After 231 years of a chaotic marriage—which the French persist in believing is founded on love whereas it was always based only on reason—France and the United States continue to proclaim their divergent values, which some call a convergence of interests. Issues concerning the Middle East and terrorism, wrongly used as a justification for the Afghan conflict, once again highlight this gap. The way in which they address these questions reflects their different and incompatible views of the world and history.
