[Pro-Bush]

Just read past the liberal spin...

[longtermmemmory]

translation: We are not ready to beat the US. The can crush us in a cold war and I will never be president of the EU.

France don't be stupid, the euro can conquer the dollar another day.

[ex-Texan]

Yeah ... it is 'The Guardian,' after all.

By the way what do they pretend to be the 'guardians' of other than Euro-Socialism.

[Welsh Rabbit]

Chiraq doesn't care. He'll be in comfortable retirement and won't have to deal with the consequences of damaged US relations.

[Mr. Mojo]

Insisting that France and Britain still have many common interests....

Yeah, attempting to stem the tide of Islamists to their shores. ...And neither are doing a very good job at it. But alas, neither are we.

[Scothia]

Dear Jacques,

Please do this:

off of this:

...if you would be so kind. We would certainly appreciate it.

Sincerely,

The USA

[gcruse]

I worry for Blair. Bush has the backing and boldness to justify the Iraqi war in the absence of finding WMDs. Blair seems to be climbing out onto a weak limb of almost guaranteeing WMDs will be found. Between hanging on to problematic reasons for the war and trying to keep the UK engaged and friendly with the EU, he is very vulnerable to events that are unpredictable. He might be wiser to pick his ultimate side and jump there now. He could get clobbered.

[Free Vulcan]

feet of iron and clay beginning to form before my eyes....

[jagrmeister]

Blair is a truly impressive figure. The divisions between the US and the rest of the world are wide and Blair is almost single-handedly bridging the gap. He can speak with credibility to every important world leader. Foreign leaders look to him to use his influence to make their grievances known to Bush. For this service, he can demand concessions from them. Blair is the power broker on the world stage. And I think he is correct in sounding the alarm about France's dangerous and destabilizing actions in forming an alliance to oppose the United States over the long term. If we do not act against France now, we will find ourselves a few years from now staring at a powerful socialist alliance with a military of its own, which while not comparable to ours, would at least give us a serious thought before opposing their wishes.