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Originally Posted by The WosMan
When I read your subject line I thought to myself "What else is new?". Hasn't this been the state of Europe for the last 500 years? It is why we fought two world wars.
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Then you are not up to date. until the early or mid-nineties, the ties had developed formidable. helmut Schmidt and Valery giscard d'estaing, and later helmut Kohl and francois Mitterand focussed heavily on this alliance, and pushed it forward. And with all fairness, it worked very well. Without France and germany's reconciliation, there wouldn't have been an EEC, a EU of the early vision, and friendship between both nations of private levels.
Not before the early "EEC" was increasing in size, and the many members could not be discussing solutions so easily anymore, and the eurocrats started to grab for power, in short: not before Schmidt and d'Estaing started to attack and complain about the principles of the fundament for a united europe, as they had envisioned it, becoming increaingly betrayed and destroyed, the state of Franco-German relations started to shift, hidden from the public, but shifting for the worse. Sarkozy has pressed the pedal on this developement, it seems. That he is caring so less to also raise personaL sentiments against himself, does not really help. such acting didn't help bush to find allies. It will not help Sarkozy either. Bad manners most of the time do not pay off.
On a private level, private relations between Germans and French are doing extremely well, and private economic cooperations work good..
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Originally Posted by The WosMan
Chirac even called Saddam a "close personal friend"
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Who - Chircac, or the US? Or both?
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From my perspective, I like Sarkozy's attitude a lot better, he seems to be much more of an ally to the US than the last couple have been.
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Just wait until he spoils it for you, like he has spoiled it for us, and the rest of europe. This guy is willing to sell nuclear tech to your and our worst enemies. That should make you think about this "closed ally" and "friend of US policies". He is not friend to US polices. He wants you to believe so only, it is a stunt, a coup, a way of winning more headlines again.
If you trust him you'll get the same what we got - you have been warned.
What -are you really considering France to be your ally on the ground of US policies...? Usually having defended the French a bit against American ressentiments, I now must laugh.
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I also like his tough talk against Iran.
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He also talked tough against Turkey, and now has started to court them, and indicated to the EU that maybe Turkey's membership will no longer be opposed by him.
I say you simply cant trust what he says.