Why France?

While the rest of the West is dithering and dallying, France's nuclear fraction of total electricity now stands at 70%. Starved for oil and coal, it will enter the 21^st century 80% nuclear. Anti-nuclear protestors are mostly imported from Germany and Britain; the only time the French themselves take to the streets is to protest the loss of jobs when a nuclear plant is retired.

Because of deeper reasons, of which nuclear power is only a symptom.

France is not, by any means, a model country. Its mixed economy suffers from an abundant dose of socialism; it is quite as good as the rest of the West in the cheap demagoguery of spit-ting at Israel and South Africa; and it is selling rope to the hangmen as eagerly as its colleagues.

Yet in many respects France is the one-eyed king among a blind West. France has built up a fighting force that is, apart from the nuclear deterrent, the only serious obstacle to a Soviet three-week march to the English Channel. Germany and others bend to hostage extortion; France doesn't. America responds to insults by the tyrants of the Third World with more foreign "aid." When a French president, on a state visit to Zaire, is "welcomed" at the airport by one of these parasites with a speech about Western imperialism, he walks back to his plane and orders the pilot to fly back to Paris.

Because it is following the policies of de Gaulle? No: great leaders do not come by luck. They are always there, but it takes a crisis to put them in charge. Charles de Gaulle was there in the 1930s, exhorting the French to build mobile armor instead of relying on a Maginot line; he was ridiculed. Winston Churchill was there, warning of the Nazi danger; he was branded a war-monger.

Before the war, the rest of Europe regarded France as "decadent," perhaps because it was the only country whose population was declining. And its establishment was decadent: even more than Britain, it practiced appeasement and accommodation with Nazi Germany. (Read the history of the 1930s: whenever you read about Bonnet or Halifax, you will see the endearing face of George Shultz smiling at you.) By incompetence and betrayal, it was swept away in 22 days by the Nazis, whom it continued to serve.

And here, I believe, is part of the reason: the French people tasted the humiliation of a Great Power. Before you dismiss the thought, think back to the American hostages in Iran, and how deeply that episode affected the country. Yet there were only 50, and nothing was happening to them, not to mention the fact that they knowingly and voluntarily took the risks of a diplomat in today's world. Then think of the French hostages who were shot by the dozen dawn after dawn when 40 million Frenchmen were under the Nazi boot.

But, you may say, so were other powers humiliated. Yes; but they found excuses. The small ones are small: the Dutch or the Danes regard themselves as hapless little victims; and the Italians proved that not even fascism could force them to fight. The big ones find other excuses. What led to Dunkirk and Singapore was forgotten when the British saved the world by holding on alone for 13 months, and Pearl Harbor was redeemed by America's victory. The Germans say The Nazis failed; only the French say we failed.

For they were the only ones who, quite literally, could find no one but themselves to blame. Like everybody else, they swore "Never again!", but unlike some, they meant it. Out of bitter humiliation came the priceless virtues of self-responsibility, self-reliance and self-respect. Nuclear power was a minor and incidental byproduct of the process.

How much humiliation will America have to take before it learns the lesson? And will it be as lucky as France to get the time for recovery?