Wow, Chirac Is Really Generous

Political grandstanding is a trait that I do not like in politicians. So is it any wonder than, once again, I'm annoyed with Jacques? In his latest grandstanding he has decided to set an example of generosity, granting Mali a four reprieve from paying its debt to France.

Sounds all nice and generous, maybe even bighearted of Jacques, right?

Well, yeah, except that the total debt is a grand total of US$14 million. Or, using the revenue numbers from the CIA's World Fact Book approximately 1.8% of Mali’s budgetary revenue base for 2002. As a percentage of the total external debt it is even more insignificant a gesture. The US$14 million represents a grand total of 0.42% of the US$3.3 billion in debt (same source).

US$14 million represents to France a grand total of 0.000049% of their 2002 budgetary revenue. If Chirac had simply wrote off the amount, rather than suspending repayment for a few years, it would have had roughly the same significance, namely zero.

Chirac spoke at a joint news conference with Malian leader Amadou Toumani Toure in Bamako, Mali's capital, on the last day of a trip he said was aimed at showing France's support for the former French colonies, which are among the world's poorest nations (emphasis mine).

Did Chirac ever bother to consider why this is? Did he ever stop to consider that French colonial elitism might have played a role in the abject failures that their colonies have a tendency to become? Why did the British colonies suceed, where the French did not? Why did the Spanish colonies succeed where the French did not? The Dutch? The Belgians? The Portuguese?

I'm not saying that France should forgive the Malian debt. The Malians accepted it, they have a moral responsibility to repay it.

But before Chirac sits there and puffs out his chest in magnanimous pride, perhaps he should look to the past to see if he's simply granting reprieve on a debt incurred as a result of previous French "generosity."

It's not a point of pride to help someone out of a problem you (or your nation) created. It's called doing the right thing.