France is, well, disappointed. And not a little put off.

Italy, having walked the walk, Italy -- Italy! -- wants to talk the talk as a member of a special chat club. There was the EU3, now the Five+1. Well, why not Five+2?

FRANCE REASSURES ITALY OVER IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS

PARIS August 28, 2006 (AFP) - In an interview with a German newspaper Saturday Italian Foreign Minister Massimo d'Alema said his country had a right to take part in the talks, conducted by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) plus Germany.

"We Italians are, with Germany, the main trading partners with Iran and engaged on the front line in Lebanon vis-a-vis Hezbollah" which enjoys Iranian backing, he told the Saturday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, reported by the Italian daily La Repubblica.

"So we too have the right to be included in the talks on the Iranian issue."

"Since the beginning of the talks with Iran we have always been careful to inform and consult our European partners,* Italy chief among them," said a [French] foreign ministry spokesman in Paris.

The Italian government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi has made it clear that he wants a higher-profile role in the EU. Rome is to send 2,000 to 3,000 men to the reinforced UN force in Lebanon, making it the largest single contributor, and will take over command in February from France.

Yes, yes. France will let you know if anything important makes the news. Now, please, leave Iran and Hizballah and the rest of it to the experts. It's not as if France doesn't know what she's doing.

* Just as France has been careful to keep America in the dark.

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