Love comes in spurts	Ils retournent illico dans leurs HLM casernes d'Ali Baba
French human scum discharged from Gitmo. Expect the sob stories any minute now.	Les raclures de chiottes giclent du côté de Guantanamo. Attendez-vous aux histoires larmoyantes d'une minute à l'autre.

Get the 'F' out!	'F' comme foutre le camp!
Dhimmicrappers still know to keep away from the more undesirable elements. Thanks to Allah and Wizbang.	Les dhimmicrottes savent tout de même éviter cette faune infréquentable. Merci à Allah et à Wizbang.

The Tour de Rancid	Le Tour de rance
After French State TV reporting that Lance Armstrong is hated in France because he is American (post race show on Sunday), the newspaper Libération PropagandaStaffel runs a letter from a reader with a title across an entire page (a bit extragavant for simple reader mail) 'These Americans that destroyed the Tour' which is a three quarters of a page diatribe against American participation in the Tour de France. In an article on Saturday, Libération PropagandaStaffel took out their big guns (big for the French that is) by systematically insulting Lance Armstrong: ... he has a natural inclination towards being a despot His self esteem has been transformed into a need for absolute domination He is carried away by a cruel imbecility and humiliates other participants Someone of legend does not behave in such a childish way Does he need to prove his superority? That's all he knows how to do. ... it is forbidden to humiliate the weakest. That's written black-on-white in the Tour's rulebook. Lance uses the rulebook to sit on. And there are other insults that I have not quoted since they are too numerous to mention. Poor Lance, obliged to spend weeks on the roads of France surrounded by paranoid, hysterical hayseeds (hey, what can you do in this country where guys have their periods).	Suite à la téloche de l'Etat franchouille déclarant que Lance Armstrong est détesté en Fwance car il est américain (l'émission qui a immédiatement suivi le Tour ce dimanche), le journal torchon Libé PropagandaStaffel fait passer le courrier d'un lecteur sous un titre qui fait les 4 colonnes de la page (quelque peu spectaculaire pour un simple courrier de lecteur) 'Ces Américains qui ont tué le Tour' qui n'est autre chose qu'une diatribe de 3/4 d'une page dirigée contre la participation des américains au Tour de France. Dans un article paru samedi, Libé PropagandaStaffel a sorti la grosse artillerie (façon de parler en ce qui concerne ces franchouilles, heh) en insultant Lance Armstrong de façon systématique: ... s'est laissé aller à son penchant naturel au despotisme L'amour-propre est chez lui devenu esprit de domination absolue. Lance, emporté par une cruauté imbécile, a humilié un coureur ... Un immortel ne fait pas l'enfant comme ça. Avait-il à nouveau besoin de prouver son incomparable supériorité ? Il ne fait que ça. ... il est interdit d'humilier les plus faibles. C'est pourtant écrit noir sur blanc dans la Constitution du Tour. Mais Lance, la Constitution, il s'assoit dessus. Comme elles sont trop nombreuses, il y a d'autres citations que je n'a pas extraites. Pauvre Lance, obligé de passer des semaines sur les routes de la France en compagnie de franchouilles paranoïaques et hystériques (on est quand même dans un pays où les mecs ont leurs ragnagnas).
UPDATE: More on France's State Party Line©®™ regarding Lance at E-nough!.	DERNIERES INFOS: Plus au sujet de la pensée unique Non-Pensée Inique de l'Etat©®™ franchouille au sujet de Lance chez E-nough!.

George Bernard Shaw on French Intellectuals

Actually, there is no proof that George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and critic whose birthday it is today, had intellectuals of the French kind in mind, specifically, but there's not much harm in pretending he did.

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

And here's one that rings true about the views of Washington decision-makers and how they are perceived by knee-jerk America-bashers and Yankee castigators in general.

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.

Americans, you are hated here

Les américains, vous êtes détestés ici

After Lance Armstrong's 6th record Tour de France victory yesterday, France2 TV (State television and keeper of the State Party Line©®™) presented a poll which ranked Lance as France's 3rd most hated sports personality. The main reason given? 'Because he is American'. Such is the across-the-board anti-Americanism that is currently eating away at France, a country now submerged by obsessional hatred of Jews and Americans. French house organs now admit that the hatred is not directed only against Bush as some of France's lesser intellects continue to affirm.

Suite à la 6ème victoire de Lance Armstrong hier qui a établi un nouveau record pour le Tour de France, France2 (téloche de l'Etat et garant de la pensée unique Non-Pensée Inique de l'Etat©®™) a présenté les résultats d'un sondage qui a classé Lance comme la 3ème personnalité sportive la plus détestée en Fwance. La raison principale fournie pour justifier cette haine? 'Car il est américain'. Tel est l'anti-américanisme universel qui ronge actuellement la Fwance qui est devenu un pays submergé par une haine obsessionnelle de tout ce qui est juif et américain. Voilà donc une antenne de l'Etat franchouille qui avoue que cette haine n'est pas uniquement dirigée contre Bush comme l'affirment quelques-uns des éléments franchouilles les plus décérébrés.

I thought the whole country was a 'free speech zone'	Je croyais que le pays entier constituait une 'zone de libre expression'
Silly me. Not when Dhimmicrappers get together.	Que je suis bête. Ça ne tient pas quand les Dhimmicrottes se réunissent.

More Stomach-Wrenching Photos from Iraq

More "disgusting" photos from the "humiliating" U.S. occupation of Iraq …

They just keep coming, don't they?

(Merci à Gregory Schreiber)

Stick it in and break it off	Enfonce-le bien et casse-le net
Chiraq tries to surrender and Sharon tells him 'I got your 'surrender', dangling!'. Never forgive, never forget, and never ever give any breaks to these pricks.	Chirak fait une tentative de capitulation et Sharon lui dit 'J'ai ta 'capitulation', elle me pendouille entre les jambes!. Ne jamais oublier, ne jamais pardonner, et jamais jamais ne donner de quartier à ces enculés.

Gitmo looks more comfy	Guantanamo est quand même plus confortable
Dhimmicraptic Party cages protesters.	Le Parti Dhimmicrotte aux USA met les manifestants dans des cages.

Appy polly loggies to thee and thine	Exqui cususes usées à tous mes frères
Dieudonné, French comic and infamous anti-Semite, decked out in his Nazi uniform, to publicize his latest madcap comedy 'My Apologies'. Paris Jews are kindly requested to buck up and (especially) to shut up. If Muslim baiting posters were displayed in Sarcelles every car in the city would be torched faster than you could say 'make my burger Halal'.	Dieudo, comique franchouille et antisémite de triste renom, sur son trente-et-un sapé dans son uniforme Nazi, pour faire la promo de son délirant one man show 'Mes Excuses'. Les juifs parisiens sont priés de prendre sur eux et (surtout) de faire le gros dos. Si des affiches susceptibles à 'humilier' les musulmans étaient déployées à Sarcelles chaque bagnole dans la ville serait cramée en 2 fois 3 mouvements aux cris de 'On exige des biftecks Halal'.

