It is common in the US to view France as a fading nation. Last week’s carnage in Paris has reminded Americans what they value in their oldest ally. France may suffer from steep unemployment and a sclerotic public sector. It remains an à la carte ally of the US, rather than adopting a British-style prix fixe. But its effective handling of the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — and the symbolic nature of the target — has invoked something in America’s DNA. “Solidarité” is the cover of the New Yorker against a cartoon of the Eiffel Tower as a pencil — an artful echo of Le Monde’s “We are all Americans” post-9/11 headline. The slogan, “Je Suis Charlie”, may be overblown. But this tragedy has brought out America’s underlying sympathy for France. The more is the pity that no senior US official was able to attend Sunday’s unity demonstration in Paris.
美国人普遍把法国视为一个衰落中的国家。上周巴黎发生的屠杀让美国人回想起，他们对最长久的盟友法国看重的是什么。法国可能正受困于高失业率和僵化的公共行业。法国仍是美国的一个照单点菜式的盟友（而非英国那样的铁杆拍档）。但是，讽刺杂志《查理周刊》(Charlie Hebdo) 遇袭后法国的高效处理——以及被攻击目标具有的象征意义——唤醒了美国人基因中的某些东西。最新一期《纽约客》(New Yorker)封面的主题是“团结”，背景是制成埃菲尔铁塔(Eiffel Tower)卡通形象的一枝铅笔——巧妙呼应了法国《世界报》(Le Monde)在9/11事件之后“我们都是美国人”的标题。“我是查理”(Je suis Charlie)的标语可能有些过头了。但这场悲剧引出了美国对法国的根本同情。在这一背景下，没有一位美国高官能够参加周日在巴黎举行的团结游行更加令人遗憾。