The precious summit

DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images Is it just me, or does French President Nicolas Sarkozy sound a little like Gollum in this quote about a planned summit to restructure the world’s financial architecture? Europe wants the summit before the end of the year… Europe wants it. Europe demands it. Europe will get it.” We wants it! In ...

592010_081017_sarko5.jpg
592010_081017_sarko5.jpg

DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images

DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images

Is it just me, or does French President Nicolas Sarkozy sound a little like Gollum in this quote about a planned summit to restructure the world’s financial architecture?

Europe wants the summit before the end of the year… Europe wants it. Europe demands it. Europe will get it.”

We wants it! In all seriousness, smart people have been saying for a long time — way before the current mess — that the framework put in place at Bretton Woods in 1944 is woefully obsolete.

But I’m not sure that Sarko, an old-school economic nationalist in liberal clothing, is the guy I’d want leading the charge. And how much confidence would Americans have in any decisions George W. Bush makes at this point? My take: it would be better to leave any grand, sweeping changes to No. 44.

More from Foreign Policy

A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.
A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.

No, the World Is Not Multipolar

The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.
The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.

America Can’t Stop China’s Rise

And it should stop trying.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.

The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky

The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.