On a visit to the Gulf state of the United Arab Emirates French President Nicholas Sarkozy opened ” Peace Camp,” France’s first permanent military base on the Arabian peninsular:

“Nicolas Sarkozy today opened France’s first permanent military base in the Gulf region, in a symbolic move to show his new tough line on Iran and to compete with Britain and the US for military and commercial influence in the area.

The Abu Dhabi base in the United Arab Emirates is the first foreign military installation built by France for 50 years and its first ever base outside French or African soil. It is a landmark in the long-running repositioning of French foreign policy – recently accelerated by Sarkozy – to shift geopolitical concerns away from an emphasis on Africa and further east towards the Arab world….

…When France expands its international sphere of influence culture is always a major factor. Today Sarkozy also officially launched the opening of building works on the Louvre Abu Dhabi, an unprecedented project to build a museum and loan works from French museums to the Gulf state. The museum, competing with a neighbouring Guggenheim outpost, is expected to be finished in 2012 or 2013. The Sorbonne university has already cemented Gulf links and France is heavily investing in cultural initiatives on French language-teaching in the region.” {Source: Guardian}

No doubt as a sign of reciprocity and goodwill the United Arab Emirates will be opening a large military base on French soil near Paris ? Well maybe not then.

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