No wonder the British press catches a whiff of the old Berlin imperiousness. No wonder the idle French threat to veto a resolution - which Chirac knows will not be offered - reminds populous and powerful nations like India and Japan of the inequity of mid-sized France having the veto power, and of the need to prevent Germany from getting it.
The chancellor's Pyrrhic victories are part of the backdrop to the existential crisis that the Security Council is bringing on itself. The Iraq issue is not war vs. peace. It is collective security vs. every nation for itself.