The Pottery Barn Exception

I remember when we needed to have a detailed plan for the post-war years before going to war. Back then, French approval was the only answer in the "global test" we needed to pass. So how does France do war?

France went to war in Mali to rout the jihadis in the northern part of the country. Their blitzkrieg was commendable.

But screw the post-war plan:

France will not play Africa's policeman and sort out a territorial dispute in Mali, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday, a day after Mali's president and Tuareg separatist rebels both criticized Paris for doing too little.

France has no interest in mediating the dispute between northern Tuaregs and the majority who live in Mali's south (and who control the national government).

Apparently, if you break it, you don't actually own it.

Now that's nuance.