Chirac is at it again. Like his alter-ego de Villepin, and his current FM Barnier, Chirac can't seem to open his mouth without uttering some self-aggrandizing - and France-aggrandizing anti-American inanity.
Where does this come from?
It comes from French cocooning. Chirac epitomizes it. Paris itself symbolizes it.
Remember: Chirac was the longtime Mayor of Paris - it's where he built his Arafatesque fiefdom on corruption of unparalleled depth.
Paris. A city of unbelievable beauty: grand boulevards, gorgeous parcs, chic cafes, beautiful bridges across the sensuous Seine, elegant chateaus et maisons, hills, trees, museums - yes, Paris simply and unarguably the most beautiful city in the world.
And cloistered in his Elysee Palace - after having dwelled for a time in the stately Hotel Matignon (as PM, and worked for years in the Hotel de Ville collecting bribes and kickbacks ) - sits Chirac: master of this great city which symbolizes a great nation - or so he thinks.
How else could he think!? To be master of the nation which has poured so much of its wealth over the CENTURIES into this city of cities is SEEMINGLY to be master of... all that is masterful. Certainly the nation that built and has maintained Paris - the most beautiful city in the world - must be the best nation in the world, "NON?!"
NO.
Paris is merely a "spectactular mausoleum" of a nation whose greatness ended in the 19th century . In fact, nearly every single great and wondrous and beautiful thing about Paris is from the 19th century - most of that from a period of time most French hold in low regard: the Second Empire. What else is great is from before the First Republic, and before WW1. France and French culture and Paris have done almost nothing of great import or great beauty since then.
All France has produced since then has been existentialism, post-modernism, and Gaullism - all hollow failures (excepting Camus - who like Orwell saw beyond the jargon of his age). This is reflected in Paris, as well: The ugliest buildings in Paris are all post WW1. The 20th century was not a good one for France, or Paris - and the 21st does not bode well, either.
Meanwhile, Chirac - Suha, de Villepin, and all the other corrupt and amoral saprophytes - sit in their excruciatingly beautiful cocoon-like Paris and delude themselves that they and their City of Light are still relevant and important on the world stage. Merde! Paris is merely a great and huge adult theme-park, a tourist trap with charm.
Too bad so many tourists go there every year; it only encourages them...