For President Francois Hollande - and indeed for the whole of France - it is a different world this week after the decision to go to war in Africa, reports the BBC.
The president has become a new kind of leader.
The abiding criticism of Mr Hollande has been that he is soft and overly consensual.
But the rapidity of the move against the jihadists in Mali - and the green light to the failed rescue mission in Somalia - have revealed a man capable of bold and dangerous decisions.
Not for the first time, foreign intervention has helped re-forge the image of a president who was floundering in the polls.
Potential fallout
And for France, it is a new world because the country is now engaged - effectively single-handedly - in a foreign conflict against the Islamists.
The fallout from this is potentially enormous - from the risks of military mission creep, to the strategic repercussions on France's relations in Africa, to the very real threat of terrorist reprisals on hostages and in France.
France has long-standing interests in, and knowledge of, this part of the world. It was the colonial power in Mali until 1960, and there are strong links of family and trade.
France also has 3,500 troops stationed in neighbouring countries - part of the long-standing military commitment to French-speaking Africa that recent governments have actually been promising to scale back.
Today, President Hollande has the backing of nearly all the political class, because in the main people buy his argument that the situation in Mali had become critical.
The advance by the jihadist alliance, the French have been repeatedly told, threatened the survival of a friendly nation.
If the Islamists took Mopti in central Mali, then in a few days they would have taken the capital Bamako. Then there would be a terrorist state a short plane hop from Paris.
In an ideal world, the Malian army would have done its job and held off the advance. Or failing that, the UN-authorised West African coalition force would have been ready to react.
But neither of these conditions held. So France's only option was to act.
Read more of this report from the BBC.