SINGAPORE -- One of the most notable moments at the Group of Eight summit (June 1-3) in Evian, France, was the bilateral meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, the first such encounter following their dramatic falling out over Iraq.
Although the two leaders sat down and talked for 25 minutes, patting each other on the back, there were palpable signs, especially in body language, that the rift is perhaps far from over and that Franco-American relations have not completely mended. Until this meeting, there was clearly an anti-French triumphalism in the United States; senior Bush administration officials and Congress had vowed to "punish" France for its opposition to the Iraq war and threatened to reduce its international relevance.
This French-bashing mood contrasts with a more serene one of fence-mending with the other two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that opposed U.S. military intervention in Iraq -- Russia and China. Russian President Vladimir Putin remains publicly defiant and critical of the war, while China, though more subdued in opposing the war, has never accepted the fait accompli.