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Thursday, April 21, 2005For those who question the conclusions of my post below: Note that the French, for all their dedication to sovereignty, rule of law and international institutions, did not send a force to Iraq nor amass a military coalition to prevent our destabilizing and illegal actions there.The French leadership dreams of the glory of a France long past, and even of the noise that DeGaulle managed to make on the international stage. But it presides over a citizenry that is as unwilling to fight as it is willing to take to the streets on the side of whichever cause says it doesn't have to. If the French leadership calls on the French people to stay home and stay out of things to send a message to the fascist Americans, Old Glory will be burned on French streets. But if the French leadership calls on the French people to take up arms and sacrifice their sons and daughters to the ending of American hegemony, they won't know whether to burn Old Glory or the Tricolor and will end by burning both as well as (in effigy) the leader who asked them to stand by the worst of French bombast. France is capable of getting troops for the Ivory Coast, where (some of) the French see a need to put right messes of their own creation. They are not cowards. Nor, however, are they fools. Rhetorical excess, aimed at keeping us in check, is dandy by the French. But they know instinctively that twisting our tail - confident that we'll indulge - is different from going on the attack, not least because they disagree more with how we do things than where we stand. It's worth arguing with us where disagreements arise, but the disagreements are unlikely, I think, to rise to a level where the French people are willing to shed blood over them. 
posted by gbarto at 7:07 PM |
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