France Still Doesn't Know What Hit It

Weekly Standard ^ | March 20, 2003 | Christopher Caldwell

[conservativecorner]

Not sure whether they've gone too far or not far enough in opposing the United States, the French don't seem to realize that they might have to pay a price for Chirac's actions.

Paris THE QUESTION of whether France has gone too far, first asked last week on the cover of the newsweekly Le Point, is now being asked in the New York Times, whose own position on the war is not so far from France's. It is an impossible question to answer. France cannot decide whether it has gone too far until it decides how far it wants to go. Today French president Jacques Chirac finds himself in the position of a driver lost on a highway in a rainstorm, uncertain whether his exit is 10 miles ahead or 10 miles back.

Even as military operations began last night, Chirac was sending contradictory messages. On one hand, he and his advisers show signs of beginning the long march back to good relations with the United States. Chirac himself tried to do this even before President Bush's ultimatum to Saddam Hussein by hinting that France might authorize war if Saddam could be given another thirty days. On Tuesday, Jean-David Levitte, France's ambassador to the United States, stated--and Chirac himself reiterated--that France would consider entering the war on the side of the Anglo-American alliance should Saddam use chemical or biological weapons.

On the other hand, France also shows signs that it has not yet begun to obstruct. In a characteristically grandiloquent speech to the U.N. security counsel Wednesday afternoon, foreign minister Dominique de Villepin sought to make a coherent case for France's position. According to Villepin, "only the United Nations has the legal and moral authority" to rebuild Iraq and oversee the country's economic reconstruction. More generally, Villepin seemed to be urging a U.N. monopoly on regulating all international conflict. He suggested setting up, presumably as an alternative to American policing, "an innovative, permanent structure, a disarmament body under the aegis of the United Nations." One of the first tasks of a revivified U.N., Villepin promised, would be to intervene aggressively in the Israel-Palestine conflict--to "force the doors of peace" was the way he put it. The speech was a mistake. Many Americans would like to believe that France's moves in recent weeks have been a matter of forgivable pique. And here was de Villepin gussying them up as a doctrine.

In a highly recommended interview in Wednesday's Figaro, the Italian geopolitical thinker Lucio Caracciolo gave a lucid account of shifting geopolitical relations between Europe and the United States. "Internationally," said Caracciolo, "France has become almost the counterweight to the United States, but that position is untenable in the long run. One thing is certain: Underneath the diplomatic niceties, the relationship between France, Germany, the rest of Europe and the United States will be marked by this crisis for a long time. If the Americans win the war quickly and well, they will exact revenge."

Caracciolo's point is rather starkly put. But it's good that Le Figaro published his words, since the French are almost totally unaware of the gravity of the split their government has provoked. By now, all of them have heard (and rightly resent) Americans' ignorant talk of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" and the equally moronic efforts of Ohio congressman Robert Ney to degallicize French toast and French fries. But the French tend to view these outbursts as mere political theater with no underlying reality.

There is evidence that the French do not realize the gravity of the Iraq situation even now. On Wednesday night, as most European stations were dwelling on war-related news, the French ones seemed preoccupied with other things. France 2, which is supposed to be the country's big news network, was airing a jibber-jabber show that asked, Oprah-style, "Can small faults have big consequences?" France 3 had the psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva on. She was talking about changing our "mentalités" towards handicapped people, one of whom sat twitching alongside of her, stammering out allusions to the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. (I am not so heartless as to make this up.)

There is evidence that France's governing class is similarly disengaged, at least from the American perception of the situation. On Tuesday, Le Monde published a collection of unattributed quotes from high-ranking Chirac advisers to the effect that "the U.N. could emerge from the Iraqi crisis stronger than ever."

Wednesday night I had dinner with a mid-level domestic policymaker in the UMP, the umbrella party of the right that Chirac launched in the wake of last May's elections. When I raised the U.S.-France split, he replied, "Luckily, it's bound to be a short war." His obvious assumption was that this little diplomatic perturbation would pass with the occasion that gave rise to it. He has not reckoned in the slightest with the possibility that, in wartime, America--however fond its "feelings" towards France--might deem it dangerous not to punish an ally that has actively worked against its interests. Whether France wants to repair its relationship with the United States now or later remains murky. But it is clear that France has given too little thought to the possibility that America might have other plans.

Christopher Caldwell is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard.

[Beck_isright]

To help pay for our war effort the U.S. should end all military cooperation with the frogs AND impose a one year temporary 40% tariff increase on all frog manufactured goods. That should get the message across to the ingrateful cheese eating surrender monkeys.

[exnavy]

And move the UN to Paris lock stock and barrel and cancel all UN funding.

[Beck_isright]

Damn straight. Time to cancel the UN and NATO treaties. That's valuable office space being wasted by a bunch anti-American low lifes in Manhatten. Also time to close all of our consulates throughout frogland and force them to do the same. They can only have one embassy as we would, thus making travel to and fro harder. I've had it with those b*st*rds. I hate their guts as much as the Iraqis.

[anniegetyourgun]

It is the two-faced charade that France has played over these many years that constitutes the REAL political theater. But the curtain came down on them when they surrendered via the U.N. last week.

