The French - Ever watch

The French - Ever watch a cat after it's fallen off the banister? It gets up, looks around, licks its fur as if to say "I planned that. What are you looking at?". Then it walks on to its next agenda item.

The French representative to the UN seems to be setting the stage for more or less the same thing - allowing the French government to recant its opposition to war without making it look like they're giving way on anything. "We will not rule out any option, including the use of the rule of force - as we've said all along...". Indeed.

As I type this, the French are revealing knowledge of chemical, biological, and long-range missile construction and acquisition efforts - and speaking up for the UN role, playing both sides of the fence.

More to come.

UPDATE: The CNN analyst has it right; the French are playing "Good Gendarme/Bad Gendarme", and trying to buy more time for the Inspection plan and their middle-ground approach.