Just a few weeks from publication of the White Paper that will set out the road map of France’s defence for the coming decade, it is useful to explore several avenues of thought on what is the increasingly complex strategic situation in the world, in which the centre of gravity has shifted towards Asia and where, in an arc of crisis from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, the United States is powerless and Europe absent. The European dimension of French defence, however, has some important assets, and 2008 could turn out to be an interesting year.