Robert Fisk: Today's despot is tomorrow's statesman

Millions believe Bashar al-Assad plotted murder. Now France is honouring him

How are the mighty fallen, we used to say. Now we turn it round. How did the fallen become mighty again? Remember the "mad dog of the Middle East" – Reagan's stupid cliché – the "terrorist" sponsor who even sent a shipload of guns to the IRA? A certain Moammar Ghazzafi – there are 17 different ways of spelling his name in Latin script – was the crazed leader of Libya who wrote a mind-numbingly boring volume of pseudo philosophy called The Green Book and who wanted to mock the White House by calling his own palace the Green House until someone tipped him off that this would mean he would look even more of a cabbage than he already was.

Then suddenly, he gave up some imaginary weapons of mass destruction and Anthony Blair, now the commercial director of World Faith, went out to fawn over him in Tripoli and he was called "statesmanlike" by the absurd Jack Straw and then he was invited to Paris by the even more absurd Nicolas Sarkozy where he right royally made the French president look like a twat by behaving in an extremely unstatesmanlike way.

And now – bingo – Sarkozy has done it again. This time it's Bashar al-Assad, another presumed "sponsor of world terror" – this twaddle comes from Washington, of course – who will (if he accepts the invitation française) be in Paris on Bastille Day to take his place in the reviewing stand at the end of the Champs Elysées. The man whom millions of Lebanese believe plotted the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut on 14 February 2005 will thus be receiving one of France's highest honours: to stand beside the French president as he reviews his military forces.

Le Canard Enchaîné, my favourite French newspaper, carried a wonderful cartoon this week in which an extremely good likeness of Bashar asks Sarkozy and the gorgeous Carla: "What is it exactly, your 14 July?" And Carla replies: "It's the end of a tyrant." And Sarkozy, almost lost for words, then adds: "Er – a king." Well quite.

Read more at The Independent

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy is taking legal action for libel and invasion of privacy against the former head of a French intelligence agency.

The move follows the publication of leaked extracts from diaries belonging to Yves Bertrand.

The extracts include unsubstantiated allegations about several leading politicians, including Mr Sarkozy.

Mr Bertrand's agency reports to the government on internal political issues and threats to domestic order.

However, it is clear from the contents of his notebooks that as head of a domestic intelligence agency, Mr Bertrand viewed his remit rather more broadly.

Published in Le Point news magazine, the private notebooks contain all sorts of tittle-tattle about the financial, sexual and personal secrets of prominent men and women.

It is not known where Mr Bertrand got his information from, but he evidently felt no compunction about including any scrap of gossip that came his way.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy wants to control the French TV... etc...

''Television is a matter for the nation and the nation is the case of the Head of State'', says our omniprésident, which does not take itself only to the savior of finance global crisis but also to the true owner of television channels. For him, no doubt is one that must command the remote! And, by its audiovisual law that Parliament must ratify this fall, he is now directly appoint the president of France Televisions, after deleting a pen advertising on public service ... " says the Canard Enchainé...

Sarkozy needled by 'voodoo doll'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to sue a publishing company if it does not withdraw from shops a "voodoo doll" in his image.

The doll comes with pins and a manual with instructions on how to put the evil eye on the president.

Users can stick the pins into choice quotes from Mr Sarkozy which are printed on the doll.

Mr Sarkozy's lawyer said the president had the "exclusive and absolute rights" over his own image.

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A French judge has rejected President Nicolas Sarkozy's attempt to stop sales of a "voodoo doll" in his image.

Dismissing the case, the Paris judge said the doll was "within the authorised limits of free expression and the right to humour".

Mr Sarkozy's lawyer said the president would appeal the decision.

The doll comes with pins which users can stick into memorable quotes from the president printed on the doll, such as "work more to earn more".

Mr Sarkozy took the makers of the kit - publishing company K&B - to the courts after it went on sale on 9 October. His lawyer said Mr Sarkozy had "exclusive and absolute rights" over his own image.

Sarkozy: The new Napoleon?

