France's New de Gaulle

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President Bush has declared that the time for talk is at an end. At yesterday’s summit in the Azores, the president said today’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council would be “a moment of truth for the world.”

France’s President Jacques Chirac remains resolutely opposed to war. His pro peace talk has won him American enmity; “freedom fries” in the Congressional cafeteria are just the latest manifestation of the Franco phobic disdain in the nation’s capital. But by establishing himself as Europe’s most vocal refusenik in the American and British campaign to build a pro-war coalition, Jacques Chirac is staking his claim on historical relevance. The politics, principles and posturing behind Jacques Chirac’s new popularity.

Guests:

Alexandre Adler, author, historian and editorial director, Le Figaro newspaper

Dominique Dhombres, columnist and media critic, Le Monde newspaper