I used to be a soda jerk at Howard Johnsons and I want to negotiate	J'étais spécialiste en banana split chez Howard Johnson et je veux négocier
Banana Split Republic	Ripoublika Banania

Flushed in 30 minutes or your money back	C'est comme couler un bronze, tu ponds ça et tu tires la chasse
You can flush it now darling. Home abortions now available in Fwance.	Vous n'avez qu'à foutre tout ça aux chiottes chérie, avortements à domicile dispos en Fwance (Arrêt signé par Philippe Douste-Blazy, en voilà un qui aurait dû rester sur le billard).
Plantu promotes French WMDs.	Plantu fait la promotion des ADM franchouilles.

The French say: If you can't beat 'em, hate 'em	Les franchouilles préfèrent pédaler dans la semoule, alors ils font pédaler Armstrong dans le mépris
Degenerate Europe. Zeropean fan flipping the bird to Lance Armstrong during the Alpe d'Huez stage of the Tour de France. Lance was also spit on by Zeropa's finest. The Tour's General Manager Jean-Marie Leblanc stated that he was afraid for Lance, and Lance stated that he was lucky to get out of a 5 kilometer stretch safe and sound. The French have allowed all expressions of rank anti-Americanism and hatred to run rampant during the Tour de France.	L'Europe décérébrée. Un spectateur zéropéen sort les gros doigts pour Lance Armstrong pendant l'étape Tour de France de l'Alpe d'Huez. Lance a également reçu des crachats de la part des chères têtes blondes zéropéennes. Jean-Marie Leblanc, directeur du Tour de France, a reconnu avoir eu peur pour Lance et Lance a déclaré qu'il n'a pensé qu'à s'en 'sortir sain et sauf pendant quatre à cinq kilomètres'. Les franchouilles font de sorte que toutes les expressions de haine et de l'anti-américanisme primaire s'épanouissent tous azimuts pendant le Tour.

It's not called Zeropa for nothing	Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'elle s'appelle la Zéropa
By singling out Chiraq as leader of a hotbed of Zeropean anti-Semitism, Sharon has reminded everyone why Zeropa has zero credibility with regards to Middle East diplomacy. No one cares what Europe thinks. Dont miss Allah's take on this.	En montrant Chirak du doigt en tant que le chef d'un foyer important d'antisémitisme en Zéropa, Sharon a rappellé à tout le monde pourquoi la Zéropa dispose de zéro crédibilité en matière de diplomatie au Proche Orient. Tout le monde se fout pas mal de l'avis de l'Europe. Faut pas louper la réaction d'Allah à ce sujet.

Just common sense	Ça relève du bon sens
Sharon tells French Jews to hit the bricks. French officials protest stating that they need the punching bags.	Sharon dit 'bouge de là' aux juifs français. Les autorités franchouilles s'en offusquent déclarant qu'ils ont besoin de souffre-douleurs.

Going postal	Comme une lettre à la poste
Bush tells Armstrong how to handle the French: 'Stick it in and break it off.'	Bush dit à Armstrong comment pratiquer les franchouilles: 'Enfonce-le bien et casse-le net.'
UPDATE: It's stuck in. Lance will break it off in the Alps.	DERNIERES INFOS: C'est enfoncé bien profond. Lance le cassera net dans les Alpes.
UPDATE: Interviewed on French State TV France2 (propagandists of the State Party Line©®™) about charges of doping, Lance Armstrong responded 'I don't care. I want to reach the Champs-Elysées with the Yellow Jersey, and then it's good-bye France.'	DERNIERES INFOS: Interviewé à la télé de l'Etat France2 (pamphlétaires de la pensée unique Non-Pensée Inique de l'Etat©®™) au sujet des accusations de dopage portées contre lui, Lance Armstrong a répondu, 'Je m'en fiche. Je veux arriver sur les Champs-Elysées avec le maillot Jaune et ensuite ce sera au revoir à la France.'

Harder, better, faster, stronger
Kill faster. Total war.	Tuer plus vite. Guerre totale.
Le Monde Al-Jazeera on the Seine is wetting its pants because the Iraqi Prime Minister allegedly killed a few terrorists.	Le Monde Al-Jazira sur Seine nous fait un caca nerveux car le Premier Ministre Irakien aurait tué quelques terroristes.
'... the meaning of a civilisation is now measured less by the quantity of its victims than by the quality of its executioners.'	'... le sens d'une civilisation se mesurait désormais beaucoup moins à la quantité de ses victimes qu'à la qualité de ses tueurs.'
Raymond Abellio, La Fosse de Babel

Ctrl-Alt-Del. Good metaphor for the Ripoublika Franska.	Ctrl-Alt-Suppr. Belle métaphore pour la Ripoublika Franska.
Good example of French technical excellence in today's Libération PropagandaStaffel in an article covering the widespread software crashes now affecting the SNCF (national railway): 'Up until now we had a few small outages now and then, three or four times a day but they never lasted a long time. We simply had to reboot.'	Bel exemple d'excellence technique franchouille vu dans Libé PropagandaStaffel aujourd'hui au sujet de la panne généralisée des logiciels à la SNCF: 'Jusqu'à présent, on avait eu quelques petites pannes par-ci, par-là, trois ou quatre par jour mais qui ne durait pas longtemps. Il suffisait de rebooter.'

The road to Morocco

Il appelle affectueusement sa tasspé de Sarcelles 'sa petite alerte à Marrakech'

While sheep-like collaborating Zeropeans accuse Israel of being their biggest threat (Eric of the Eric and Razmy duo, just one more anti-Semitic French gagman, was on TV calling Ariel Sharon the biggest terrorist in the world), a judge in Spain reminds his adle-brained fellow European citizens that Zeropa's biggest threat is an Arab country just a boat ride away. Don't say it too loud though. Might get the natives upset. You know how they have a hair trigger bomb-belt like temper.

Pendant que les zéropéens collaborateurs au comportement moutonnier montrent du doigt l'Etat d'Israël en le taxant d'être leur plus grande menace (Eric de Eric et Ramzy, un comique franchouille antisémite de plus, était à la téloche pour traiter Ariel Sharon de plus grand terroriste au monde), un juge espagnol rappelle à ses con-(très con)-citoyens européens que la plus grande menace pour la Zéropa est un pays arabe d'où partent de nombreux embarquements de fortune. Ne le dites pas à voix haute pourtant. Ça pourrait offusquer les indigènes. Ils ont la gachette fastoche sur la ceinture d'explosifs.

Where the Wild Things Are	Au régal des vermines
Against a background of anti-Semitic graffiti like 'Fuck the Jews', French youth express their indignation to a reporter from Le Monde Al-Jazeera on the Seine (please understand, the poor things have been humiliated) and take the opportunity to vent their uncontrolable envy and hatred of all things Jewish.	Sur fond de tags antisémites style 'Nique les juifs', de chères têtes blondes franchouilles expriment leur indignation à un journaliste chez Le Monde Al-Jazira sur Seine (faut comprendre, les bambins ont été humiliés les pov') et profitent de l'occasion pour nous faire une démonstration de leurs pulsions d'envie et de haine vis-à-vis de tout ce qui est juif.