Small men. Big ideas. Glamorous wives. The similarities between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon are uncanny – and now have been explored in a book by France's foremost political commentator. John Lichfield reports

Thursday, 22 January 2009

'They both set out to make sure that France was never the same again': In his book Alain Duhamel points out the startling parallels between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon - and their marriages to Carla Bruni and Empress Josephine


Both will be remembered as vertically challenged men in a vertiginous hurry. Both were helped into power by beautiful wives, with whom they quarrelled. Both believed that they had a destiny to rebuild France and, above all, to change the way the French think of themselves. Both are known for a weakness for kitsch and anything that glitters.

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We've been onto him since day one... See toon at top.

"Protectionism" is like "terrorism". Now, before people get upset I should make myself clear. What I mean is the use of the two words is similar - one person's terrorism is another's freedom-fighting.

In the same way, what one government calls "protectionism" another may see simply as a way of safeguarding jobs.

On 1 March EU leaders will gather in Brussels for what is being billed as a "protectionism summit".

The idea is to head off what many see as a shift towards measures that incentivise large firms to favour investing in one member state over another, not for sound business reasons but because of the subsidies on offer. This is an abhorrent sin in the eyes of the eurocrats who run the EU. They believe the European single market is the main source of Europe's prosperity and that subsidies distort it.

The current distortionist-in-chief is supposed to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

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from The Guardian

Nicolas Sarkozy has never been one to endear himself to his fellow heads of state. He has irritated with his boastfulness, exhausted with his hyperactivity and offended with his tendency to launch televised policy decimations and send text messages during meetings.

But, impressive though his track record is, he may now have outdone even himself. In the space of just one lunchtime, the French president has managed to belittle Barack Obama, patronise Angela Merkel and insult José Luis Zapatero by questioning his intellectual firepower.

According to those present at the lunch, an intra-parliamentary group of 24 politicians working on the global financial crisis, the host's unusual political candour began with the US president, whose star status and media adulation he is understood to envy.

"He said that Obama had a subtle intelligence but that he was recently elected and had never run a state or an authority before," Jean-Pierre Brard, a Communist MP, told the Guardian. Another guest quoted Sarkozy in the Libération newspaper as saying: "There are numerous things on which he [Obama] hasn't got a position and ... he is not always up to scratch with decisions and efficiency."

Enjoying his chance to cast himself as the hero of the global fight against the downturn, Sarkozy ploughed on with some barbed comments about Merkel's leadership during the crisis.

"Once she realised the state of her banks and her car industry, she had no choice but to come round to my position," he said.

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The Football Association of Ireland has lodged a complaint with Fifa asking for their World Cup play-off against France to be replayed.

Republic of Ireland were beaten 2-1 on aggregate after France won with goal scored when captain Thierry Henry handled the ball in the build-up.

Fifa insisted its disciplinary code says referees' decisions "are final".

And the situation took on a political dimension as the Irish and French prime ministers disagreed over the matter.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen called on Fifa, football's world governing body, to order a replay, saying he would raise the issue with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a Brussels summit.

Irish PM backs the FIA's replay appeal

But France's Prime Minister Francois Fillon responded that the Irish government should not interfere in footballing decisions.

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"The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport," the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said in a statement.

"We now call on FIFA, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed."

The Irish football body pointed to a precedent - a FIFA decision in 2005 to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of "a technical error by the referee of the match".

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Should the game not be replayed, Thierry Henry should not be playing another game of futbol in his life — no matter how good or how how much paid he is. Nor should he be playing in the re-match should there is one... See toon at top...

A wave of indignation and recrimination swept across the Irish Sea towards Paris yesterday after France's controversial passage to the World Cup finals via the outstretched left hand of Thierry Henry provoked an official demand from Dublin for a re-match and raised questions about the ethical obligations of multimillionaire footballers.

The defeat of the Republic of Ireland in Wednesday night's play-off for one of the last places in South Africa 2010 became a diplomatic and sporting battleground as the Irish justice minister said the game had reinforced the view that "if you cheat, you will win", and disgruntled fans rewrote Wikipedia pages about the French captain, hitherto considered one of the beautiful game's great purists.

read comment above and see toon at top...

"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa," Henry said in a statement.

"Of course, the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control."

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What has this event got to do with "democracy" you may ask?... Well, it shows that even under the most blatant of professional foul, an organism like FIFA acts like a little dictator. In this claimed to be "the gratest game on earth", it shows how we, the general morons, are treated... but then:

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Around 200 football matches in nine European countries, including at least three Champions League games this season, are implicated in a new match-fixing scandal, German prosecutors said yesterday.

