Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Les Anglo-Saxons and France

Paul Johnson
has a fine piece in today’s WSJ that is not available on line (unless you are subscriber). Here are a couple of paragraphs:

"At the heart of the new diplomacy will be, of course, what Charles De Gaulle then (and Jacques Chirac now) bitterly called ’Les Anglo-Saxons’ -- America and Britain, whose common culture and attachments to freedom and democracy make them not just allies, but ’family.’ Building on this sure foundation, the U.S., as the sole superpower, will make its arrangements with other states on an ad hoc basis rather than through international organizations.

We have to face the ugly fact: Internationalism -- the principle of collective security and the attempt to regulate the world through representative bodies -- has been dealt a vicious blow by Mr. Chirac’s bid to present himself as a world statesman, whatever the cost to the world. France is a second-rate power militarily. But because of its geographic position at the center of Western Europe and its nominal possession of nuclear weapons, which ensures its permanent place on the U.N. Security Council, it wields considerable negative and destructive power. On this occasion, it has exercised such power to the full, and the consequences are likely to be permanent."

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