Just tag him and bag him	Pesé, emballé, jetez-le
No burial, just a pigskin shitsack	Pas d'enterrement, un sac à merde en carcasse de porc suffira largement.

Up your ziggy with a wawa brush	Fais-toi ramoner l'entrée des artistes avec une brosse à chiottes
Isn't 'cocksucking liberal media' hate speech in these parts? Too bad.	L'expression 'média gôchiste suceur de bites' ne constitue-elle pas un discours haineux par ici? Tant pis.

The kids are alright	Des guns, des keufs, des histoires de caillera --- mais comment veux-tu faire kiffer les tera?
Le Monde Al-Jazeera on the Seine can serve up all the appy polly loggies it wants. It is nevertheless an accomplice in the continuing undeclared civil war in this country.	Le Monde Al-Jazira sur Seine peut nous fourguer autant d'exqui cucuses usées qu'il veut. Il est tout de même un collaborateur actif dans la guerre civile non-déclarée dans ce pays.

Clinton's Saudi Policies Were No Different Than Bush's

In a letter (third one down) to Craig (House of Bush, House of Saud) Unger, Rachel Bronson takes on one of the central denunciations made by Michael Moore and Richard Clarke.

I think it's worth returning to the original question: Has the money that has flowed and the history that has passed between the House of Bush and the House of Saud affected the course of American politics to the detriment of the American people? I think we both agree that the administration has made some major missteps. But I don't think the evidence stacks up that it's because of a personal relationship between the families. …

Before 9/11, did Bush pursue such a different policy toward Saudi Arabia than Clinton did? Clinton's relationship with Saudi Arabia around terrorism was relatively cordial, much to the chagrin of those in Clarke's shop. Clarke was pushing Clinton to come down harder on terrorist financing, but Clinton worried that if he did, it would have a significant and possibly unrecoverable negative effect on the global economy, and so he chose not to pursue the advice of Clarke on that one. There's no evidence that the Clinton folks were coming down hard on the Saudis and then Bush suddenly changed course. The Clinton folks, by the end, were much more concerned with terrorism than the Bush team was at the beginning of their tenure, but for reasons addressed earlier, it has less to do with money and ties than Cold War blinders.

The French Resistance to Helping in Afghanistan and Iraq is Now Downright Dangerous

…with a flick of a hand, Chirac dismisses [Afghan president] Karzai — and, of course, the U.S.

writes Charles Krauthammer in the Time Magazine article Why the French Act Isn't Funny Anymore.

Before Sept. 11, France's Gaullist anti-Americanism as a form of ostentatious self-aggrandizement was an irritant. With a war on — three, in fact: Afghanistan, Iraq and the larger war on terrorism — France's willful obstructionism becomes dangerous and deadly. …

Why then is Chirac making things as difficult as he can for the U.S.?

It is not just pique. It is not just antipathy to George Bush. And it is not just France's traditional and reflexive policy of trying to rein in, cut down and domesticate the world's greatest superpower so that ultimately secondary powers like France could emerge as leaders of a multipolar world.

There is something far deeper going on here…

(Merci à Tom P)

France Again Displays Its Unequalled Humility, Reasonableness, and In-Depth Understanding of World Affairs

France really shows its in-depth understanding of international relations, of which governments can claim to be the genuine article, and who, alone, is competent to making such judgments.

Pascale Boniface [sic: the first name is Pascal], director of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris, said renewing ties with France would help the new Iraqi government establish its legitimacy.

"Iraq has to show that it is not locked into a subservience to the United States," Mr. Boniface said.

Should Belgium show that it is not subservient to France? Non. Should Paris have shown that it was not subservient to Saddam Hussein? Non. Did Saddam ever have to prove that he was the genuine representative of the Iraqi people? Not at all, do not be ridicules! But the new Iraqi government must show France that it (the Baghdad government) is not subservient to Uncle Sam!

Good for you, France, what would we do without you? You proved it again: La France veille!

Answer: a French one	Réponse: un trou à merde fwançais
Question: What kind of a shithole is this where you can insult somebody only if they are straight?	Question: C'est quel genre de trou à merde où on peut insulter que les hétérosexuels?

Smoke 'em out of their holes	Les enfumer pour les sortir de leurs grottes
Call a spade a spade.	Il vaut mieux appeler une racaille une racaille.

La Fin for France's Film Rules?

What I found most interesting in Eric Pfanner's IHT article is how the EU, while striking down France's protection laws, said squarely and forthrightly that "the measure deprives French consumers of a wider choice of European cultural goods". That, of course, goes against the conventional wisdom here, the one that repeats the government's mantra, the one that claims that the government's protection is of the benign type, since it allegedly provides for endless diversity and boundless creativity. (Emphasis is mine.)

The European Commission has taken square aim at a pillar of the French "cultural exception," asking the government to change rules that ban television advertising of films and books.

Paris maintains that the ban aids the endangered newspaper industry by channeling ad sales its way and encourages media diversity by helping French films and books survive amid bigger-budget (that is, American) competition. The commission disagreed with that justification.

"By impeding operators in other member states from advertising and using a very efficient means of promotion to enter the French market, the measure deprives French consumers of a wider choice of European cultural goods," the commission said in a statement. The commission has been aggressively pushing ways to create a more unified market for goods and services across a newly enlarged European Union.

…Under pressure from the commission, France has already had to lift a ban on television advertising by retailers, which was intended to protect small shops against hypermarket operators like Carrefour. The French television ad bans are unusual, though Germany, like France, has long had restrictions on discounting of books, for instance, in an effort to protect small publishers and booksellers.

…Film is another matter [than the book market. The TBWA's Jean-Pierre Rousset] estimated that movie distributors might spend as much as E50 million, or $62 million, a year to promote their films in France. A sizable portion of this might be new spending from Hollywood studios or the larger French distributors, who have been forced to rely mostly on newspapers, billboards and radio until now.

"In the end, it's a lost fight," he said of efforts to keep the ban in place. "It's much better to find other ways to discover new talent." In addition to banning television ads for movies, France encourages local film production with the largest public subsidies of any European country. It has been relatively successful in its effort to foster the development of the domestic film industry.

In 2002, 35 percent of French box office sales stemmed from domestically produced films, the highest percentage in Europe …Thus, independent producers argue that ending the advertising ban would put them at a severe disadvantage.

…It is not all bad news, however. The government has also been weighing allowing French television channels to run more advertisements. Advertising time has been strictly limited, particularly on publicly financed channels like France 2. Because broadcasters are required to give a portion of their revenue to finance cinema and television production, increased ad sales could create a bigger pool of money.

Liiive from Paris, It's the Capital's First All-English Radio

Chris Oakes has an article in the International Herald Tribune on the French capital's first all-English-language radio station.

…since May 11, Paris Live Radio has been reaching what it says is 30,000 daily listeners, albeit by nontraditional signal paths: cable TV and satellite radio channels and streaming over the Internet via www.parislive.net. PLR is also participating in the testing phase for fledgling digital radio in France. …

Judging by the experience of Paris Live Radio, … it looks as if the only reason no one had started an English station before is that no one had tried. … The absence of an English-language radio station surprised [Renzie Duncan when the Australian expatriate] first stayed in Paris, in the mid-'90s.

