The internal crisis affecting NATO is a bit of a "storm in a tea-cup" (and yes that is the most common form of that expression in the UK). NATO has survived far worse rifts in the past (also brought about by the French).

The interesting one was the proposal put forward jointly by France, Germany and backed by Russia. If you look at it in detail, it is not that much different to the conditions laid out in the US and UK's first or second draft resolution debated and rejected by the five permamnent members of the UNSC about six months ago.

They (France & Germany) propose tripling the number of inspectors to around 350. Dr. Hans Blix has about 100 inspectors in Iraq at the moment and he has requested a further 12 and he is finding great difficulty in filling those slots. If 12 are proving hard to source where are France and Germany going to find 250. Sounds great to the assembled Press Corps as a sound byte, but not much in terms of substance. Much like, Tony Blair promising to erradicate the shortage of Doctors and Nurses in the UK NHS in the course of one Parliament - This of course ignores the reality that it takes six years to train a doctor and the best part of five to train a nurse.