An accusation by Australian Prime Minister John Howard that France was guilty of lingering "anti-Americanism" drew sharp words from Paris on Tuesday during a visit by the Australian foreign ministerwrites the AFP. To no one's surprize, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier refused to draw any lessons from the comments or admit to any failures ("mistakes" is only what happens in Washington), and did nothing except the usually relativizing of the problem, equating temporary American anger about France's betrayal at the UN in 2003 (when it was planning to put its troops in harm's way) with the perennial anti-Americanism that is never far from the surface in France.
The Australian leader — a strong US ally — on Sunday accused "old Europe" of unleashing "unfair and irrational" criticism on the United States during a panel debate at the forum.
"America has made mistakes," Howard told the panel, but later added in comments to The Australian newspaper that he believed there was an "irrational level of anti-Americanism" in Europe.
"It is a sign of parochialism and it is disturbingly intense," he said, singling out France and Germany as the worst offenders.
"I found the French and German attitude has lingered longer than I thought it might, and longer than it is in anyone's interests," Howard said.
More about Barnier's (typical) reaction
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