French views of Russia, the EU and Germany.

The IHT reports on the attitude of the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner toweards Russia following yesterday's Nato Foreign Ministers meeting, read here. A quote: The main threat in a globalized world is the "return of nationalism and violence," Kouchner said, in English and French. "I don't want to consider the relationship with Russia like a confrontation, block against block." At this critical period it seems important, particularly for those within the British Foreign Office, to try to grasp where the French individuals running the EU Presidency until the end of the year are coming from in their world view. I strongly recommend reading Monsieur Kouchner's speech to the Humboldt University which is reproduced in full the Summer Edition of the magazine "Social Europe" available in pdf format from this link.