The Principled French

Last Thursday, Reuters reported that France is opposed to having NATO play a part in ending the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region:

The United States urged NATO Thursday to respond quickly to any request for help in the Darfur conflict, but France insisted the alliance could not be the "gendarme of the world."

The French claim that Darfur should be a matter for the European Union, not NATO. The same EU that did absolutely nothing to stop ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. Yeah, I'm sure they'll do the job this time.


However, just because the French oppose action in Darfur does not mean they are against all prospective military action:

At the outset of a three-day visit to China, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing's "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant.

Raffarin also signed or finalized major business deals with Beijing valued at around $3.2 billion (2.4 billion euros).


In short, France opposes a NATO role in stopping genocide in Sudan, a country where France has substantial oil interests. Yet they support China's "anti-secession" law, regarded by many as a blank check to justify an invasion of Taiwan, and even want to sell the Chinese weapons. There's a common thread here, and it's not pretty. In the words of Instapundit:

You know, we should have just bribed Chirac et al. It's clearly the way these things are done.