De Gaulle briefed Pompidou carefully: ‘The term independence is indifferent to us because in the present world it does not mean much except for propaganda. No state is independent because it is always in reality more or less linked to others’ (an ironic admission from a leader whose entire foreign policy was built around the idea of French independence). Pompidou was told that only two areas were out of bounds. First, the Sahara, with its important petrol reserves, was not to be considered part of Algeria. Secondly, if Algerian self-determination resulted in a complete break with France, the
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