Even those in Europe who think that Jacques Chirac has overdone his America-baiting have been alarmed to hear the moderate U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell argue that France will have to face"serious consequences" over its stance on Iraq.
These states are just beginning to face the internal consequences: serious inflation, major declines in their workers' standard of living, destruction of people's savings, bankruptcies of otherwise-solvent businesses and inflammation of political and ethnic tensions.