Amir Teheri writes that French foreign policy is in disarray, and some are starting to point fingers:

...it is unlikely that France can restore its credibility without a reform of the way its foreign policy is made.

Villepin may end up as the scapegoat .

Liberation complains about what it sees as Villepin?s decision to ?practice the art of eating humble pie? by praising the Anglo-American success in Libya.

?What happened to Villepin?s flamboyance?? the paper demands. ?How far have we come from the famous French Arab and African policies!?

And just how naive was this?

Many Arab leaders regard France as a maverick power that could get them involved in an unnecessary, and ultimately self-defeating, conflict with the United States.

?I cannot imagine what Chirac was thinking,? says a senior Saudi official on condition of anonymity. ?How could he expect us to join him in preventing the Americans from solving our biggest problem which was the presence of Saddam Hussein in power in Baghdad??

Another senior Arab diplomat, from Egypt, echoes the sentiment.

?The French did not understand that the Arabs desired the end of Saddam, although they had to pretend that this was not the case,? he says.

The true "Arab street" speaks.

Methinks that 'France watching' is going to be an interesting pastime in the next year or so.

I don't think we've heard from the "Arab street" yet. I don't think that "senior" officials and diplomats qualify (sorry, Rand), but that is a step up from the gullible reporter talking to planted sources of information.

French foreign policy is in disarray

We haven't heard from the Arab Street because it hasn't heard (what it wants to hear) from the government people who tell it what to protest.