The suspect matches took place in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria, netting criminals several million euros in betting profits, prosecutors believe.

They include 12 matches from the Europa League, formerly known as the UEFA Cup, one qualifying game for the under-21 European championship and four from the German second division.

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Sport, politics, wars, lies and blind referees... Sounds familiar?... If we can't clean up the outcome of futbol matches, how do we think we can "clean up" places like Afghanistan?...

Israel has ordered construction work on an internationally financed football stadium being built for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to be halted.

Palestinian municipal authorities in al-Bireh, near Ramallah, have been told they lack the correct permit to build.

This is because Israel has designated some of the plot for the planned stadium as under its exclusive control.

If Palestinian officials do not comply with the order, Israel could demolish the arena.

The stadium's development has been financed by the world football's governing body, Fifa, as well as France, Germany and Gulf states.

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Can't escape those control freaks, can we?...

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

CAIRO — History has proved that there are two subjects that will move Egyptians to pour into the streets in riotous numbers, crashing windows, burning cars, battling one another and defying an army of club-wielding riot police officers.

One is the price of bread. Another is soccer, as was proved again this week after Egypt’s national team was defeated by its bitter rival Algeria, losing a berth in the World Cup tournament next year and sparking a riot outside the Algerian Embassy in Cairo late Thursday night.

But there was a pronounced difference between the bread riots of 1977 and 2008 and the soccer riot of Thursday night: the government quieted those earlier outbreaks by quickly lowering the price of bread, while this week it stoked outrage against Algeria.

Egypt had defeated Algeria 2-0 in Cairo on Saturday to set up Wednesday’s climactic playoff in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. After Egypt lost the second match, the government withdrew its ambassador from Algiers and accused Algerians of menacing Egyptian fans after the game. President Hosni Mubarak’s eldest son, Alaa, a wealthy businessman, sounded as if he were calling his nation to war.

Meanwhile at betting central:

BOCHUM, Germany — European law-enforcement officials said Friday that they had arrested the leaders of a far-reaching gambling cartel that is thought to have conspired to influence the outcome of 200 soccer games in nine countries across the continent.

Announcing that 17 people had been arrested — 15 in Germany and 2 in Switzerland — prosecutors said they might have uncovered only the tip of a scandal in which gamblers are accused of bribing players, officials and trainers. The police said they seized more than a million Euros (about $1.48 million) in cash and other assets after more than 50 raids Thursday in Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Austria.

Among the games under suspicion are three in the Champions League, the prestigious tournament for Europe’s best teams.

“Without question, this is the biggest betting scandal in the history of European soccer,” said Peter Limacher, the head of discipline for European soccer’s governing body.

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This line of comments went sideways but still holds its purpose in the democratic section of YD... see toon at top, although less and less relevant to the sideshow of futbol...

From the Independent

In yesterday's Libération newspaper, a young French man of North African origin, a student at Sciences-Po, the Paris equivalent of the LSE, told an untold story of that night. He and many other young people left the Champs Elysées to avoid the scattered scenes of violence. They were attacked by squadrons of CRS riot police as they celebrated peacefully at Porte Maillot a kilometre away. Anyss Arbib, 21, described how he was sprayed in the face with tear gas by a riot policeman who screamed: "Get out of here you dirty Arab."

"I couldn't find a way to explain to him that I was at least as French as he was," Mr Arbib said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has just launched a debate on "national identity" in France. He wants the nation to consider what it means to be French in 2009; what the French should be proud of; why they should regard Frenchness as an honour. He has ordered every prefect (senior national government administrator) in every departément in France to organise village and town hall meetings on this theme.

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The Gaul chief della France, monsieur Sarkozy, described the operation set up by "Mossad" (or whoever did the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh) as an execution... Some of the French press is not too impressed... Execution is like the guillotine, like... after a lawful process... A death penalty sentence... While in fact, the killing of the Hamas leader was an assassination — or "premeditated murder". No other way of looking at it.

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from the Guardian

Germany is planning to stop what it sees as a British campaign to dominate European foreign policy-making under Lady Catherine Ashton, the Guardian can disclose.

Amid growing criticism across the EU of the performance of Baroness Ashton of Upholland, the EU's new high representative for foreign and security policy, Berlin and Paris are alarmed at the prominence of British officials in the new EU diplomatic service being formed under Ashton.

