Rumsfeld's 'Old Europe' Remarks Highlight France's Weakness

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent comments about "old Europe" have renewed the focus on the rising tensions between Washington and Paris. The United States is outperforming France on all major levels, and Paris' own platform for facing down Washington's power — the European Union — rapidly is evolving beyond its control. France's biggest problem going forward is that although it can damage some American interests, it no longer has the capacity to outflank the United States in any meaningful way.