France is France
"In the year 212, Emperor Caracalla granted citizenship to all free men in the Roman Empire. Emboldened by that precedent,
a friend of mine, a former high French official, once asked a president of the United States to treat Europeans as compatriots.
It was an agreeable fantasy; only vassals were wanted.
For the current trans-Atlantic crisis to be defused, the White House would do well to steer between those extremes and to
treat its European allies as what they are: citizens of independent states, each with an idiosyncratic history and geography.
That approach would spare us many a useless bout of hysteria as the Security Council considers Iraq. To each its own
geopolitics.
Eight out of 10 Europeans on the street agree with the French-German position, and the governments of Britain, Spain, Italy,
et al., have cut themselves off from public opinion. In confronting that awkwardness, the United States has chosen France as
its scapegoat. Not having any training as a satellite state, unlike the countries of Eastern Europe, France has assumed the
right to judge for itself (despite a number of elites firmly in the American camp)". For the full text, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/opinion/23DEBR.html?ex=1047036486&ei=1&en=ab2cf4981ea32804
Ronald Hilton - 3/1/03
Roberto Romeo calls our attention to an article in the New York Times, "The French Lesson" by Regis DeBray. Here is the
opening:
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