Christopher Caldwell has an important and frightening article out on the connection between Chirac’s foreign policy and the growing Muslim minority in France. Chirac has been using his anti-U.S. stance on Iraq to gain political traction with the country’s Muslims. French public opinion on matters Middle East is now effectively indistinguishable from public opinion in Arab countries. Palestinians have been naming their new born sons “Chirac.” Muslim protesters in France have been calling for Iraqi victory, and asking for reduced French cooperation with the international anti-terrorism campaign. The question is, has France decided to solve the problem of reluctant Muslim assimilation by assimilating its foreign policy into that of the Muslim world. As Caldwell points out, France is effectively bidding to become the leader of what used to be called the “non-aligned” world.