[ptaipale]

> Obama "We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people."

That is the kind of thing presidents say in speeches. It just means "I want to be polite to you". It's diplomacy, don't take it literally.

[logfromblammo]

France and the U.S. also have a special relationship.

France was technically the first ally of the U.S. That alliance has been pretty stable, except under the following circumstances:

  - France or the U.S. is having a civil war.
  - France and Britain are at war.
  - France is under foreign occupation.

That's not just diplomacy. France and the U.S. are very consistently on the same side of international issues, and when exceptions occur, it is usually when the U.S. has a conservative government while France has a liberal one, and there is little more than pro forma dissent, as one side or the other remains neutral rather than truly oppose.

If NATO did not exist, France would be one of the few non-Commonwealth nations for whom the U.S. would declare an actual, full-engagement war to defend, without even much argument from the voting public--unless it was the UK attacking it, obviously.

The full "special" list is probably Canada, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.

[dragonwriter]

The Suez Crisis indicates that you have omitted at least one circumstance that should be mentioned...

[balabaster]

and equally... every other "friend" and "ally" are as strong as France. It's meaningless filler, it doesn't mean that the French are their strongest friends and allies... just that nobody is more of a friend and ally. It's like a hat tip to one of your friends, but nothing more. Even if you do take this statement literally, it's meaningless.

[ptaipale]

I don't think it's entirely meaningless. As said, it intends to be polite. Its meaning just isn't the face value.