In a direct swipe at global “France-as-national-vagina” sentiment, French president Jacques Chirac reminds us that he has a few of those nukular-type gadgets too, you know.

“The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part,” Chirac said during a visit to a nuclear submarine base in northwestern France.

“This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.”

At the rate France is discovering iron deposits in it’s national spine, I predict that by this time next year, the French president will have challenged the leaders of all western nations to a cock-measuring contest at the White House. Who’ll come out the front door sporting a mushroom tatoo remains, however, to be seen.