Word: chirac
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...English Channel, not least because these days it seems so utterly improbable: quite apart from their distinctive histories and identity, Britain and France in recent years have been on totally different trajectories - London up, Paris down - and relations between the two leaders of the past decade, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Tony Blair, have been prickly at best. Opposing positions on the war in Iraq and on European farm subsidies have at times degenerated into public shouting matches that have been gleefully reported by the national press of both countries...
...then emphasized that repairing the relationship also depends on Washington. As Reynié notes, it was largely the Bush Administration that injected fury into the debate over Iraq, and tried to paint the general European and global opposition to the U.S. push for war as a betrayal inspired by Chirac and France. With that in mind, Sarkozy reminded America that "friendship also means accepting friends can think differently." He then offered an example of that by mildly scolding that "a great nation like the United States must not be an obstacle to the fight against global warming, but rather should...
...polluting goods produced in countries that declined to embrace the Kyoto accords. Meanwhile, Sarkozy's strong opposition to Turkey's admission to the EU also runs counter to long-running American lobbying on behalf of Ankara. Though less pedantic in his declarations on the matter, Sarkozy shares Chirac's view that international issues must be addressed multilaterally among equal partners. Washington can also expect no aid on an Iraq war that Sarkozy has referred to "a historical error," even though his criticisms of French diplomatic "arrogance" in the run-up to the invasion suggest Sarkozy will seek to avoid confrontation...
...approach to dealing with the U.S. may, however, be over Afghanistan, where the merging of forces under NATO command will place French and other European soldiers in combat rather than simply policing roles at the very moment Paris has moved to decrease it involvement there. Sarkozy, in fact, shares Chirac's unease over the expanding membership of NATO, and the increasingly global scope of the Alliance's armed interventions...
...Washington will, however, be pleased by Sarkozy's pledge to call regimes in Russia, China and elsewhere to task over human rights concerns. The U.S. will also appreciate the more muscular stance against Iran's nuclear program advocated by Sarkozy, including possible bilateral sanctions that Chirac had excluded in favor of a collective United Nations approach. "The upside of Sarkozy having no unified international agenda is he can remain pragmatic and flexible - base decisions on practicality rather than deep principle," Reynié says. "The downside is his domestic economic program does the same by favoring reform and market forces, but reserving...