it was in a short but scrupulously polite letter to lyndon johnson 43 years ago that charles de gaulle announced his decision to pull france out of nato’s integrated military command. his country, the french president wrote to his american counterpart, needed “to recover the full exercise of her sovereignty across her entire territory.” he shut down nato’s headquarters in paris and expelled american military bases from france. ever since, the french have seen their semi-detached status in nato as a guarantor of their strategic autonomy and a totem of their refusal to accept american supremacy.
43年前, 夏尔•戴高乐发出了一封彬彬有礼的短信,通知时任美国总统林登•约翰逊,宣布法国退出北约军事一体化机构。戴高乐在信中写道,法国需要在其境内恢复行使全部主权。他关闭了北约在巴黎的总部,迫使美国撤出其在法国的军事基地。从那以后,法国人都把他们在北约中的特殊。。。