[Claire Voyant]

No tourism is really going to squeeze their little monkey balls.

[ProudGOP]

The only thing that could shake my support of Bush would be if he makes nice with France and especially if France gets a lot of the reconstruction work in Iraq.

They must pay a price.

[Fudd]

On Tuesday, Le Monde published a collection of unattributed quotes from high-ranking Chirac advisers to the effect that "the U.N. could emerge from the Iraqi crisis stronger than ever."

Not only do they build castles in the sky, they like to live in them too.

[FITZ]

And tariffs not just on their products but from other countries who refuse to back us.

[skinkinthegrass]

Perhaps now, the French realize what's is meant by the "cheese eating surrender monkeys" remark... :)

[Samwise]

France Still Doesn't Know What Hit It

I thought somebody had launched at France there for a minute.

[friendly]

Just as France is exercising its right to disagree, Americans can exercise their right to boycott -- and avoid helping companies and countries that do not stand with, and may even be actively working against, the American People.

French Products and Companies to Boycott - (Listed alphabetically)

The following companies are subject to boycott:

** Air France. Air Liquide. Airbus. Alcatel. Allegra (allergy medication). Aqualung (including: Spirotechnique, Technisub, US Divers, and SeaQuest). AXA Advisors.
** Bank of the West (owned by BNP Paribas). Beneteau (boats). BF Goodrich (owned by Michelin). BIC (razors, pens and lighters). Biotherm (cosmetics). Black Bush. Bollinger (champagne).
** Car & Driver Magazine. Cartier. Chanel. Chivas Regal (scotch). Christian Dior. Club Med (vacations). Culligan (owned by Vivendi).
** Dannon (yogurt and dairy foods). DKNY. Dom Perignon. Durand Crystal.
** Elle Magazine. Essilor Optical Products. Evian.
** Fina gas stations and Fina Oil (billions invested in Iraqi oil fields). First Hawaiian Bank.
** George Magazine. Givenchy. Glenlivet (scotch).
** Hennessy. Houghton Mifflin (books).
** Jacobs Creek (owned by Pernod Ricard since 1989). Jameson (whiskey). Jerry Springer (talk show)
** Krups (coffee and cappuccino makers).
** Lancome. Le Creuset (cookware). L'Oreal (health and beauty products). Louis Vuitton.
** Marie Claire. Martel Cognac. Maybelline. Méphisto (shoes and clothes). Michelin (tires and auto parts). Mikasa (crystal and glass). Moet (champagne). Motel 6. Motown Records. MP3.com. Mumms (champagne).
** Nissan (cars; majority owned by Renault). Nivea. Normany Butter.
** Parents Magazine. Peugeot (automobiles). Pierre Cardin. Playstation Magazine. ProScan (owned by Thomson Electronics, France). Publicis Group (including Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising).
** RCA (televisions and electronics; owned by Thomson Electronics). Red Magazine. Red Roof Inns (owned by Accor group in France). Renault (automobiles). Road & Track Magazine. Roquefort cheese (all Roquefort cheese is made in France). Rowenta (toasters, irons, coffee makers,
etc.). Royal Canadian.
** Salomon (skis). Sierra Software and Computer Games. Smart & Final. Sofitel (hotels, owned by Accor). Sparkletts (water, owned by Danone). Spencer Gifts. Sundance Channel.
** Taylor Made (golf). Technicolor. T-Fal (kitchenware). Total gas stations.
** UbiSoft (computer games). Uniroyal. Universal Studios (music, movies and amusement parks; owned by Vivendi-Universal). USFilter.
** Veritas Group. Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Vittel. Vivendi.
** Wild Turkey (bourbon). Woman's Day Magazine.
** Yoplait (The French company Sodiaal owns a 50 percent stake). Yves Saint Laurent.
** Zodiac Inflatable Boats.

[Alas Babylon!]

I think France should lose its seat on the UN Security Council and that seat be given to Japan. Even if they didn't deserve payback, it is silly to have this puny nation on the permanent Security Council.

[biblewonk]

BOYCOTT EVERYTHING FRENCH, FOREVER!

[kidd]

I tend to believe that the French will be punished, but most of the punishment will not come from the United States. Terrorist thrive in an environment of weakness and appeasement. Mideast terrorists target the West because they are jealous of progress. France is still considered part of the West.

France is the petri dish of terrorism.

[biblewonk]

20 year!

[Magnolia]

He has not reckoned in the slightest with the possibility that, in wartime, America--however fond its "feelings" towards France--might deem it dangerous not to punish an ally that has actively worked against its interests. ...But it is clear that France has given too little thought to the possibility that America might have other plans.

Like freezing 'em out of the reconstruction of Iraq and denying validity of their oil contract with Saddam's regime?

[Beck_isright]

I agree. Germany, Russia, Turkey, Canada and France should all feel the wrath of America for their actions. We are going to lose friends and relatives because their contracts, their greed, their appeasement, was more important than protecting their largest market. The hell with all of them.

[Delmarksman]

"uncertain whether his exit is 10 miles ahead or 10 miles back."

And runnin' on empty