MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Chirac blocked reform of the cap at the E.U.'s October summit
The old cowboy of French politics is sitting tall in the saddle again. Six months after his re-election to the French presidency, Jacques Chirac is out to shoot down those who presumed to write off his country as a serious international player. Over the past two weeks, Chirac forced the Bush Administration toward a weaker U.N. resolution on Iraq; he bushwhacked would-be reformers of the E.U.'s costly Common Agricultural Policy (cap), thus preserving lucrative subsidies for French farmers. In September he sent troops to Africa to prop up a threatened regime in France's former colony, Ivory Coast. These days, Chirac is...
