Yes, I know. It's an oxymoron, but this report from London's Daily Telegraph chaps my hide.

President Jacques Chirac negotiated a secret deal to protect Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general accused of Europe's worst atrocities since the Second World War, according to evidence submitted to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

M Chirac allegedly agreed to sabotage the extradition of Gen Mladic to face genocide charges for his role in the planned extermination of Bosnian Muslims, including the massacre of 7,000 men and boys in the UN safe haven of Srebrenica in July 1995.

In exchange, Gen Mladic handed over two French pilots held hostage for 14 weeks by his forces after their Mirage fighter jet was shot down outside Sarajevo.

Just another reminder that the perfidious French are not the paragons of virtue that they put themselves out to be. The French don't stand for freedom. The French don't stand for tolerance. The French don't stand on principle.

And we're supposed to care what they think? We're supposed to be worried about offending them?

It's obvious now that the easiest way to get the French to do what we want is to shoot down one of their planes and capture the pilots.

Disgusting.