back in 1957, during the crisis in Suez, Briton, France and Israel were going to attack Egypt because Egypt threatened to close shipping in the canal....President Eisenhower was not notified of this attack beforehand, and threatened the Bank of England that the U,S. would SHORT THE POUND ( english currency) to Zero if they did not pull the troops back from attacking Egypt...France, then led by DeGaulle got pissed off, and gave the plans to make the atomic bomb to Israel...ever since then, relations between France and the U.S were strained... we saw "strain" in 9/11 when French and American trade became rattled, and we refused to buy wine, and changed the wording from "French Fries to Freedom Fries"...my point?...dont mess with them that holds the most gold!!.... Lodas