This is an excellent piece, a must read, from the current issue of The New Republic. I believe it characterizes with perfect clarity, and persuasively explains, why the French are acting as they are in NATO, the UN, and the EU. It explains when and how Europe became unimportant. The importance of Europe (and the French) is an "illusion, a psycho-strategic disorder." This is the consequence of the collapse of the USSR and the ending of the cold war. The French, of course, are ignoring the facts and are pretending to maintain the diplomacy of the 1940’s, which is kind of like trying to maintain the technology of the 1940’s. But rotary telephones are out, and so is France and, therefore, so is the "permanent membership" status of France in the UN. Chirac is teaching the French to deny reality; this is dangerous. You should save this, we will keep coming back to it.