…for now, those among Paris's 200,000-plus anglophone expatriate community who can tune to one of Paris Live Radio's signals find a menu of brief on-the-hour news updates, information as diverse as local events, language and cultural tips and the major component, pop music. On that score, the station must meet the same legal requirement as any music station in France: a minimum of 40 percent French artists.

France's Beacon Dimmed by Racism

In his Politicus column for the International Herald Tribune this week, John Vinocur discusses hard days for La France Universelle. (Do bear in mind that one of the events discussed in the past few days has since turned out to be false.)

Tomorrow is Bastille Day, and if France still represents some kind of universal message, it is having a miserable time matching the dim wattage of its current beacon with that of its luminescent past.

If this were a country with a more circumscribed self-description of its own worth to humanity, a cheery Denmark, or an exuberant but problematic Brazil, nothing horribly cosmic might be made of France's current corrosive reality of anti-Arab racism, hundreds of no-go communities penetrated by Islamic fundamentalism, or anti-Semitism that has gotten out of hand. But France defines itself, with historical legitimacy going back to July 14, 1789, as a vector of values for everyone, a universal proposition of intelligence and reason, offering assimilation for seekers of citizenship or psychic belonging for admirers of its good sense. Skipping over the pretense of grandeur, a serious argument could be made that alongside America's more pragmatic projection as the world's indispensable power, France kept in the game through the postwar years as a worthy adjunct, committed to freedom, human rights and fairness in its own brilliantly self-interested way.

These days, both the Republic's notion of itself as an inspirational force and example, and the affection of some of its friends — "To live like God in France," goes a German phrase describing a universal ambition for the good life — are hard put by events.

Last week, a sociologist, Pierre-André Taguieff, director of research at the state-sponsored National Center for Scientific Research, talking in an interview for a series of articles in Le Figaro called "What it is to be French today," described racism here as so lethal now that the French live in a fractured republic that no longer merits the label "one and indivisible."

After all, the day before, the government's internal intelligence service, les Renseignements Généraux, furnished the corroborative details, reporting that 300 "troubled neighborhoods" nationwide, grouping about 1.8 million residents, had become communities "in retreat." Decoded, this meant that a substantial part of the country's Arab population of five to seven million live in areas submerged in separatist-like situations involving what the Renseignements Généraux indicated were Islamic fundamentalist preachers, contempt for France and the West, anti-Semitism, and violence. Le Monde described the Renseignements Généraux's analysts as deeply pessimistic about circumstances they called "difficult to halt." Acknowledging the substantial failure of a system of assimilation which stops with brotherhood and equality in word only, this went to the heart of the notion of a universal French beacon. In terms of reality, verbal theory had never coincided with equal opportunity for France's Arabs or what the French-Arab community considers it merits in terms of respect from the state or the French themselves.

It is this jagged gap in France's relationship with Arab immigrants at home, paradoxically exacerbated by a continuous French message of pro-Arab sentiment to the Middle East, that appears to be a central element in deflecting the French-Arab community's anger toward French Jews.

Beyond attacks by Arab youths on Jews … and what Taguieff says is a demonization of Israel in France, the sociologist indentifies the presence of a new "judeophobia" here. While Taguieff says this is not the policy of the state, he believes it has entered the tissue of national life with the French "majority looking on as indifferent or complaisant spectators."

Running after events, but getting consciously ahead of the self-celebratory aspects of Bastille Day, Jacques Chirac, certainly no racist or anti-Semite, for the second time in a year pledged last week to put a stop to the problem. Unlike Taguieff, he insisted "the nation" shared the victims' pain. But Chirac offered no names, no responsible parties, just confirmation of a disgraceful but, in his formulation, near-virtual situation in which la France Universelle remained essentially blameless. In the same manner that Charles de Gaulle considered the Nazi collaborationist Vichy government illegitimate, and its crimes not those of France, specific official acknowledgment of discrimination in France against its Arabs, or that the hoodlums attacking Jews essentially come from the French Arab community, appeared too much in conflict with France's universalist aspirations to get spelled out by Chirac.

"In trying at any price to avoid stigmatizing certain segments of the French population," Taguieff explained, "we don't dare anymore to call anything by its right name or to describe it unequivocally."

This, in turn, seems mirrored in France's refusal to modify or fine-tune its approach to the world. Pascal Bruckner, the writer, talked years ago of the inflexibility growing out of his country's "unique mixture of arrogance and self-hatred." And this awkward French place between pretension and reality affects its current politics internationally.

If France weren't wedded to a desire for global resonance, its seriously challenged handhold on a share of leadership in Europe and its attempts to mark international affairs with its own stamp could be scribbled off in its private accounts as a bad run in day-trading on the global geopolitical bourse.

But because they treat leadership in Europe as a national birthright, France's politicians have now moved into the embarrassing position of not knowing whether they want to stage a referendum on the European Union's new constitution, or, ultimately, be for or against it — although the treaty is substantially the oeuvre of a Frenchman, former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

The unspoken reason is that the constitution holds out no palpable, specific advantages for France. As a result, its political caste, across factions left and right, has atomized into groups weighing out potential gain by the gram of support or opposition on a scale of domestic political positioning. This has zero to do with Europe's interests or the greatness of the French example.

The situation came as a piece with Chirac's behavior two weeks earlier at a NATO summit in Istanbul as the Alliance offered up minimalist support for a mission to train the armed forces of the new Iraqi regime. A participant recounted later that after France raised no objections in a closed-door session with the entire membership, Chirac proceeded to trash the plan in front of the press.

It was a glaring moment of French unilateralism, with Le Monde, in a departure from its usual portrayal of French wisdom, describing Chirac as "isolated" and "in the role of eternal complainer and killjoy."

As the flags and the brass bands come down the Champs-Elysées on Wednesday, it would not be reasonable to expect a national expression of newfound humility to be included in the president's traditional television interview. All the same, taken together on Bastille Day, French life and politics in 2004 suggest a universal proposition that for the moment is one of considerable modesty.

Stone them back to the bomb age	Bombardez-les de façon lapidaire

The Good, the Bad, and the Do-Nothings

Today is the birthday of John Clare (1793-1864), the English writer who (besides "If life had a second edition, how I would correct the proofs") wrote that

The best way to avoid a bad action is by doing a good one, for there is no difficulty in the world like that of trying to do nothing.

Just thinking to myself: doesn't "doing nothing" come close to the (non-)agenda that the anti-Washington pacifists have been claiming would (somehow) sort the world out right?

Also: exactly what good actions can France's foreign affairs ministry claim over the past few years (decades?); except of course the obviously genial one of opposing Uncle Sam at every step?

(Just asking…)

And How Do French Intellectuals Think? Deeply or Clearly?

Today is the birthday of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), the electrical engineer and inventor who said that

The scientists from Franklin to Morse were clear thinkers and did not produce erroneous theories. The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

It is Easy to March into the Streets, Burn Flags, and Throw Rocks in Protest When Your Country is Protected by the Strongest Military in the World

It is easy to march into the streets, burn flags, and throw rocks in protest when your country is protected by the strongest military in the world

writes a South Korean from Seoul.

