Ever since, the French have seen their semi-detached status in NATO as a guarantor of their strategic autonomy and a totem of their refusal to accept American supremacy.

从那以后，法国人都把他们在北约中的特殊地位看作是保持其战略独立性的保证和拒绝美国霸权的一种标志。

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But Henry VIII's battles with the church ended this semi-autonomy, and in 1537, partly to show that his writ was now unchallenged throughout England, his henchmen smashed open St Cuthbert's tomb and carried off the Gospels to London.

ECONOMIST: A northern holy grail