Big choice for the French, as the 2007 election plays out with Nicolas Sarkozy on top, followed closely by Ségolène Royal. Sarkozy, billed as a “law and order” candidate, is considered the bête noire of the so-called Left, in France actually a gaggle of ineffectual and lukewarm socialists. Sarko, as he is both affectionately and derisively nicknamed, called for ethnically cleansing the banlieue of La Courneuve in June 2005 “with a Kärcher,” a well-known brand of pressure cleaning equipment, a rather remarkable comment, as he is Minister of the Interior. It is this attitude and his “circulaire Sarkozy” mandating a crack down on Muslim immigrants, that has won the favor of the neocons on the other side of the pond in America. It helps, as well, that Sarko supports the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Ségolène Royal, president of the Poitou-Charentes region, a member of the National Assembly, and a prominent member of the Socialist Party, also claims to be a “law and order” presidential candidate, but more significantly she supports the so-called “Third Way,” or “Radical Middle,” a centrist philosophy of rule that cobbles together “market” and interventionist philosophies, that is to say yet another variation, this one peculiarly French, of neoliberalism. In fact, the “Third Way” is nothing short of Fabian socialism, a construct nurtured by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in England and the Institute of International Affairs in the U.S., although in its mo dern version more or less the brain child (or bastard child) of brothers Aldous and Julian Huxley, the latter the first head of UNESCO.

In short, the French people have a choice between a neocon who likes to call Muslim immigrants voyous (thugs) or a graduate of the elite École nationale d’administration, in other words Ségolène Royal is one of a handful of énarques selected to become senior bureaucrats in France. For some reason, probably a throwback to their royal past, the French people accept this ironclad political monopoly with little question.

If the neocons and the Israel Firsters have their way, Sarko will come out the winner, as his well-established animosity toward Muslims—indeed, the whole of the Islamic Maghreb—is a more or less a perfect fit, whereas Royal’s socialist neoliberalism may result in flip-flopping disaster for the “clash of civilizations” game plan. In order to cinch the election, the neocons and Likudniks in Israel are tolling the “al-Qaeda” bell, as should be expected.

“The mass-circulation Spanish El Pais reported Monday, April 23, that al Qaeda is deep in preparations for mega-attacks in Spain and France,” reports the infamous Mossad front, DEBKAfile. “Aware of the threat, Sarcozy told Radio Europe 1 last Thursday, April 19: ‘The principal menace to France comes from Algeria, from the GSPC network that has transformed into al Qaeda. They have members in several European countries, including France’… Our counter-terror sources confirm the intelligence that the Algerian GSPC is working hard to repeat the “success” of al Qaeda’s 2004 Madrid rail bombings, which left 200 dead and hundreds more maimed—and turned Spain’s elections around. The ruling conservative Popular Party, one of the Bush administration’s foremost allies in Iraq, was consigned to defeat, and the Socialist Workers’ Party, opposite number of Segolene Royal’s Socialists, was elevated to power.”

Of course, this is nothing short of nonsense, as a two year Spanish investigation concluded last March determined no such “al-Qaeda” link, a fact reported at the time but since disappeared into the corporate media vapor. Moreover, Emilio Suárez Trashorras, alleged to have supplied 200kg of dynamite used in the bombs, was traced back to Los Técnicos Especialistas en Desactivación de Artefactos Explosivos (TEDAX), the bomb disposal experts of the Spanish Civil Guard (see Madrid 3/11 train bombing suspects linked to Spanish Security Services), a fact that has since found the memory hole. As well, and ever so conveniently, Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, said to be the ringleader of the attacks, and crew “may have been killed … when they blew themselves up as police closed in on their apartment” in April, 2004.

“The al Qaeda jihadists view Sarkozy as a dangerous enemy of radical Islamic organizations in France, who must be prevented from attaining presidential office, exactly like Spain’s Jose Maria Aznar,” DEBKAfile continues. “His foreign policy is likely to friendlier to the United States than that of Royal…. Sarkozy is viewed as foe by millions of Muslims living in France from his tough record as interior minister. Royal in contrast wooed the Muslim vote with promises of advantages. A terrorist attack that brings the Socialist contender to power will give al Qaeda a huge prestige boost with French Muslims.”

As usual, “al-Qaeda” will accomplish the exact opposite, making sure Ségolène Royal is trounced and Sarkozy elected. But then, of course, “al-Qaeda” was designed precisely for such occasions, making sure to underscore a threat that never materializes.

Finally, all of this is on cue, as we are told “al-Qaeda” has migrated to northern Africa, thus necessitating the creation of AFRICOM, announced by Secretary of Never-Ending War Robert “Iran-Contra” Gates.

“And thus the ‘al-Qaeda’ threat keeps on rolling, out of the Middle East and right into the midst of Africa, where there happens to be no shortage of strategic minerals and such,” I wrote here earlier this month. “Of course, for the neocons, the mineral wealth of Africa is secondary to making certain Muslims are demonized far and wide and making sure the WOT has a very long shelf life, maybe a hundred years or more.”

For Sarko, the job is to keep that demonization going strong in France.