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March 23, 2006--Only 18% of Americans agree that France is an ally in the war on terror. Almost as many believe France is an enemy in that war. But most (57%) say that France's status lies "somewhere in between" ally and enemy. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to regard France as an ally, and less likely to regard her as an enemy. Our November, 2004 survey, taken not long after a presidential campaign largely focused on Iraq and the war on terror, found that 31% of Americans were then willing to characterize France as an enemy in the war...

Here is a tasty statistic: when the US went into Iraq a survey showed that America's popularity plunged everywhere - except in France. The French opposed the invasion vehemently, but the country was already so saturated in anti-Americanism that the index scarcely flickered. Which makes Philippe Roger, a professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, a brave and lonely man. His book is that seemingly impossible thing: an attack on French Americophobia written by a Frenchman. For, as he demonstrates in this scholarly yet highly entertaining work, the French allergy to all things American is a national...

While visiting Japan, French President Jacques Chirac has defended his push to lift a European Union arms embargo on China, disagreeing with his hosts on an issue that has contributed to diplomatic tensions between Japan and China. France and Germany are spearheading a campaign to end the E.U.'s 16-year-old ban on arms sales to Beijing by June, a drive that has been complicated by China's recent passage of a law permitting the use of force against Taiwan. Like the United States, Japan is concerned that lifting the embargo will upset the military balance in East Asia by enabling China to...

Brussels – BACK-STABBING Jacques Chirac last night repaid Tony Blair for helping him by trying to sabotage Britain’s £3billion EU rebate. The double betrayal came only hours after Mr Blair rescued the French President from angry French unions. FIRST Mr Chirac joined calls for Brussels to axe our refund. THEN he accused British and American economic policy of exporting death to the Third World. Mr Blair had been banking on France to help save the 20-year-old rebate. Even with the rebate Britain pays more than TWO AND A HALF TIMES as much as the French. Without it, the Treasury’s share...

Is the US still at war? Fighting as vague a conflict as the war on terror is hard, polarizing citizens and rendering difficult Washington's decisions about civil liberties at home. Washington is also preoccupied with sustaining its alliance with London. The US is aware that Britain may eventually opt for the Eurosphere over the Anglosphere. But these tensions are not new, as James Grant points out in a new biography of John Adams, America's second president. Compare the Adams presidency to the current one and several truths emerge. The first is that quasi-wars split electorates more sharply than traditional wars....

IRAQ war wobbler Jacques Chirac scuttled George Bush’s fence-mending trip to Europe yesterday — by cranking up a row over the future of Nato. He embraced a German-led plot to ditch the alliance as the backbone of transatlantic relations, in favour of the European Union. He also snubbed President Bush by speaking French at a dinner, despite having fluent English.

Bush Says He Harbors No Bitterness Toward Chirac Sat Feb 19, 2:03 PM ET Politics - Reuters By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) says he has no bitterness toward French President Jacques Chirac after their tussle over Iraq (news - web sites), but he is taking issue with a Chirac notion that a united Europe would serve as a counterbalance to the United States. In run-up to his trip to Europe, Bush underscored in media interviews with European journalists his second-term drive to foster improved trans-Atlantic relations and work on common problems like Iraqi...

When are we Americans going to wise up? How many times does the French government, led by Jacques Chirac (search), have to put all of us in danger before we get the picture? France is helping worldwide terrorism. Here's the latest. France has said no to Secretary of State Rice, who asked the Chirac government to designate Hezbollah (search) as a terrorist group. If France would do that, Hezbollah could not raise money in Europe, which it is now doing through various charitable fronts. There is no question Hezbollah is a terrorist group. It was responsible for killing more than...

Did you know that in 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson sent marines to the Dominican Republic to protect American citizens during a violent civil war, President Charles de Gaulle of France condemned the intervention. In a secret message to Washington, however, he asked for help defending the French Embassy. Johnson did so, but never heard a word of thanks, in public or private. Why do we consider France an ally? Why does our government pretend to be so chummy with a nation whose government has made it policy to move farther away from us, to constantly try to counter our...

BORDEAUX, France, Jan 6 (AFP) - Bordeaux wine producers announced more depressing export figures Thursday, with sales to the United States down by more than a third in a year. Overall exports from the historic wine region of southwest France were down 10 percent in volume and 24 percent in value for the first three quarters of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003, according to the Interprofessional Council of Bordeaux Wine (CIVB). Exports to the United States were down by a massive 35 percent in volume and 59 percent in value, and sales to Britain down by 21...

