The Return of Pouilly-Fuisse

Confession:  Back some time ago I decided personally not to engage in purchasing anything I could identify as French.  No movement, no requests of others just a personal decision to vote against Mr. De Villipan and Mr. Chirak with my dollars.  This personal boycott was not terribly difficult as about the only French product I purchased regularly was my favorite wine, Pouilly-Fuisse.

It is a wonderful wine and I missed it.  But now, ahhh but now I am declaring the boycott over and I welcome the return of Pouilly-Fuisse, thank you President Sarkozy. 

I will celebrate the realignment of French policy with the best bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse I can either find or afford.  A celebration is warranted and I will toast the French President. I will toast him because………….

It could be that the inertia inherent in decades of Gaullist attitudes are evolving into a more rational view of what relations with America should and could be.

It could be that France, aspiring to be viewed as the unquestioned leader of the European Union, sees American support for that objective as critical to attaining it.

It could be that the French President has evaluated the dramatic liabilities of an America trending toward frustrated isolationism as a potential result of continued European basing of all things American.

It could be that an objective French analysis of the liabilities inherent in a Middle Eastern centric (sic Anti-American) foreign policy are beginning to reveal more potential risk than reward.

It could be that the very real threats of European based Jihadists are beginning to overtake European political correctness, years of commitment to the Euro Arabian Dialogue (EAD) and the significant bureaucracy associated with the EADit are being questioned. In continental Europe Only Mr. Sarkozy has been consistently positioned to lead on this issue.

Granted, a lot of “it could be” but there is clearly a change in French leadership on a variety of issues.  This change is evidenced by a number of critical changes in French rhetoric.

A clear message to the U.N. by President Sarkozy that appeasement and “lack of courage” is unacceptable.

A reversal of the Chirak position on Iranian nuclear development.

A statement (eventually reversed, but spoken nonetheless) that France would have to consider war against Iran.

Clear pressure on the Germans by the French to balance commercial interests in the Middle Ease with a recognition of the geopolitical risks inherent in the Iranian situation.

Statements against the decades long growth of Anti Semitism in Europe.

Talk of renewed commitment to NATO.

So President Sarkozy, I toast you with my long absent glass of Pouilly-Fuisse which I will now order by the case, lest my abandoned boycott go unnoticed.