(Via Merde in France:) French academic Guy Millière returned from a visit to the USA and discusses (in French) his conversations with several Beltway 'neocons'. My translation of the moneygraf:
The first observation I could make was the extent of the damage inflicted by the Chirac-Villepin duo to Franco-American relations. Not only have the French rulers come across, and continue to come across, as treacherous, cynical, and devoid of moral scruples, but they are also considered morons ("imbéciles").
[Whether] the point was safeguarding [French] contracts or economic interests [or] saving Saddam Hssein, the [steps taken]were [counterproductive]. Washington has come to the conclusion that France desires a containment ("enlisement") of the US and has a tendency to mistake its wishes for reality. Chirac, and particularly Villepin, are seen as living in a fantasy world. I have on several occasions heard Villepin described as "demented", an adjective generally accompanied by figures of speech or attributed behaviors too obscene to repeat here.
However, Washington is not worried about a real chasm developing between the US and Europe, and notes that most European countries (much of "old Europe" and essentially all of "new Europe") take a more realistic attitude, and that the only countries which France and Germany were able to recruit for their new "independent European defense organization" are Belgium and [the Grand Duchy of] Luxemburg. As a journalist friend put it to Millière: "Once France could come across as arrogant: nowadays, in the current state of affairs, it can only arouse derision or pity." He also mentions T-shirts here and there with texts like "My cat was neutered ["gecastreerd"], now it's French."
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