While one Korean responds from Texas to the rage of a South Korean pacifist regarding Seoul's decision to back the American military in Iraq, another pens a long and thoughtful letter in the International Herald Tribune.

Although the main purpose of this weblog is anti-Americanism in France, it is my contention that anti-Americanism amounts to the same self-serving prattle, no matter what region of the globe it occurs in. Read E S Moon's letter and decide for yourself.

Ha-yun Jung's commentary Fighting America's wars (Views, July 1) underscores a pervasive anti-American sentiment that has gripped South Korea in recent years. While similar sentiments are seemingly sweeping the globe, it is curious that Korea, of all places, would be home to such fierce anti-Americanism.

America has been South Korea's strongest ally for the last half-century. When the author conveniently refers to the Vietnam War, she fails to mention the most relevant past conflict in the U.S.-Korea relationship: the Korean War. Any historical assessment of the U.S.-Korean relationship begins there — lest we forget the 44,000 American lives lost in the defense of the country. Moreover, when Ha-yun speaks of the freedoms and the economic prosperity that South Korea enjoys, she also fails to mention that much of these successes were predicated upon a strong and unwavering U.S. military presence.

Arguably, no other country has enjoyed more benefits from an alliance with America, and more importantly, as North Korea continues its relentless pursuit of more nuclear weapons, perhaps no other country faces more dire consequences from a reduced U.S. commitment than South Korea.

As Ha-yun correctly points out, the U.S.-Korea relationship is an unbalanced one. However, contrary to what she and many other Koreans argue, this imbalance is decidedly in Korea's favor, not America's. The fact is Korea has become a free rider. It is easy to march into the streets, burn flags and throw rocks in protest when your country is protected by the strongest military in the world.

The author ends her article by stating that “for once” Koreans should act upon their own “national interests.” One could not have stated a clearer policy objective from the American perspective. An assumption of unwavering American commitment to Korea has always been implicit in domestic discussions of Korean “national interests.” However, times are changing.

The United States needs reliable allies now more than ever — and, in particular, allies who reciprocate the kind of unwavering commitment that America has shown them. More to the point, the United States has never been more serious about acting firmly to secure its own “national interests” above all else. South Koreans should beware of what they wish for — they just might get it.

George Bush's Birthday is July 11(He Will Be 1 Year Old)

This nation is peaceful, but
fierce when stirred to anger

George W Bush

Five days from now, George Bush will be celebrating his birthday. Some will protest and say, that's not true, the president's birthday is today, July 6. But we're not talking about the same person, apparently. And the George Bush I have in mind will hardly be doing much bona fide celebrating, actually, in view of the fact that next Sunday he turns 1 year old.

The George Bush I have in mind is not the one whose full name is George Walker Bush, nor the one whose full name is George Herbert Walker Bush, but the one whose full name is George Bush Abdul Kader Faris Abed El-Hussein (no relation to Saddam). And this George Bush was born in Baghdad on July 11, 2003.

As far as can be ascertained, George Bush’s parents named him in honor of some Western leader one of whose recent feats they found to be not only impressive and admirable, obviously, but worthy enough to name their new-born son after. They must have been plenty impressed, in view of the fact that they gave their child the name of someone not of their faith, with linguistic roots not of their culture. (Sort of like a Westerner — say, someone from the Bush clan — giving a newborn son a name such as Mohammed Ahmed Yusuf Bush.)

Now, here is what I suggest. I suggest that the West should send a number of representatives to Baghdad. The type of people that David Brooks calls “the members of the sneering brigade”, “the think-tank johnnies and the rest of the commentariate” in “their usual sky-is-falling mode” — people like José Bové, François Hollande, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schröder, José Luis Zapatero, Jean-Marie Colombani, Plantu, Willem (to name only the Europeans), etc… They should choose a couple of high-visibility VIPs, “arm” them with all the usual arguments, and send them to Baghdad.

And there, they should seek out the parents of George Bush. Once the couple has been found, they should patiently explain the “truth” to them and seek thereby to install some common sense in them. That would include telling them…
• that the war was unnecessary and a sham, conducted for bogus reasons;
• that Iraq, and the world, were far better off before the conflict;
• that the presence of foreign soldiers is “humiliating” for George Bush and his fellow countrymen;
• that they must resent America (or at least, the Bush administration) for the current situation in which thousands have been killed over a period of more than a year (almost as many months as George Bush has been alive) and hark back to the previous situation in which the secret police killed several thousands per month with total impunity;
• that, in contrast to the administration of George Bush’s namesake, they, the holier-than-thou members of the peace camp, had (and have) nothing but the best interests of his parents in mind;
• oh, and, of course, that George Bush’s namesake is nothing but a nincompoop and a despicable liar.

Once the parents of George Bush have been converted to the sky-is-falling truth, the “the members of the sneering brigade” could go to work convincing more of Iraq’s population.
The members of “the commentariate” could start with Mohammed, Ali, and Omar, the brothers from Iraq the Model and expand outwards, to include the Iraqis who lost hands and tongues to Saddam’s thugs, had their faced scarred by acid, had their sisters, mothers, and daughters raped, and had their parents, brothers, and children shot down and their bodies thrown into unnamed graves. With luck, “the think-tank johnnies” would eventually reach that vast majority of people who in polls believe life has never been better since the war toppled Saddam and who say they feel more optimistic than they ever had in the past.

Let us join together and wish them “good luck and godspeed with your sacred mission”.

Oh, and by the way, Georgie: Happy birthday!

Zeropean menace

La menace zéropéenne

Zeropa bends over for Iran. The overt obstructionist policies of France, the collaborationist pacifism of Continental Europe (which started with Spain), and the sclerosis of Zeropean non-institutions all mean that the United States has to avoid Europe like the plague. Message to Americans: not only are you all hated here, but if nothing is done soon this continent will be the death of you, literally.

La Zéropa se met à quatre pattes pour l'Iran. La politique d'obstructian systématique de la Fwance, le pacifisme collaborateur des autres pays sur le Vieux Continent (qui a débuté avec les espingouins), et le blocage des non-institutions zéropéennes font que les Etats-unis doivent se méfier de l'Europe comme de la peste. Message aux américains: non seulement vous êtes tous détestés ici, mais si rien n'est fait bientôt, ce continent sera à l'origine de votre mort collectif.

The French are playa-haters	Les franchouilles détestent ceux qui en ont
Bush's recent NATO meeting. A win for George Bush. Chiraq's proposition is poppycock.	La récente réunion à l'OTAN avec George Bush. George Bush gagne la partie. La proposition de Chirak n'est qu'un ensemble de balivernes.

Dud firecracker	Pétard mouillé
France threatens little brown people. Little brown people laugh back. French Defence Surrender Minister is brandishing some kind of pre-emptive nuclear threat. Sounds like exactly the same thing that the French hate Americans so much for.	France menace les petits basanés de ce monde. Les petits basanés de ce monde lui rient au nez. Ministresse Fwançaise de la Défense Capitulation agite une espèce de menace nucléaire préventive. Les franchouilles détestent les américains pour ce genre de comportement.