A confidential German foreign ministry document analysing the creation of the EU's new diplomatic service, seen by the Guardian, has concluded that Britain has grabbed an "excessive" and "over-proportionate" role.

Berlin and Paris are anxious that they are losing the battle to win key positions in the new service which is to be the main vehicle for projecting European power globally under the Lisbon Treaty.

Brussels is currently embroiled in tense negotiations to establish its first worldwide diplomatic corps and integrated foreign policy apparatus, known as the European External Action Service (EEAS). It is to be led by Lady Ashton, the EU's new high representative for foreign and security policy.

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Could make a French president swear... see toon at top...

From the First Post

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has stripped his former justice minister Rachida Dati of her three bodyguards and chauffeur-driven limousine, apparently because he believes she was responsible for starting the talk that his marriage to Carla Bruni was over.

Dati, who left Sarkozy's cabinet last summer and is now an MEP and mayor of Paris's 7th arrondissement, is blamed for launching last month's wildfire rumour that Carla was having an affair with the French pop star Benjamin Biolay and that Sarkozy in turn was seeing his ecology minister, Chantal Jouanno.

The French president has dismissed the allegations of the affairs as "rantings" and has done his best on a trip to New York and Washington to scotch the rumour, offering photographers carefully planned glimpses of lovey-dovey moments with Carla, including a lingering kiss in a Central Park restaurant.

The decision to strip Dati of her trappings of power came on the first night of last month's regional election results when Sarkozy's ruling UMP party took a hammering across France.

He is reported to have been watching the TV coverage at the Elysee Palace when Dati, who had played little part in the elecion campaign, appeared on the France 2 channel. Ignoring the UMP party line - that it was not a defeat at all - she said the French people had sent a message to Sarkozy to "get back to basics".

Having already convinced himself that she was the source of the affair allegations, Sarkozy was beside himself, according to French press reports. He leapt out of his seat and issued an immediate instruction to Frederic Pechenard, the national police chief, that Miss Dati's limousine, chauffeur and police bodyguards be removed "within the hour".

The order was relayed immediately and Dati was still in the TV studio when one of the bodyguards told her: "Sorry Madame, we've got to go home - orders from on high."

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French president Nicolas Sarkozy is taking fire from his political supporters following his decision to crack down on illegal Roma camps in France. On Monday one member of the ruling UMP Government, Jean-Pierre Grand, labelled Sarkozy's policy as "disgraceful" and described it as reminiscent of the round up of Jews by French police in World War Two.

Another political ally of the President, Christine Boutin, leader of the Christian Democratic Party, accused Sarkozy of creating a climate of fear by "turning people up against one another [as] stigmatisation of one or another community exacerbates violence".

Not that the protests look likely to dissuade Sarkozy from continuing with his pledge to break up 300 illegal Roma camps and send those inhabitants found to be in France illegally back to their country of origin.

In the latest incident at the weekend, police descended on a gypsy commune in Montreuil (above), a suburb in the east of Paris, and removed 70 Roma people (including 20 children) from a building they were illegally occupying.

"They separated us, put the men to one side and the women and children to another, and then threatened to take away our children if we attempted to protest," one of the Roma women told Liberation, adding that her children went to the local school and considered themselves French.

In terms of recent French political history, the whole affair could be seen to be refreshing. Successive French presidencies are known to have manipulated the security and intelligence services for doubtful political causes (from the attack on the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985 to the attempts to smear Nicolas Sarkozy himself in the Chirac era). In the past the French media, confronted with such abuses, has often been supine and occasionally supportive.

The decision of Le Monde to challenge President Sarkozy head-on was robust and courageous and long overdue. The rising power of radical investigative websites in France has, it seems, stiffened the spine of the traditional media. It is doubtful whether the Le Monde of 20 or 30 years ago would have taken such a step.

In 2007, Mr Sarkozy promised France a different kind of politics and a different kind of presidency. The old Mitterrand and Chirac act of being in office but remote from power and reality would no longer wash, he said. He would be more transparent, more accountable and more directly responsive to real people and real problems.

Three years on, President Sarkozy's fitful efforts at reform have been submerged – or discredited – in the minds of many French people by a catalogue of erratic self-indulgence. From his efforts to promote his 23-year-old son to a senior political position to his abrupt attempts since July to link "crime" and "foreigners", the President's actions have veered from the crassly vain to the crudely populist.

