FRANCE’S BAD WEEK: I reflect on the failures of Franco-diplomacy over at GlennReynolds.com, where I also suggest that the Bush Administration is playing a diplomatic game that goes well beyond Iraq.

Meanwhile, in response to the letter from 8 European leaders supporting the United States, reader Jim Campbell emails:

After reading the stunning op-ed letter in the WSJ this morning (to see the words “American bravery” in a letter signed by the heads of 8 European nations briefly stopped my heart), I thought of Bush and Chirac and Schroeder, and a movie scene immediately popped into mind – the scene at the end of Twelve Angry Men, where Henry Fonda looks at Lee J. Cobb and says, “You’re alone now.”

I like it.

UPDATE: Here’s an article that provides some insight into what’s going on:

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A joint letter by eight European leaders backing the United States on the crisis with Iraq highlighted the European Union (news – web sites)’s divisions on Thursday, rubbing salt into the wounds of its stumbling foreign policy. . . .

The move appeared aimed at isolating France and Germany, which had publicly argued against a rush to war, and building a pro-American caucus within the 15-nation EU.

“This looks like Rumsfeld’s Europe,” one EU diplomat said, referring to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s dismissal of France and Germany last week as “old Europe.”

Buwahahahaha!