theme, from De Gaulle's withdrawal from Nato's integrated military structure and his attacks on the Vietnam war to more recent differences over Iraq and support for an exchange rate regime to contain the dollar. But there was also solidarity, from backing for Kennedy over Berlin and the Cuban missile crisis to the current project for a joint US-French mission to Mars not to mention the Foreign Minister's dismissal of the Clinton impeachment as a backward step for democracy. Cutting corners is no problem when the occasion demands it. On a visit to French Canada, De Gaulle told his hosts at Montreal city hall he would like to address the crowd outside. They pointed out that this was impossible because no equipment was available. So De Gaulle's bodyguard sidled out to the balcony to set up a microphone without consulting anybody. That enabled the General to stride outside and set off a storm with his headline-grabbing declaration: `Vive le Qubec Libre' (`Long live Free Quebec'). Very French. Under Presidents of right and left alike, the Gaullist heritage has been an enduring element in France's relations with the rest of the world. The repertoire has always gone much further than simply asserting independence from Washington, vital though that is. In a single press conference, the founder of the Fifth Republic managed to dismiss Britain's application to join the Common Market, support a return to the Gold Standard, criticise the Israelis as `an elite people, self-confident and dominating', and refer to Quebec as a sovereign state. Three decades later, France was, at one point, simultaneously trying to set a line of its own over who should become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations (Paris insisted on a French-speaker), who should command the southern flank of the Nato alliance (Paris insisted on a French general), over Central Africa (France insisted it should make Western policy), the Middle East (which Paris insisted mu...
