François Hollande has decided to flex his muscles. Based on the "threat of Islamic terrorism", the French president has deployed 1,700 soldiers in Mali, and another 800 are expected to arrive within a few days. The "international community" has unanimously approved of the intervention. Of course, the French president has said that his country "does not have interests in Mali" and that the action is "exclusively for the purpose of peace." But this is a very small fig leaf covering what is in reality an imperialist intervention to defend the interests of the old colonial power.