I felt a little trepidition before using the phrase “French Bloc” in this post, but then I read this Charles Krauthammer piece in the new issue of Time.
The French Bloc is, if not quite real, certainly developing. Read:
Chirac does not imagine that he will create a military bloc to confront the U.S., as did the Soviet Union. What he is trying to establish is something only slightly less ambitious: an oppositional bloc, a restraining bloc, a French-led coalition of nations challenging the hegemony of American power and the legitimacy of American dominance.
It was Charles de Gaulle who first charted this course. He tried to break away from the U.S. by, for example, ordering American troops out of France and withdrawing from the military structure of NATO. But during the cold war this was not realistic. The Soviet threat loomed. Today, with the Warsaw Pact dead, France can safely make its reach for grandeur.
So what do we do about the French? If you missed it last night, re-read Rand Simberg’s essay on the New Cold War.
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