Vladimir de Gaulle?

From de Gaulle to Putin

They're for de Gaulle, but so far they haven't been able to do much about it.

In his memoirs, de Gaulle stated his preference for restoring the monarchy after the Liberation.

In the 1960 s, both Socialists and Centrists denounced de Gaulle s anti Americanism.

As Charles de Gaulle forecast, It is not any European statesman who will unite Europe.

Charles de Gaulle took France out of the NATO military alliance in 1966.

During the war he was a supporter of Charles de Gaulle.

Eisenhower, with General de Gaulle, will lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In the year that the Socialists are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the May 1968 demonstrations against de Gaulle, they are also trying to steal his diplomatic clothes by proclaiming themselves the defenders of the independent French foreign policy that he championed.

Only a strong leader, de Gaulle thought, could have avoided defeat.

You get swine flu in Mexico, it's a problem for Charles de Gaulle Airport 24 hours later.

Some blame the hybrid nature of de Gaulle s system for France s seeming political paralysis.

In retrospect, de Gaulle s decision proved to be much more detrimental for France than for the Alliance.

There is more than a little irony here. In the year that the Socialists are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the May 1968 demonstrations against de Gaulle, they are also trying to steal his diplomatic clothes by proclaiming themselves the defenders of the independent French foreign policy that he championed.

Charles de Gaulle has governed France for 10 years. France s largest party, the Communists, dominates the opposition.

The ailing French republic s political leaders hoped that de Gaulle could end the Algerian war, yet keep Algeria French.

What de Gaulle despised about the Fourth Republic was what he dubbed the regime of the parties, which put their own interests above the national interest.

Indeed, through much of the Cold War, de Gaulle appeared to want to avoid having to choose sides between the United States and the Soviet Union.

PARIS Fifty years ago, General Charles de Gaulle seized power in France in what was, in essence, a legal coup d etat.

De Gaulle s agenda was very different he wanted to rewrite the Constitution and to found a new Fifth Republic for France.

But de Gaulle s vision of government resonated with the convictions of many French and, above all, with many public intellectuals.

The French left, not surprisingly, rejects Sarkozy s Atlanticist impulses and frequently charge him with betraying General de Gaulle s legacy.

General de Gaulle once said There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads.

For the first time since Charles de Gaulle established the Fifth Republic, France s priority is no longer to live in opposition to the US.

As de Gaulle wished, the French president has powers without equal in any other Western democracy.

He is nostalgic for the 1960's and the Gaullist ideology that shaped both France and himself.

With the promulgation of the 1958 French Constitution, under the Government of General de Gaulle, the colonial territories were given the chance to embark on the process that would eventually lead them to independence.

The exception may be the military and the diplomatic service following de Gaulle s lead, all French presidents have financed the military generously.

At a stroke, President Nicolas Sarkozy overturned one of the pillars of French policy and of the legacy of Charles de Gaulle, the founder of Sarkozy s own political party.

Established quickly in 1958 by de Gaulle in the midst of the Algerian crisis, tthe institutions of the Fifth Republic came under fire from the very first day.

So we realized we want full diversity, even though it can be difficult to remember what De Gaulle said when asked what it was like to be President of France.

First, few leaders write well, though there are exceptions, like Nehru, Churchill, and de Gaulle.

Under Charles de Gaulle, France combined faithfulness to the Western cause in time of crisis with a strong willingness to promote its diplomatic independence and freedom of maneuver.

Is today s Union prepared to reverse a course first charted by such titans as Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer four decades ago?

As Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill once famously agreed When all is said and done, Great Britain is an island, France the cape of a continent America another world.

PARIS Nearly 50 years after the creation of the Fifth Republic by General Charles de Gaulle, Nicolas Sarkozy wants to change France s fundamental institutions.

True, the General had been called upon and elected by the floundering French Parliament. But pressure from the French army, and rebellion in Algeria, did not give Parliament much of a choice.

Following de Gaulle s lead, elective monarchy or enlightened despotism is now perceived as a legitimate alternative to parliamentary democracy or US style separation of powers.

It is absurd to suggest that European visionaries such as Adenauer and de Gaulle failed to realize the consequences of their decision to admit Turkey as an associate member of the EEC.

However, Charles de Gaulle, who favored a presidential system, quit the government in 1946 and henceforth remained in the opposition until his triumphal return during the May 1958 crisis.

In France half a century ago, as the Cold War loomed, Charles de Gaulle easily convinced the French that they were heroic during World War II because he was heroic.

For 85 of the electorate went to vote in what has been the highest level of participation in presidential elections in France since Charles de Gaulle last ran for president in1965.

Remarkable propagandist that he was, de Gaulle convinced the French that the Fourth Republic was a disaster a canard that has remained common wisdom ever since.

The Gaullist dream of creating an independent power center never succeeded, but the role of awkward partner has given a distinctive flavor to French diplomacy, and it may be equally viable for a shrunken, proud, but no longer hegemonic Russia.