[Mb-civic] France Splits the Difference - Jim Hoagland -Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

France Splits the Difference

By Jim Hoagland
Thursday, July 28, 2005; Page A25

The yogurt kings of France succeeded this week while the barons of 
bicycle racing and les artistes du striptease failed the nation. Or 
perhaps it is the other way around. The inimitable French respond to the 
rising tides of foreign challenge and globalization by saying no, and 
yes, almost in the same breath.

The no came from Groupe Danone, which noisily refused to be taken over 
by rampant American capitalism. French politicians then rushed to defend 
the yogurt and bottled-water company with a ferocity matching the 
American legislators who vow to block the Chinese purchase of the U.S. 
energy company Unocal.

Each nation has its own definition of "strategic" -- one man's yogurt is 
another man's petroleum, perhaps -- and its own phobias and strengths 
that surface when it feels threatened by external forces, be they 
military, economic or cultural. One size does not fit all in real life, 
not even when it comes to globalization, as we call the greatly 
accelerated flow of goods, people, technology and capital across borders.

<>Patience. We will get back to the French strippers and bikers shortly. 
As Snoopy habitually promised the readers of "Peanuts," in Chapter Two, 
I tie all this together.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072702074.html 

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