In the interests of what remains of alliance solidarity, none of NATO’s members actually vetoed the Libyan operation, thrust upon the organization by President Barack Obama. But Germany and Turkey—two historical pillars of the alliance—vehemently and publicly objected. A host of others are quietly fuming. According to one insider’s account, Sarkozy himself only agreed to put the operation under a NATO flag after the White House threatened to withdraw completely. He had apparently assumed that the U.S. military would continue to underwrite an intervention he was leading.

The European Union emerges looking even worse. Indeed, had Sarkozy’s primary aim been to expose the weakness and incoherence of European foreign policy, he could not have done so any more effectively. Europe’s “foreign minister,” Catherine Ashton, has been sidelined in Libya. Europe’s institutions have played no part. An editorialist in (pro-European) Le Monde put it best: The Libyan affair “demonstrates the immaturity of European security and defense policy, the poverty of the political debate, and the inadequacy of personnel.” No one thinks Europe is going to emerge from this affair any stronger, either, even if the French president does.