The Invisible Hand

Fashion Industry Dresses Down the French

Whoa . . . even the fashionistas are annoyed at the French! Check out this editorial lambasting the Franco-fashion industry for rudeness to Americans above and beyond the norm.

This is serious. The French have certainly overplayed their hand if they’ve lost the support of haute couture.

I for one do not believe the French are cheese eating surrender monkeys. As Mark Steyn has so eloquently pointed out, the French are not afraid to deploy military force unilaterally when it's in their interest. Note the petit affaire unfolding the the Ivory Coast. France sought a U.N. resolution authorizing force . . . a week after France invaded in the country.

Rather, the French are playing geopolitics to win and ensnaring the Anglo-Saxon world in NGOs and treaties is simply part of the strategy. They are not burdened with any idealistic notions of building a world safe for democracy. They've seen that movie and it has a bad ending.

The French or far more like the Israelis . . . they no they know that in a crisis they can't count on anyone but themselves. They think in terms of survival. In their view the Allies landed in Normandy not to liberate France but to defeat Germany.

The French have no permanent friends . . . they have no "special relationships." They are cooly objective when they scan the horizon.

No one should ever underestimate the cynicism of the French. It's their most endearing trait.