A French force
Nicolas Sarkozy has star appeal. But to judge from his political testimony, he lacks a coherent political philosophy and has few ideas about how to arrest France's decline
Michael Jay
The Lebanon crisis has once again shown that foreign policy is made in Downing Street, not the foreign office. The recently retired head of the diplomatic service tries to explain why the FCO matters
Manifesto for optimists
Multilateralists are convinced that second-term Bush will embrace them
Choosing Europe
Timothy Garton Ash has written an ambitious book about the future of the west. But he is too sanguine about EU-US relations and will not accept that Britain does, sometimes, have to choose between them
A bigger, looser EU?
Do divisions over Iraq and enlargement spell the end to significant new EU integration measures? What next for Europe?
Blair’s five wars
Iraq has severed the thread of Blairite foreign policy. This fifth war may turn out to have been his last
The road to war
There are lessons to be learned from the mistakes made in the heart of government that led to Britain's defeat at the UN
Ratify or quit
The EU's constitutional convention must take a tough line on small countries that fail to ratify treaty changes
Powerless Europe
Washington is not listening to European leaders at present-not even to Tony Blair.
Dear Uncle Sam
Whoever is eventually declared the next American president will have to deal with a more assertive Europe
Misreading Europe
A widely acclaimed book on the EU is ten years out of date
Intelligence test
Britain's intelligence ties with the US-which includes spying on other EU states-may undermine Europe's new defence policy