The late Marlon Brando	Feu Marlon Brando
Le Monde Al Jazeera on the Seine explains how France's Internal Intelligence services have just realized that French suburbs are powder keg shitholes ready-to-blow. Tarik Ramadan to Chiraq: 'the butter halal chop meat is in the refrigerator'.	Le Monde Al Jazira sur Seine nous explique que les RG viennent de se rendre compte que les banlieues franchouilles sont des trous à merde prêts à exploser. Tarik Ramadan à Chirak: 'Passe-moi le beurre la viande halal'.

Some Thoughts on American Patriotism…

In France and around the world, July Fourth is a day like any other, i.e., one to complain, worry, moan, wail, and lament, not least over Uncle Sam’s misdeeds as well as the distressing state of patriotism among Americans. A good example of this was visible in a film review over two years ago. When Black Hawk Down opened in France, Le Monde's Samuel Blumenfeld let off a broadside, and, for good measure, fired a couple of shots at Behind Enemy Lines as well. Why? because the movies were badly filmed? No. Because the actors did a lousy job? No. Because the filmmakers took liberties with the truth? Hardly, since both were based on actual events (one showed a battle on the background of the Somalia famine and the other described the Serbs' mass graves in the former Yugoslavia).

No, the films were lambasted because they presented a “questionable ideology” and had “propaganda designs”. Of what type? You better sit down and hold on to your seat when you hear this: to give “a valorous image of the patriotism and the endurance of American soldiers”. Ohlala! Isn’t that shocking?!

The film reviewer went on to bemoan the fact that warlord Aideed's soldiers are shown as “sadistic, cheating, vicious […] the alter egos of the savage Germanic tribes […] in Gladiator, by the same Ridley Scott.” A director whom the critic castigates for leaving something out. Oh, what is that, pray tell? For not showing… “the ordinary racism of certain American soldiers or questioning the African policies of President Clinton”.

(Visibly, Blumenfeld has not been informed that part of the reason for the movie's existence was to criticize the Clinton administration’s policies in the 90s and that a notice explaining this at the end of the film was removed only because of the shock of September 11. Incidentally, it has never seemed to inconvenience the film critic much that films criticizing Paris's African policies, or Jacques Chirac in the manner of Fahrenheit 9/11, do not exactly abound in France. As to the hypothesis (which I happen to share, I don’t know why) that the two Hollywood movies present “a valorous image of the patriotism and the endurance of American soldiers” simply because… that happens to be the truth, let’s not get into that, shall we, I don’t think Blumenfeld would understand…)

In other words, American patriotism, in today's world, is so ridiculous, and so insidious, that even among the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II and even among the mass killings of a famished population, it is that treacherous danger which the world must fear and fight and denounce by any means available. The danger is so terrible that it eclipses the war crimes of Somali warlords and of Yugoslav butchers. Yes, you heard that right: That the militias in fact did machine gun the Somali crowds, what importance compared to the fact that a G.I. or two may have uttered racist words! At least the people shot dead by their own people did not suffer from any type of racism. What a relief!

Who cares about the Bosnia mass graves! Who cares about the Mogadishu massacres! Compared with the simple fact that Hollywood distributes films that might be called patriotic, and the terrible danger their content (along with that of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, etc) represents, those atrocities evaporate into nothingness.

To leave the film world behind for the international stage per se, Le Monde once asked if one shouldn't "fear the implementation of a Pax Americana" in Yugoslavia. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming when I read that! The reason I find this accusation extremely offensive is that, for four years, Yugoslavia was beset by war, with murders, killings, and rape, with hideous crimes, mass graves, and genocide. Finally, the international community put an end to it. But because the Americans were the ones who were paramount in this undertaking, the French abstain from calling the end of the tragedy a positive event. The Serbs are the worst criminals to stage a war in Europe since 1945, and for now, at least, their killing is over. But what danger do some Europeans fret about? That peace came under the orders of Uncle Sam…

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Ironic comments, tch-tching, scorn, and horselaughter are inevitably the reactions when discussing American patriotism in many parts of the world. After all, they claim, isn't Washington the source of the main troubles of the world for the past 60 years? If that is correct, then it can be only true that U.S. patriotism is little more than a dangerous trap or some kind of disease or superstition, from people who believe — how ridiculous they are! — in something not unrelated to witches and fairy tales.

As everyone here in Europe knows: any society which does not offer the type of guarantees, equality, and social protection that the European models do is not worth living in, or believing in, and any government that does not try to implement same is not worth keeping in power. And anybody, in turn, who might believe differently can only be under the spell of a smoke screen, which deserves only to be deplored, scorned, and mocked. So, America, with its “itch to fight” and its “excess of testosterone” which has “inflamed the country” (the French verb, enfiévrer [to make feverish], suggests a disease) can only be of an object of ridicule and scorn, as well as a danger without precedent.

Following 911, I expected French friends and acquaintances of mine who came back from visits to the U.S. to return with some sense of respect or admiration. Don’t kid yourselves! Many shared the same tone of exasperation and disbelief in their voices: How can one be so patriotic (that is, so superstitious)?

It was a rhetorical question, and some were surprised that I answered it. My answer was that I didn't know what they are talking about. What happens when one goes to the United States? One sees a lot of flags and… That's about it. Ain't that right? One does not see hysterical demonstrations walking down the avenues. One does not see signs reading “Down with the Taliban” or “Death to Iraq”. One does not hear the “cowboys” shout “Vive la guerre!” I have not seen many Americans set fire to Iraqi or Afghan (or Vietnamese) flags. I don't remember seeing any throw tomatoes or molotov cocktails on the Soviet or Chinese embassies.

When one points out that George W Bush has made a speech in an American mosque, or that he observed Ramadan, or that he spoke of a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, the reaction is only horse laughter or scorn, because of course — of course! — it can only be a sham. (As it happens, it is not in America that mosques [or synagogues] are burnt down at alarming rates.)

In January 2002, the Council of American-Islamic Relations put the responsibility of eight murders on reactions to the events of September 11. The authorities could only confirm one of those, at the most two, as motivated by anti-Arab hatred. In any case, one is far from that fear (expressed in America as well as elsewhere) that Americans, as a people, would lump Muslims in general together with the terrorists (faire l’amalgame) and unleash a wave of terror against the Muslim population of their country. (Once more, the Europeans hold that without their precious advice, unthinking Americans could only act irresponsibly — how modest of them.)

We have seen many a time on this weblog that by simply doing a little digging, it appears that so-called humanistic activists (whether in the shape of intellectuals, groups, national leaders, or countries) are not as neutral, idealistic, and lucid as they seem to believe themselves, but present many an inconsistency, often more than the Americans they criticize. Thus it is with patriotism as well. In contrast to the irony expressed when dealing with American patriotism (and that of other Western countries), they seem often to lose all their marbles when confronted with the national pride of developing countries. They can only marvel when third-world countries (or, rather, their unelected leaders) evoke "national aspirations" and the construction and the future of their nations.

