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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
Chirac and the Arabs, as the End Approaches
[International Herald Tribune/New York Times, 14Nov06] John Vinocur - The desire of France to play a major, seemingly disproportionate role in the Middle East - and the willingness of the French to invest their reputation and credibility in an often virtual and vainglorious pro-Arab policy - has been real enough. Now, with Jacques Chirac entering the final six months of his twelve years in power, that approach's coherence and its fairly universal base across the French political spectrum is crumbling. There's no longer a sanctified, national consensus on the Middle East in a country once determined to drive the European Union's view of the region from a French pro-Palestinian stance.