IT'S RUMMY'S WORLD, FRANCE JUST LIVES IN IT:

"You are thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that is 'old' Europe." 

Donald Rumsfeld, the then secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, gave the previous remark back in January of 2003 when asked his view on the positions taken by both German and French officials regarding the United States' eventual use of force in Iraq. Rumsfeld said, "If you look at the entire NATO Europe today, the center of gravity is shifting to the East. And there are a lot of new members... You look at vast numbers of other countries in Europe. They're not with France and Germany [regarding Iraq], they're with the United States." 

The comments Rumsfeld made drew ire from both German and French officials alike. Whatever one may think of Rumsfeld or the Bush administration's later handling of the Iraq war, one cannot deny the important distinction made by Rumsfeld regarding the inevitable split between both 'old' and 'new' Europe. 

Had we heeded Rumsfeld's warnings, Emmanuel Macron's recent statements on China would not have shocked to anyone. 

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