| Show French media hammer US U.S. handling of Katrina aftermath Sebastian Rotella Los Angeles TIme Times 1 11 a w 11 4 J r T Like other US U.S. allies France helped Jt after Hurricane Katrina hit The French government sent about 20 tons of relief supplies to the Gulf Coast as well as military military mil mil- divers and other emergency workers The Total oil company donated 1 mil mil- mil mil- lion The US U.S. embassy reports an pouring of donations and condolences But in a sign of the continuing tension in Frances France's two-century-old two alliance with the United States a debate has arisen here hereabout hereabout hereabout about whether Katrina also has opened anew the floodgates of French anti anti- Americanism Some French commentators have been dismayed by the tone of the media coverage coverage coverage cover cover- age concerning the destruction across the Atlantic They think that some of the French media and political leadership have eagerly turned the catastrophe into an purpose all-purpose symbol of a litany of American ills real or imagined If the United States didn't exist it it it- would have to be invented so that elsewhere elsewhere elsewhere else else- where we can reassure ourselves as if to better hide bide our own defects and inco- inco warned a recent editorial in hi hiLe Le Figaro newspaper Its easy to ramble on about the decline of the American empire Some even see the difficulties encountered by the US U.S. as the work of a vengeful hand from the beyond Derision and demonizing are out of place The extensive coverage has tended to paint a picture of a superpower brought down by economic inequality racial conflict conflict con con- conflict and neglectful government A recent cover of Nouvel summed up this stark view America Stripped Naked The cyclone reveals the wounds of the man himself society Marianne a left-leaning left news magazine magazine magazine maga maga- zine declared The American giant folds beneath the weight of its failures and struggles to enforce an order that it wanted to impose on the world The US U.S. media have also been tough on the Bush administration for its response to Hurricane Katrina But the invective here has been particularly harsh and grows partly out of an old anti- anti American undercurrent reawakened by bythe bythe bythe the war in Iraq columnist Laurent wrote in the Nouvel magazine In the past the anger about Iraq sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times distorted reality some analysts say The French national gove government ent controls controls controls con con- everything from law enforcement to health care to transportation City and regional officials have more limited powers powers pow pow- powers ers and duties than US U.S. counterparts especially when it comes to disaster response So the woes of New Orleans confirm French suspicions that Washington leaves Americans at the mercy of forces of nature as well as mar mar- mar |