In the aftermath of 911, then, Americans unfurled the Stars and Stripes, voiced their support for the acting president, and pulled up their sleeves to go to work. Insofar as this character trait is supposed to provoke ridicule, I find it rather solemn and low key. And there is nothing new about this. In fact, the journalist Arthur Higbee, a Pacific War veteran, wrote in the International Herald Tribune that after Pearl Harbour, America's attitude was even more low key. “Very few people hung out flags, and nobody wore a flag lapelpin. No flag-waving was needed. The tone of the nation was one of grim determination. Recruiting offices were overflowing.”

“Grim determination” : there is a better description of patriotic America, today and in the past, than Dana Burde’s pacifist caricature which was praised by Le Monde (“the loud cries demanding war and vengeance, combined with media censorship, have almost drowned out the few voices of the left” [the only voices filled with reason and understanding, of course, you realize]) — a caricature which has been eagerly repeated day in and day out in the French media, in the European media, and in the Arab media for years.

But it is not only in wartime that American patriotism is low-key. While many countries favor solemn military parades on their national holidays, or at least a predominant role of the military, the Fourth of July is, above all things, a party. Oh, of course there is the flag ceremony, with a handful of military people present from each service — army, navy, air force, marines — but it’s above all a party, with barbecuing (hotdogs, burgers, spare ribs, etc), games, and fireworks.

And if the military — and veterans — have a special place at the festivities, whether on July Fourth or other holidays, they are only a piece of the puzzle which also includes bands, pompon girls, floats, ethnic pride groups, cowboys, Indians, and clowns — I’ve seen a parade where the marching soldiers were preceded, followed, and surrounded by dozens of clowns. (Try that on the Champs-Élysées, in Red Square, on at Tien An Men!)

As I write this — 4 juillet oblige — I am listening to the Jingle Cats sing The Star-Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle Dandy. For some reason, I have trouble imagining a lucid Frenchman, a down-to-earth Russian, or a wise Chinese person setting their national anthems to cats’ meows. Non, their wailing takes other, less enjoyable, directions.

Wailing Europeans and other Uncle Sam detractors ought to make sure they keep their droning continuous and never-ending. Because, if instead of endlessly lamenting the distressing state of Americans’ patriotism, they were to shut up and try and study it a little more closely and a little more rationally, they might come to believe that Yankee patriotism is not so mystical, or frightening, or perilous, as is commonly believed. Then they would have less to wail about. Can you imagine that!? Wouldn't that be awful?!

As for me, for some reason, I prefer the laughter and the joy of the American spirit.

Happy Fourth of July, everybody!

(Lady Liberty Fireworks: Thanks to Bob Gurfield)

Lire la version francaise

How dare he!?

I lost a friend once because we disagreed about Gerhard Richter's paintings. I saw the 40 years of painting exhibit at MOMA and I thought it was a snooze fest. Apparently, it was simply not allowed to find the Great Richter's work dull, contrived, hollow, etc. I suffered the consequences — she and I haven't spoken for years.

I felt a mix of revulsion and vindication to-day when reading an interview with Richter that was reprinted in the Times. Richter's latest series of works ("War Cut") are about the Iraq war and — like his Baader-Meinhof tribute to post-war Germany's gang of miniature Hitlers, with paintings based on projected Photographs — his latest works involve a collage or, if I understand correctly, some kind of reproduction of newspaper articles on the canvas. Richter chose articles from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dated March 20-21, the first two days of the Iraq war, which is supposed to be the subject of "War Cut" (neat title, no?) though you'd be forgiven for not understanding this from the images themselves. Richter says he chose this date because it's like another momentous date in modern history. Can you guess which one?

THORN-PRIKKER Why did you use The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung?

RICHTER Because I have been reading it for 40 years.

THORN-PRIKKER Why March 20 and 21, 2003?

RICHTER The outbreak of war is the date that people remember. Just like the start of Hitler's war on Sept. 1, 1939. On the other hand, it seems to me that March 20-21 didn't have an impact comparable to, say, Sept. 11, 2001.

I was disgusted by Richter's comparison but felt vindicated in having seen his work for what it is.

Oh, and Happy 4th of July everybody.

Lance, Aliyah and France

From to-morrow's Times:

ERUSALEM, July 1 — More French Jews have been immigrating to Israel or buying properties here as potential havens, and the Israelis and the French are debating whether the trend is the result of a surge in anti-Semitic attacks in France or just a cyclical oddity.

The Jewish Agency, the quasi-governmental body responsible for settling immigrants, reported a doubling in the number of French Jews who arrived last year and in 2002, to more than 2,000 each year, compared with about 1,000 a year in the previous three years. By contrast, worldwide immigration to Israel has sharply declined during the Arab-Israeli violence.

Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency, said that as a result of attacks against Jews in France in the past three years, many Jews, particularly those whose religion is evident from their clothes, were feeling increasingly uneasy. Much of the tension has centered in working-class suburbs of Paris where Jews and Muslims mingle.

"If they're made to feel uncomfortable, this is the place they've always dreamed of coming to," he said.

The AP also has questions:

Liege, Belgium–(AP) — It's a valid question: Did Tour de France organizers design a course specifically to thwart Lance Armstrong's drive for a record sixth win?

The course favors some of Armstrong's strongest rivals and blunts some of his own particular strengths. But Armstrong says he believes organizers are just aiming for spectacle.

The EU as a Counterpart, Not a Counterweight, to the U.S.

In answer to Dominique Dhombres' wish for Europe to start existing by taking on America as an enemy, another French Dominique, last name Moïsi, had this to say, several years ago (during the Clinton administration, in fact): "France's dream of challenging the United States is the rest of Europe's nightmare".

One of those Europeans was interviewed about Europe's relationship with the United States by John Vinocur for the International Herald Tribune:

"My position is there are two ways of building Europe", José Manuel Durão Barroso said in a conference room in Brussels last December.

Barroso, then the Portuguese prime minister and now the nominated president of the European Commission, came to the point with almost bracing abruptness.

You could construct Europe, he said, either as a "counterpart or a counterweight" to the United States.

"It's stupid to see it as a counterweight. In some European countries, there's the idea we'll be independent if we're a counterweight. This is silly. It's counterpart, not contrepouvoir," Barroso insisted, reaching from his fluent English for the French word for a balancing force.

… he recoiled from the kind of vocabulary and approach that characterize the relations of some of Portugal's European partners to America and were at the heart of the profound dispute among the Allies surrounding the war in Iraq.

"Emancipation?" Barroso asked, pronouncing the word with the seeming disdain of a leader of a country he defined as Euro-Atlantic in sentiment and geography.

"And to talk of the United States on a confrontational basis?", he continued, in his carom-shot style. It is this straight-ahead manner that could well make Barroso an able EU president. If he is consensual as well as determined, he might also emerge as the strongest holder of the post since Jacques Delors. To do this, Barroso would have to gather and harness behind him the potential new strength of smaller countries in the EU's new membership of 25, while artfully managing what is now frequently described in both France and Germany as their diminishing influence within the institution.

When Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, the candidate sponsored by the French and Germans for the commission presidency, was rejected late last month at another Brussels summit meeting — Verhofstadt talked of Europe's "emancipation" from the Americans, and later suggested friends of the Yanks had done him in — Barroso seemed unexpectedly attractive and available. One explanation for why the Germans and French went along with his choice came in a report that Barroso had agreed to appoint a German to a new post as a super European commissioner for economics, and a Frenchman to either of the important jobs of competition or internal markets commissioner. Barroso's response to this speculation was, ''The selection of commissioners is the president's job, and I'm not about to give up my responsibilities." A second explanation for the selection of the host of the Azores meeting, which grouped the United States, Britain, Spain and Portugal just before the outbreak of the war in Iraq, was provided by Antonio Vilar, a Lisbon political scientist quoted by Le Figaro. He told the French newspaper that Barroso"was pardoned for this because he is not a convinced Atlanticist in the manner of an Aznar," a reference to José Maria Aznar, the former Spanish prime minister.

For Le Figaro, Barroso's acceptability to France and Germany hinged on what it described as his "ambiguous presence" in the Azores.

Barroso's views seemed hardly ambiguous in Brussels in December 2003. He criticized the Bush administration for making remarks that in no way helped the United States' friends. And as a European who actually knew the United States from teaching there, described American diplomacy as weak in presentation.

With this view, he said he spoke more often during the run-up to the war with President Bush than "other leaders of Europe."

Barroso explained that, excepting France, whose leadership is nominally right-of-center, he believed much of the opposition to the war in Europe had "an ideological basis" in the left.

"If it were Clinton or the liberals in power" in the United States, he said, "we wouldn't have had the same criticism.

"There was an ideological construction in this crisis," he said. "Unfortunately, ideology came before strategic thinking, long-term considerations."

Bush, he said, told him that his particular anger with some European leaders involved their attempts at blocking the situation in the run-up to the war. Barroso recalled he replied that the allies had to have their own opinions.

"But," Barroso went on, "you cannot block or instigate. During this crisis, there was not only a difference of opinion, but a cleavage with some people trying to mobilize opinion."

Just as he saw a strong Europe in America's interest, Barroso said, so it was to the United States' advantage to seek multilateral solutions.

"We think it's very important to give high value to the relationship between Europe and the United States. We share the same values — there are differences of sensitivity and style, but the values are the same. Besides, it's in the world's interest. Global terrorism, development, environment. All these challenges can't be approached without the U.S. and Europe working together."

Better European-American relations could come from education and discussion, Barroso said. This was necessary, he insisted, because there were prejudiced notions of one another on each side of the Atlantic in a post Cold War climate where an unacknowledged search for adversaries might exist.

"Is it in Europe's interest to place the United States as our competitor?" Barroso asked, moving again into his pointed interrogative mode.

This time, he answered his own question himself. "It's nonsense," he said.

Solitude Française...

Journalist Eric Zemmour, author of the Chirac biography Chirac, L'homme qui ne s'aimait pas, published the following in to-day's Le Figaro:

For several days after the European elections, the French were everywhere. Skilled in the art of mobile warfare, they seemed to master politics like no one else. They gave one the impression that they were the last in Europe to believe in this. Or, at any rate, they faked it very well. The French have always had the rare gift of being able to hide their personal interests behind grand ideas. Chirac fought in the name of the "European power" ; [Socialst leader François] Hollande reestablished the "left-right split" ; [Former Education minister and UDF leader François] Bayrou sought to invent a genuine third way between economic liberalism and socialism.

It was a continuation of the electoral campaign. For a fortnight (only), and meeting with general indifference, [former Socialist Finance minister] Dominique Strauss-Kahn reinvented the Roman Empire, Bayrou found a new definition for the word federal, [Former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent] Fabius reintroduced his speeches on a Social Europe... from 1989. [Disgraced former RPR prime minister] Alain Juppé held hands with Helmut Kohl who had once held hands with François Mitterrand. The French, all French leaders, had behaved as if Europe were simply one big France, a sort of revived Napoleonic empire that our elites could adorn with both our cherished prefectures and our ingenious political ideas.

And now they are returning to Earth. The only claim to fame of the next president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, is in having organized the great summit at the Azores where Bush, Blair and Aznar gathered on the eve of the war in Iraq. Jacques Chirac thus realized that the expansion of the European Union gave Britain a solid majority of which it certainly intended to make use. Even conjoined with Germany, France has found itself in the minority. "Europe's engine" is clogged. The Union's "bosses" have been toppled. Some are beginning to realize that the Franco-German duo can at best be no more than an alternative to the Europe that is forming, decomposing and reforming. An introverted position opposite a (greater) Europe that is supposedly following its natural tendancies: economic liberaism and Atlanticism, without complexes. A mere shoehorn for globalization. This "Françallemagne" can therefore be no more than a Continental and Lotharingian dyke buffeted by the tumult of the wider world. Land submerged by the sea.

And yet Chirac's Socialist opposition cannot take pleasure even in this. They have succeeded in having others forget that the government of Lionel Jospin ratified the increase in retirement age and the change in EDF's public status. On inviting [Spain's newly elected Socialist prime minister José Luis Rodriguez] Zapatero to Toulouse on June 9, François Hollande pretended not to notice that the Spanish prime minister had refused to sign the Social Europe charter presented to him by his "amigo François." Though it is only anecdotal, the matter of the agreements made between the European People's Party (EPP) and the European Socialist Party (ESP) in the European Parliament is indicative of the isolation of France's Socialists. Even our German allies refuse to follow them, this time. For years, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats kept the gravy flowing among friends with presidencies, commissions, pennants and official vehicles. Little arrangements founded on a genuine ideological proximity between Social Christians and Christan Socialists.

But since the '80s, the EPP has veered to the right, increasingly economically liberal, less and less social; even increasingly euroskeptical, given the arrival of Italian Berlusconians and British Conservatives. The Socialists followed this path the right. And to-day, when [France's education minister] François Fillon explains that "the Raffarin government is further the left" than its European Social Democrat colleagues, he is not contradicted. Lionel Jospin defended himself by quite rightly pointing out that he "was the furthest to the left in Europe."

It is precisely because he has learned the lessons of this evolution in the EPP that François Bayrou is leaving it. During the electoral campaign, Bayrou, who isn't economically liberal in the least, argued in favor of a Federal Europe that would speak with a single voice, opposite the "titans" of the planet. He could hardly join the same group as the British conservatives who reject the euro and the Italian Berlusconians who feel quite at home under the American umbrella. But, in order to form a parliamentary group, Bayrou must ally himself with anybody else, British liberals who favor Turkey's entry into the European Union which the UDF rejects ardently or Italian radicals or someone like Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who aren't at all hostile to gay marriage, from which the Christian Bayrou recoils in horror.

Such is the lot of the French in the new Europe, between Brussels and Strasbourg, between naïveté and cunning, between high universal principles and provincial ulterior motives, between idealism and cowardice, between arrogance and contempt for the balance of power. In the reactions of others, one can read surprise, exasperation or amusement with the French. Most of the time, they are not understood. Like dinosaurs? For years, we have been pedantically taught that Europe must be built in order to avoid isolation. We almost succeeded.