FRANCE Chirac told Bush three weeks ago that he would take a "pragmatic" approach to Iraq's reconstruction, but on many fronts he appears intent on leading the countries that want to combat American domination. Last week's plan for the new E.U. military headquarters prompted one exasperated NATO official to ask, "If this is pragmatism, what does obstructionism look like?" But in Brussels last week, Chirac suggested silkily that history favored his vision over Blair's. "In looking at the evolution of the world," he said, "one can easily see that a multipolar world is creating itself quite naturally. Besides Europe, there's China, India, even South America," each developing its own viewpoint and proper role. And transatlantic relations require "complementarity and partnership between equal partners."

Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations in Paris, argues that Blair's yearlong straddle between Europe and the U.S., his struggle to find common ground between Chirac's multipolar vision and one that presumes American primacy, will become increasingly strained. "Appearances of accord don't work over a long period. I can't foresee America becoming more like Europe any time soon, so for Blair's bet to pay off, Europe has to become more like America" — not likely either, in Boniface's view.

But Blair is no longer trying find common ground with Chirac; he wants to beat him, in alliance with other E.U. countries that also worry about alienating the U.S. — and who suspect Chirac believes what De Gaulle said in 1958 — that "Europe is a means for France to regain the stature she has lacked since Waterloo, as the first among the world's nations." Asked in Parliament why Britain did not attend the Brussels meeting that announced the new E.U. military headquarters, Blair said, "For a simple reason: four countries were involved and 11 were not. We are part of the 11." Most of the new entrants to the E.U. — whom Chirac famously said had "missed a good opportunity to keep quiet" when they disagreed with France's position in February — are likely to back Blair too.

I am ready to meet my maker to answer for those who have died or been horribly maimed as a result of my decisions — TONY BLAIR in an April 2 interview with the TIMES of London, responding to photographs of Iraqi children killed and wounded in the first days of bombing. His words were made public last week

"It's a big battle of ideas," says a senior Blair aide, with Russia expected to shift toward Blair and Germany as the key swing vote. Blair has a lot of confidence in his persuasive powers, and he's persistent. His approach to Putin is instructive. He has now seen Putin at least a dozen times, since even before he became President of Russia, convinced that in the long run a big investment would pay off even if it sometimes caused him short-term embarrassment. Despite his rough ride last week, he invited Putin to London for a state visit next month, the first of a Russian leader since 1870. Just as he never bothers to dispel the "Bush's poodle" caricature by blasting the President in public, Blair was too disciplined to respond to Putin in kind last week.

George W. Bush could make Blair's task much easier, or harder. Some show of respect for the opinions of Europe — making real the "vital role" Bush has promised for the U.N. in Iraq, putting pressure on Israel as well as the Palestinians to follow the road map to its destination — will make the American dominance Blair accepts a lot easier for others in the E.U. to swallow. But even Colin Powell, Europe's favorite Bushite, has said that France will suffer for playing hardball at the Security Council; elsewhere in Washington, Churchill's famous dictum "In Victory: Magnanimity" seems to have fallen off the required reading list. One National Security Council staffer, asked to confirm whether Rice really did sum up U.S. policy as "Forgive Russia, ignore Germany and punish France," said he had not heard her say that, "but it's not a bad description of things." And according to State Department officials, Administration hard-liners are now backing Israel in trying to eliminate all parties except the U.S. in monitoring compliance with the road map — including Russia and the E.U., who helped draft it.

With Bush flying to Europe at the end of this month, first to Russia and then to the G-8 summit in (where else?) France, a potential exists for another bust-up — or maybe for a moment of catharsis that exorcises the demons in the international system. In private, sources tell Time, Bush still talks about being "humble" and "gracious" in victory. British officials quietly suggest that the President take advantage of the moment to do something big with a European audience in mind — perhaps on the Middle East, or on global issues dear to Blair's heart, like poverty, health or debt reduction. Because, as one senior aide to Blair says, his boss not only faces a struggle for the soul of Europe, but "a struggle for the soul of George Bush" too — and he must win both to win either

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