France's Napoleon complex
Paris is upset that France is being blamed for the failure of a multilateral approach to Iraq. One diplomatic source in France said: "We fully understand the internal pressure which is being put on the British government, but these comments are not worthy of a country which is a friend and a European partner." If any country such as the UK or Bulgaria disagrees with France, they're called immature, disloyal, and un-European.
In what conceivable way is France qualified to pronounce on friendship, loyalty, or even the European project? Its friends are corrupt African dictators and guilt-racked Germans; its loyalty to itself; and France has turned the European project into a vehicle for national vainglory and agricultural subsidies.
France has a Napoleon complex: it puffs up its chest, teeters on elevated heels, a dwarf country with public delusions of grandeur, and private self-doubt. There's no need for the rest of Europe to humor it. If the continent is truly to be a force in world affairs, and a counterbalance to overweening US power, France first needs therapy. Blair and Chirac set for showdown [BBC]
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