POLAND STANDS TALL, France and Germany act small:

Hard to believe, but Poland is now arguably a more consequential global power than either France or Germany. And the angry reactions in Berlin, Brussels and Paris to this news speaks eloquently to the tectonic shift under way in Europe after Iraq. Their diplomats grumbled widely that the Poles were vassals to the U.S., ingrates willing to take European Union subsidies and undermine efforts to build a common European foreign policy. “Mercenaries,” a German ambassador on the Continent called them in an interview with us.

Lacking other arguments, France and Germany call the Poles, and the majority of current and future EU countries that backed the U.S. over Iraq, “bad Europeans.” This appeal is a new form of euro-chauvinism–in other words, the advocates of a vital trans-Atlantic link (such as Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar) are traitors who’ve made the wrong choice.

Euro-chauvinism, indeed. Meanwhile, Roger Simon deals a cruel blow:

The problem with the French is not their knee-jerk anti-Americanism–it is that they are second rate. They don’t do it well anymore. And I’m not just talking about the decline of French music (since the 40s), French film (since the 70s) or even French food (still okay). I’m talking about FRENCH ART itself.

You’ll have to follow the link to see what he’s talking about. I think he’s being unfair — it doesn’t look like art to me. Oh, wait. . . .