On this we can agree - the French are not pussies. Militarily they are weaker than us - but stronger than most in Europe. One of the few in Europe with the ability to project their power. Their special forces are among the most fearsome on the globe. They have nukes. They have the largest military in the EU and the eighth largest military budget in the world, and the sixth largest, overall.
(Their air force is kinda flimsy)
That said - it's been decades or longer since the French have shown the will to sustain a protracted conflict - they would lose a war against a weaker opponent, because their military is not designed for it - it's supplied and trained for short-term engagements. As such, unassisted, they haven't won a full on war in a very long time. I suppose that's part of why they don't engage more often.
They do have - in the United States - an image of weakness, because their culture espouses things like art and theater and romance and so forth - and the men do things and speak in such a way that seem effeminate in the West.
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