>Sad that the French are now the defenders of the West.<
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Too many Americans have decided that the US should no longer be the ‘policeman of the world’.
France has a culture much older than that of the US. Perhaps it finally realized that as a Christian nation it cannot sit on the sidelines and do nothing when other Christians are being slaughtered.
After all, France did join the Crusades against Islam long before the founding of the US.
I wouldn't go that far.