Look at what the French are doing in the Persian Gulf.  France under Sarkozy is building an indepedent "European" (France is Europe?) option against the Iranians and threats to the flow of oil from the region.  That's why France has taken options to develop a military presence in Dubai. It allows two things.

The French have the option of carrying out an air strike against Iranian nuke facilities if the US withdraws from the Gulf in 2009.  And if allows France a say on what comes in and out of the Straights of Hormuz, i.e. Saudi oil from Ras Tanura.

And if you really want to be disturbed consider that Sarkozy offered Germany French nukes, and not ny nukes, but the top of the line.  A nuclear submarine, the single most desired option of the nuclear triad, allowing the holder to retain a second strike option even if their homeland has been annihlated, thereby creating a balance of terror.

It's nearly impossible to take them out, becuase they are 1)mobile and 2) able to hide beneath the waves.

Sarkozy is trying, or at least tried, to break the German-American aggreement reached in 1968, when the Germans were assured US protection in exchange for remaining in NATO.

We matter more than pounds and pence/ Your economic theory makes no sense "We work the Black Seam"-Sting