| Gaulling Prospects |
17 February 2003
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NATO Rift Healed, France Isolated
The British nuclear force and the special relationship with the US has allowed the UK to "punch above its weight class" as an ex PM used to say. The French have just discovered what fighting out of one's class feels like. The kerfuffle over NATO sending defense systems to Turkey to see off an Iraqi attack is over, and France has lost.
A month-long rift had pitted the US against France, Germany and Belgium over the protection of Turkish assets in the event of a strike against Baghdad. The American view held that the defense of Turkey was a vital matter to be dealt with immediately, while France, Germany and Belgium were concerned that such actions might provoke war.
In the end, France was frozen out of the talks, while the Germans and Belgians folded. This is a serious blow to French ambitions to run the EU/NATO structure as a counter-weight to US superpowerdom. The reality is that Europe is a cultural concept, and an ecnomic convenience. Of such airy things an empire cannot be made.
Having over played their weak hand, the French will now spend the rest of the year trying to find a role to play. The US will also spend much of its post-Iraq time on punishing the French for their obtuseness. The beauty of it will lie in the way both sides deny the truth.