With Allies Like This Who Need Enemies

Essay at the New York Times on the French desire to see America fail. Quoth Thomas L. Friedman:

France wants America to sink in a quagmire there in the crazy hope that a weakened U.S. will pave the way for France to assume its "rightful" place as America's equal, if not superior, in shaping world affairs

Yes, even the New York Times sometimes sees the obvious.