Is anybody in America writing about this incredible piece of irony: that France has unilaterally deployed military forces in the Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire? An attempted coup in that former French colony has turned into a nasty civil war. France brought together a group of other West African countries, most of which are French satellites and are considered to be within Paris's sphere of influence, and representatives of both sides in the conflict, at a meeting under the supervision of Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan in Paris. Now's when the story gets good. This is from today's Vanguardia; the reporter's name is J.R. González Cabezas, who's in Paris.

Violent anti-French reaction in Ivory Coast capital

The capital of the Ivory Coast was yesterday the scene of violent demonstrations against France, in rejection of the agreement reached in Paris to put an end to the civil war. The riots broke out while the conference of West African leaders was preparing to ratify an agreement in the French capital itself, under the active protagonism of Chirac and with the approval of the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. What happened in Abidjan confirms the fragility of the commitment formalised in Paris and also the risk assumed alone by France in its diplomatic and military adventure.

After intervening personally on Saturday to obtain President Laurent Ghagbo's acceptance of the agreement, Chirac had to intervene again on Sunday to demand Ghagbo's energetic call to put an end to the violent anti-French riot in Abidjan. The (French) minister of Foreign Affairs, Dominique de Villepin, did not doubt in attributing the events to "extremists close to power".

Starting on Saturday night, dozens of thousands of furious supporters of President Ghagbo, many of them armed with machetes and clubs, invaded the center of Abidjan and assaulted the French Embassy, which was attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails. Hundreds of exalted demonstrators tried to penetrate into the 43rd batallion of marines' military base; they are garrisoned in the capital. The French cultural center, a students' group, department stores, and various business and government offices were also attacked there.

The French soldiers used anti-riot weapons to repel the demonstrators, who also burned the Burkina Faso consulate; that country is accused of supporting rebel groups. Air France suspended its two flights to Abidjan, while Ghagbo and the French ambassador hurried back to the country, where 16,000 French nationals live.

The agreement for the formation of a government of national reconciliation with the presence of the three rebel groups is considered as a finish by Ghagbo's followers. "When the war is not won, one discusses and arrives at compromises, and I have not won the war," he said before leaving Paris, after formally agreeing and promising to put the accord completely into practice, as Chirac demanded. France's unusual interventionism has gone so far as to name, in Paris, the "consensus" prime minister and new strongman of the Ivory Coast, Seydon Diarra, age 69, a Muslim from the north. The EU has pledged €400 million to reconstruct the country.

I am staggered at, first, how much this looks like any early-20th century American intervention in some banana republic, and second, that the French are acting just as unilaterally as you please. They got their other West African dependents to put their stamp of approval on the French military intervention, but I don't recall France consulting with, say, the United States on this, and Kofi Annan is apparently looking on smilingly, though I don't remember ONE SINGLE UN RESOLUTION SAYING THA...OK, OK, I'll calm down and, like chill out for a minute. There. Nice, calm, dignified. I even edited out a seven-letter present participle.