Voltaire Network - Notoriety

Notoriety

In 2001, the Network started a web site to denounce the closure by Danone of several plants for economic reasons seen as purely speculative. Complex legal issues over the trademark followed, which ended favourably for the Voltaire Network.

The Voltaire Network was especially vocal after the attacks on the World Trade Center of the 11th of September 2001, Meyssan claiming that 9/11 was an inside job.

In November 2005, Voltaire Network held in Brussels (Belgium) an international conference aimed at setting up an intellectual front to face the neoconservatives: the conference was called Axis for Peace.

The Voltaire Network frequently publishes grave accusations regarding important events or personalities. Notable instances are:

• In 1997, the Network accused Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, Archbishop of San Salvador, of being involved in several crimes, including the murder of the former archbishop. Although he denied, he had to resign his position of general in the army of San Salvador.
• In a best selling book, 9/11 The Big Lie, Thierry Meyssan, president of the network, claimed that the 11th of September 2001 was due to an internal plot within the US administration. The Network broadcast this declaration widely.
• In May 2002, the Network claimed that the coup d'état against president Hugo Chávez had been organised from the White House, citing names of personalities allegedly involved. These claims were used by general procuror of Venezuela Danilo Anderson, and were repeated by Chávez himself. The US Department of State formally denied any involvement.
• The Network claims that the "Islamic Army in Iraq", who had taken French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, had done so in complicity with the US Department.
• In 2005, the Network published a controversial article about the new French minister of foreign trade, Christine Lagarde, titled With Christine Lagarde, the US industry enters the French government

Generally, the Voltaire Network systematically attacked the Bush and Sharon administrations. According to the Réseau, the United States are a "hyperpower", a term forged by former minister Hubert Védrine, and all international relations are strongly dependent on the attitude of the concerned nations toward the USA.