Since the early summer, the L'Oréal affair, and related allegations about illicit financing of Mr Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign, have brought the mood in the Elysée palace to a new pitch of paranoia. And everything connects. The ill-conceived campaign against the Roma was driven partly by Mr Sarkozy's desire in July to divert the national conversation away from his alleged illicit funding by France's wealthiest woman, the L'Oréal heiress, Liliane Bettencourt.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sarkogate-all-le-presidentrsquos-men-2079263.html

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EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has urged the European Commission to take legal action against France over its deportations of Roma (Gypsies).

Ms Reding called French actions a "disgrace". She deplored the fact that a leaked official memo contradicted assurances given to her by France.

France voiced "astonishment" in response to her statement on Tuesday.

It deported nearly 230 Roma on Tuesday alone, flying them to Romania from Paris and Marseille.

This is not a minor offence... After 11 years of experience in the Commission, I even go further: this is a disgrace”

Nearly 160 were flown out of the French capital to Bucharest, and 69 out of Marseille, AFP news agency reports.

All had agreed to be repatriated in exchange for cash payments of about 330 euros ($423, £274) per adult and 100 euros per child.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11301307

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has described comments by an EU commissioner about Roma deportations from France as "outrageous".

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On Monday, Euro MPs accused the commission of failing to protect the Roma deported from France.

In all, Mr Sarkozy said around 500 camps were dismantled in August, of which 199 were Roma settlements.

About 5,400 people were evicted from the Roma camps, but the majority of those living in the camps were French nationals, the president said.

The president's assertions appeared to contradict a leaked memo from the French interior ministry which surfaced on Monday.

It showed the authorities had been instructed to target Roma camps, rather than deal with migrants on a case-by-case basis, as the French migration minister and the minister for Europe had assured the European Commission.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11332189

An email from France exposes what most French people have guessed for a while. Their present president was a truant and a failure at school. According to a professor of a well-known college, most of Sarkozy diplomas are bogus. Sarkozy claims diplomas from this and that university, but investigation have revealed that he never attended, nor submitted any thesis nor papers... His matriculation was barely average. His only ligit law degree was reached with only 50 per cent of the total marks. His linguistic expression in French is vague and his English (of which he is proud) is super-atrocious.

My moles fear that eventually the main source of this information will be closed own, in the same way the the romas were evicted out of France (nazi smelling action) and in the same way the retirement age has been increased for the common person while parliamentarians enjoy special privileged exclusion from this new law...

So, the truant is a king in rags but still the king... and the present fierce workers' strikes in France, fighting the police, is a testament to Sarkozy ineptitude to understand people, while he tries to rub shoulders with the hoi-polloi, like a peacock with no feathers...

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PARIS -- He was trying to make a point - and, perhaps, being jocular - but French President Nicolas Sarkozy may have gotten himself in hot water by slinging around the word "pedophile" in a supposedly off-the-record encounter with journalists.

Opponents pounced, saying Sarkozy was unpresidential - and not for the first time. It underscored how the episode could haunt him if he runs for re-election in 2012.

Speaking outside a NATO summit Friday, Sarkozy was asked about allegations of corruption in a 1990s arms deal - and whether he'd played a role.

He urged journalists to be careful about covering what he called baseless allegations.

According to a tape, Sarkozy illustrated his point by telling a journalist, "It would seem that you are a pedophile. ... Who told me? I am deeply convinced of it."

...

t harkened back to a gaffe caught on videotape in 2008, when a loose-tongued Sarkozy, at a Paris trade fair, snapped an insult at a passer-by that - in a milder translation - meant "you total jerk."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/24/AR2010112404369.html?hpid=artslot

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Gus: as illustrated in the toon at top, the full blast of the translation can be seen using the shift key of the numeral row on the keyboard... Sarkozy is such a little man...

France's judicial system was brought to a virtual standstill yesterday as thousand of judges and lawyers went on strike to express their anger at President Nicolas Sarkozy for his strident criticisms of the courts. Thousands of judges and lawyers demonstrated outside the Palais de Justice in Paris, and in other French cities, in the culmination of days of protest that have meant only urgent cases are being processed.

