In this book, Eric Shawn details that France was a fairly dependable ally until Jacques Chirac was elected in 1995.

After that, he writes, France’s relations with the U.S. began to sour quickly. France reversed its role at the U.N., going from an ally (even if a somewhat capricious one) to antagonist. Prior to Chirac, Shawn alleges, France would disagree with us primarily to advance French interests. After Chirac, France began actively protecting terrorist states through its Security Council Veto power.

With its Veto power, Shawn writes, France has almost single-handedly made the UN useless in the global war against terrorist nations. Not that the UN is in any rush to do anything about terrorism, but France makes doing nothing both easy and inevitable.