Nicolas Sarkozy’s election as president of France two years ago was welcomed by many in London and Washington tired of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who looked on both America and Britain with a disdain he didn’t bother to conceal.
Sarkozy seemed different. His apparent love for America propelled him to Maine after only a few months in office to eat hot dogs and tool around in a speedboat with then-president George W. Bush. Whereas many French politicians refer to the “Anglo-Saxon” economic model in tones that suggest they might as well be speaking of some sort of plague, Sarkozy said France would learn from Britain as it sought to reform its economy. On a state visit to London last year, he said he wanted a new “Franco-British brotherhood.” And in March Sarkozy announced that France would rejoin NATO’s integrated military command—a move that Roland Hureaux, writing in the left-wing Marianne magazine, predicted would please those who hoped “Sarko the American” would “castrate France once and for all.”
Read Full Article »