat of France. The French didn’t have to wait too long to take revenge: After Germany and her allies had lost World War I, the victors chose the same palace to have the Germans sign the infamous “Treaty of Versailles” in 1919. This treaty assigned Germany sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war and saddled the fledgling republic with unrealistic reparations. The consequences were disastrous. It was one of the birth defects of the nascent German democracy and contributed to Hitler’s rise to power.

So, what about the Memorandum? It seems to be a peculiar hybrid: Both sides, Iran and more so the United States declare victory, no one admits defeat. What are the facts: The USA - which started the war frivolously - achieved none of its war objectives: Vagueness about Iran’s nuclear future which allegedly was the main cause to start the whole war, no word about ballistic missiles, no word about Iran’s support of her proxies. In an interesting twist, the self-declared “victor”, the USA, pledged compensation for the destruction inflicted. Isn’t it normally the other way round, isn’t it the defeated party that pays “reparations”? We will see who will be “assigned” to come up with the promised $ 300 billion. “Defeated” Iran, on the contrary, seems to be emboldened, the grip of the regime tightened. It took an enemy to let them discover that they don’t need nuclear weapons to be a power to be reckoned with. Isn’t the Strait of Hormuz a more convenient – and cheaper - tool to subdue the rest of the world to the Mullahs’ will, doesn’t it turn out to be the proverbial “goose that lays golden eggs”? Who talks about human rights, regime change? Again, the fate of Iranian people was only a “collateral damage”.