The French multipolar world is not really multipolar at all. It is bipolar.* It is France pitted against the United States. But France by itself is not a big player. It is France, a middling country somewhere to the east of Great Britain. For France to be an American counterweight it needs, well, some weight.

So France schmoozes around looking for partners that can provide the money, the muscle, the influence, that France lacks and are willing to follow France's lead. But no country in its right mind would follow France's lead, so France contents herself with partners that will let her be their special friend and help herself to whatever is in their cookie jars. In exchange, France hands out some showy schwag.

But sometimes France's new friends help themselves to France's cookie jar.

Mes amis ! Aucune de cela !

PUTIN PLAYS INNOCENT WITH EADS STAKE

LONDON September 25, 2006 (Forbes) - France, Germany and Russia will form a new working group to study the Russian stake in European Aeronautic Defense and Space, which Putin assured was "not a sign of aggression". The Russian President president was speaking after a summit northwest of Paris with President Jacques Chirac of France and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

The risk is that Russian state bank Vneshtorgbank, which recently bought a 5% stake in EADS,will try to boost its interest in the company without agreement from its French and German shareholders. This would mean even more government control over EADS despite the recent problems of French state interference and maybe even damage relations with the U.S. There are also security implications, as EADS has some sensitive defense contracts.

The push for closer defense and aeronautic ties isn't one-way traffic. Chirac has long hoped to draw Moscow deeper into the EU’s defense arm, believing that Russia's military might is necessary for Europe to match the U.S. as a global superpower. France and Germany also forged closer relations with Moscow in 2003 when opposing the Iraq war.

... [It] is hard to believe Vneshtorgbank bought EADS because the stock was cheap. A more likely explanation is that the bank is acting as a front for the Russia's rusting aviation industry.

* Also in this sense as borne out here.

PFFT (What is this?): Please remove your hand from the cookie jar 2½ | Rayonnement français 0