"A wide-ranging policy was then first sketched out, a symbiosis of Europe with the Muslim Arab countries, that would endow Europe – and especially France, the project’s prime mover – with a weight and a prestige to rival that of the United States"
I found this fascination. It explains so much about French policy. I knew that France had embarked upon policies that meant to establish a counter-balancing super power to the US. But, I had not noticed this component, a trans-mediteranean, European/Arab alliance.
I had the same reaction, DD.