The strike was called on 4 February by the judges' union, the day after Mr Sarkozy blamed judges and the police for the death of 18-year-old Laëtitia Perrais, whose body was discovered in a pond near Nantes in western France. The main suspect, Tony Meilhon, had 15 previous convictions.

"When we let an individual like that out of prison without making sure that he will be followed by a parole officer, the judiciary is at fault," Mr Sarkozy said during a visit to Nantes, outraging judges upset by a lack of resources.

The magistrates of the Nantes court decided on an immediate suspension of non-urgent business and nearly all tribunals across the country have joined them in solidarity.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/frances-legals-bring-courts-to-halt-after-sarkozy-takes-swipe-at-judge-2211244.html

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The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has alleged that his country helped finance Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign.

"We funded it and we have all the details and are ready to reveal everything," Saif al-Islam said.

His remarks to the Euronews TV channel came days after Libyan state TV reported a "grave secret" that would bring about Mr Sarkozy's downfall.

The Elysee Palace has denied Mr Sarkozy benefited from any funding from Libya.

"We deny it, quite evidently," a spokesman told Le Monde's website.

No-fly zone

Libya had threatened to reveal more about the "grave secret" if France went ahead with its decision to recognise the rebel Transitional National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

France has been at the forefront of efforts to secure a no-fly zone to halt the advance of Col Gaddafi's forces against Libyan rebels.

In the interview, Saif al-Islam referred to Mr Sarkozy as "this clown" and said he was given assistance so that he could help the Libyan people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12760367

It would surely be poor taste to accuse Nicolas Sarkozy of leading France into combat for purely selfish political reasons – but that won't stop some in the president's inner circle wondering if Operation Odyssey Dawn might just save the skin of a man who, a matter of days ago, seemed destined for electoral humiliation. Ever so discreetly, they will be hoping Libya can do for Sarkozy what the Falklands did for Margaret Thatcher – anoint a successful war leader deserving of re-election.

"The French do like to have their president play world statesman," mused one diplomat in Paris last week, before France's Mirage and Rafale fighter planes had taken to the skies. "A good crisis," he added, might be just what Sarkozy needs.

He certainly needs something. A week ago he was staring at polls so ominous some analysts wondered if he'd even make it into second place in next year's presidential contest. One survey put Sarkozy behind both his most likely Socialist opponent and Marine Le Pen, the new leader of the far-right National Front founded by her father, Jean-Marie. Sunday's cantonal elections were expected to bring more bad news for the president's UMP party.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/20/libya-crisis-nicolas-sarkozy-electoral

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please, if you can comprehend the french lingo visit this site:

http://www.leclipquidechire.com/miroir.php?episode=32

see toon at top... Please remember that Napoleon was NOT a short man... He was about 5' 11"". The brits decided to PR him as a short insignificant person to diminish him... Did I say PR or disinformation?...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to "smash the face" of an editor whose magazine suggested that his wife Carla Bruni was a maneater, a new biography alleges.

The outburst came when Mr Sarkozy harangued the editor by phone for 40 minutes in January 2008, it is alleged.

Excerpts from the book by Le Point director Franz-Olivier Giesbert appeared in French media on Friday.

There was no immediate comment from the French presidency on the revelations.

Le Point ran an article by Patrick Besson giving "24 tips" to Mr Sarkozy ahead of his marriage to Carla Bruni, a former Italian supermodel.

One tip was: "Do not introduce your new wife to your sons, Barack Obama or any handsome men."

According to Mr Giesbert, Mr Sarkozy told him "this article is disgusting and I should smash your face in".

Mr Giesbert replied: "Are you threatening me?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13014603

Why will Sarkozy probably lose? For starters, many French find his style downright distasteful. Although he enjoyed a high approval rating when he was elected, Sarkozy's abrasive demeanour soon challenged what the French expected in a president. The problem began on election night in May 2007, when he ostentatiously celebrated his victory by dining at Fouquet's, among France's poshest restaurants, and he quickly compounded the public relations gaffe by taking a post-election Mediterranean cruise on the lavish yacht of a billionaire friend, Vincent Bollore. 

