"Europe is Powerless"

Not my words.  From a web site that looks at issues in France. This is background to the imminent departure of the French Foreign Minister (by Monday, or so I have heard).  From a linked article in The International Herald Tribune we have this:

All this has come against a background of simmering discontent among France’s professional diplomats — traditionally known for discretion and aplomb. On Tuesday, an anonymous complaint signed by several diplomats appeared in Le Monde, criticizing Mr. Sarkozy’s foreign policy as more show than substance.

It looks like Michèle Alliot-Marie is on her way out.  To the right is a 2009 picture of the Foreign Minister (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic).  Will it mean anything different for the United States?  I doubt it.

But, it is true that Europe was slow off the mark on the current unrest.  To the article in the The International Herald Tribune, by Reporter Katrin Bennhold:

Only after Colonel Qaddafi gave a televised address, vowing to fight the rebellion until his “last drop of blood,” did Mr. Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany call for sanctions.

We were not alone in not anticipating the extend of unrest on the South shore of the Mediterranean.  I except certain academics, such as Professor Richard Bulliet, of Columbia.

Regards  —  Cliff