France Might Use Nukes If Attacked With Nukes

Ok, I admit it. I chuckled when I read that Jacque Chirac

said on Thursday it would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a nuclear attack against France, reaffirming the need for its nuclear deterrent.

Then I read RedState and chuckled a bit harder (some might say my mirthful exuberance bordered on open laughter.)

Modern France has a history of the using application of force against only those enemies least capable of defending themselves. Whether thrashing hapless African militias in the Congo, gunning down natives in New Caledonia, or dynamiting Greenpeace ships in neutral harbors French military activities in the post-World War II have been long on ignominy and short on heavy lifting.
Indeed, France's post-World War II military debacles span the globe and are probably only exceeded by the total hash it made of the political structure of its former colonies.

Given the French inability to construct an aircraft carrier it is not difficult to imagine the Force de Frappe having a similar Peter Sellers quality.

What makes it even more amusing is that Chirac doesn't get the joke.