You are probably conflating me and some others with Jérôme. This is a problem because (a) Jérôme as he says is more of a realpolitik guy, (b) criticising French policy on moral grounds is not beyond me (in fact, look back how I described the nineties bombings affair). On the other hand, I note that for me moral and rational realpolitik don't separate clearly.

One elephant in the backgroom throughout this discussion has been that the promotion of "modernity" in the Middle East is seriously hampered by its source and advocates not living up to its ideals in their policies towards the region, and this is also widely perceived and seen as important (as opposed to say Africa, but not unlike say Latin America). The immorality of even the most clever realpolitik will erode the soft power of its applier.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}