The myth of eternal Franco-American friendship is fair game. John J. Miller, a journalist with National Review, and Mark Molesky, assistant professor of history at Seton Hall University, offer a counter-myth: that France has directed unstinting malice against America from the beginning. The book opens with a blood-curdling narrative of the Deerfield massacre (1704), when Indians abetted by French-Canadian authorities attacked English settlers in western Massachusetts. They killed men, women, and children, scalped some of the victims and ate some of their flesh, and abducted hostages. The writing has verve, and the reader’s face tingles with anger.But Miller/Molesky’s account is...

After an acrimonious and difficult election campaign, the American Electoral System has put forth the proposition that George W. Bush lead the country for four more years. One of the president’s first appointments is Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. This choice means that Bush intends to conduct his dogmatic foreign policy from the right of centre, in continuation with his current record without the weak, yet moderating influence of Colin Powell.

Wednesday November 17, 2004--Fifty-seven percent (57%) of American voters have an unfavorable view of France. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 25% have a favorable opinion of that nation. In fact, more Americans believe France is our enemy (31%) in the War on Terror than believe Jacques Chirac's country is our ally (22%). A plurality, 43%, believe that France's role is somewhere in between ally and enemy. These numbers stand in stark contrast to Great Britain. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Americans have a favorable opinion of Tony Blair's country while only 9% have an unfavorable view. Eighty-three percent (83%)...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For centuries the very mention of France has conjured up images of elegance and sophistication but in an increasingly heated U.S. presidential campaign, "French" has become a dirty word. Capitalizing on anti-French sentiment among some Americans following France's decision not to back the war in Iraq, some Republicans have repeatedly accused Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry of "looking French." The conservative press has jumped on the bandwagon, spurred by an anonymous Bush adviser making the comparison to The New York Times. Wall Street Journal commentator James Taranto, for example, has many times referred to Kerry as a...

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is John J. Miller, co-author of Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's Disastrous Relationship with France.   FP: Mr. Miller, welcome to Frontpage Interview. It is a pleasure to have you here.   Miller: Thank you. I’m an admirer of your website.   FP: What motivated you to write this book?   Miller: The most immediate influence was the recent unpleasantness with France over Iraq, but a deeper motivation was a desire to look at the pervasive myth of Franco-American friendship. If you listen to the commentary about relations between the United States and France,...

French President Jacques Chirac says he regards the European arms embargo on China as outdated and wants it lifted as soon as possible. Chirac (right) sees rich opportunities in China's boom His remarks came ahead of his visit to China on Friday, and again France finds itself at odds with the US. Washington is urging the EU not to lift an embargo that was imposed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Mr Chirac's trip to China is aimed at boosting flourishing trade relations. When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited France earlier this year, Paris not only...

Key points • Saddam bribery revealed • WMD said to have been destroyed • Blair accepts mistake over WMD Key quote "Just as I have had to accept that the evidence now is that there were not stockpiles of actual weapons ready to be deployed, I hope others have the honesty to accept that the report also shows that sanctions weren’t working" - Tony Blair SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night. Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American...

Rice: Bush Didn't Mock France in Speech WILLIAM C. MANN Associated Press WASHINGTON - President Bush has brought the oldest ally of the United States into his re-election campaign as a reason not to vote for his opponent, Sen. John Kerry. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice denied Sunday that Bush was holding France up to ridicule for saying in a campaign speech that Kerry would let "countries like France" decide when to use American force. Bush's audience in Allentown, Pa., booed at the mention of France. "There's no ridicule here. It's a statement of fact: The French didn't agree," Rice...

France, one of the harshest critics of the war that brought down Saddam Hussein, stressed it would not commit troops for Iraq despite appeals from the United States and United Nations. As Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi met in Washington with US President George W. Bush and hailed the war as a success, France poured cold water on any slim hope it might send forces to help ease the post-war chaos. "As everyone knows, France did not approve of the conditions in which the conflict was unleashed. Neither today nor tomorrow will it commit itself militarily in Iraq," French Foreign...

Agent Behind Fake Uranium Documents Worked for France By Bruce Johnston The Telegraph (UK) September 19, 2004 The Italian businessman at the centre of a furious row between France and Italy over whose intelligence service was to blame for bogus documents suggesting Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy material for nuclear bombs has admitted that he was in the pay of France. The man, identified by an Italian news agency as Rocco Martino, was the subject of a Telegraph article earlier this month in which he was referred to by his intelligence codename, "Giacomo". His admission to investigating magistrates in...