Gunboat diplomacy
Juxtaposition o' the day:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4K8Pk-cxzMotBMdgp_ccnQHDFXTTlY3Wr7doSAMymwfDChCrA8yE65w3engCP06rXbsGMXzQORSdDDtBFhKrhApBHIAHdLnXbU47SdwZzpIlquRF8wSAGnTMRqT8hNiynWM0/s400/French+navy.png)
I am at least as keen as the next man on there being a draining of the swamp - so to speak - around the western edges of the Indian Ocean, but perhaps La Marine Nationale is missing out on duties closer to home... There is a base at Cherbourg, not that far down the coast from Boulogne.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4K8Pk-cxzMotBMdgp_ccnQHDFXTTlY3Wr7doSAMymwfDChCrA8yE65w3engCP06rXbsGMXzQORSdDDtBFhKrhApBHIAHdLnXbU47SdwZzpIlquRF8wSAGnTMRqT8hNiynWM0/s400/French+navy.png)
I am at least as keen as the next man on there being a draining of the swamp - so to speak - around the western edges of the Indian Ocean, but perhaps La Marine Nationale is missing out on duties closer to home... There is a base at Cherbourg, not that far down the coast from Boulogne.
Labels: Africa, arms and the man, France, L'exception française