> it was French that equipped English to become the language of international communication, _a state of affairs which should be celebrated as la francophonie’s greatest achievement_.

Imagine making this claim to a proud French language partisan. You'd have to rush them to the hospital.

French was in fact the language of international diplomacy prior to WWII. Russians, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Italians, etc, would communicate in French.

English adopted that position after WWII.

Someone would be going to go the the hospital indeed, but it's not necessarily the one you think.