Sarkozy's extravagant tastes soon earned him the nickname President Bling-Bling. Moreover, his bluster, temper tantrums and vulgar remarks have often been caught on camera, as was his very public romantic fling in Egypt with pop music star and former top model Carla Bruni - just when he was divorcing his second wife. (He and Bruni later married.) While the French grant their politicians considerable privacy, they expect that private conduct will remain behind closed doors.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201231947733124.html

See toon at top...

President Emmanuel Macron has upbraided a French teenager after the boy addressed him informally as "Manu" and sang the socialist anthem in front of him.

Mr Macron was attending a ceremony in northern France to commemorate General Charles De Gaulle's call for popular resistance during World War II.

The young man, who looked to be in his mid-teens, was standing behind a barrier as Mr Macron passed along the crowd.

He was captured on LCI television singing the words of the international socialist anthem before asking the President: 

"Ca va Manu?" — which translates as "How's it going, Manu?"

"No, no, you are here at an official ceremony," Mr Macron, 40, told him sharply.

"You can't just behave like that.

"You can act like a clown, but today it's the 'Marseillaise' and the 'Partisans Song' we're singing.

"You address me as Mr President of the Republic or sir, ok?"

The boy, shaggy hair falling in front of his eyes, apologised.

"Sorry, Mr President," the teenager said.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-19/macron-scolds-teen-for-asking-hows...

Read from top.

...

By Thierry Meyssan

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Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of the French Republic in May 2007, not for his programme, but for his force of will. The French people saw in him the man who would be capable of reviving a dormant, ham-strung country. However, they were unaware that Sarkozy had been raised as an adolescent in New York by his father’s third wife, Christine de Ganay. She had remarried with ambassador Frank Wisner Jr., son of the founder of the CIA/NATO secret services, the Gladio network. It was due to this connection that Sarkozy was sponsored by Washington to become the President of the French Republic [4].

Unlike Jacques Chirac, who had proved to be a brave Gaullist in 2003 before mutating into an unscrupulous wheeler-dealer, Nicolas Sarkozy was considered by Washington to be their agent. He was immediately associated with the projects of the United States.

While he was still Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy initiated contact with Abdullah Senussi, the head of Libyan interior secret services, and brother-in-law of Mouamar Kadhafi. Senussi had been found guilty in absentia in France for his role in the 1989 attack on flight 772UTA, which caused 170 deaths. Libya proposed to finance Sarkozy’s electoral campaign in exchange for a promise of amnesty or a legal decision of nolle prosequi (dismissal). One of Sarkozy’s trusted collaborators, Brice Hortefeux, a ministerial delegate, negotiated the amount with Colonel Kadhafi. Finally, according to the senior Libyan official who had supervised the transaction, a Franco-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, transported 57 million Euros to Paris.

During the electoral campaign, Libya noticed that the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, also had a chance of winning. Senussi then made contact with the Socialist ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Roland Dumas, who - still according to the same source - went to Tripoli to collect 25 million Euros, about half the sum that had been offered to Mme. Royal’s competitor.

French law forbids the financing of electoral campaigns by foreign states. Moreover, the cost of a political campaign is not allowed to attain these sums. Sarkozy and Royal could not promise to fabricate a legal dismissal without over-riding the law and the independence of the Justice system. They could, however, pronounce an amnesty, but were not allowed to negotiate it for the benefit of their own personal affairs. The ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Roland Dumas knew this, particularly since he was also the President of the Constitutional Council (1995-2000) charged with verifying the honesty of the election process. The French legal system investigated Sarkozy’s indiscretions, but not those of Mme. Royal [5].

Business between Kadhafi and Sarkozy continued until after he had taken possession of the Elysée. The « first lady » (sic), Cécilia Sarkozy, was charged with putting a term to the misery of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who had been imprisoned in Libya for eight years. In 1999, more than 400 children had been contaminated by the AIDS retrovirus in Benghazi hospital. The Islamists accused Mouamar Kadhafi of neglecting the city of Benghazi, and of having plotted to kill their children. The local public prosecutor preferred to accuse the foreign hospital staff in order to exonerate the Guide. He had them brutally tortured to extort their confessions

However, Bulgaria, which had just joined the European Union, asked the European Commission to negotiate with Tripoli for the liberation of its citizens. Libya thus found itself face to face with the same officials who had accused it of the 1988 attack on PanAm flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie (Scotland), causing 270 deaths. Although Mouamar Kadhafi had always denied being implicated in the attack, Libya agreed to compensate the families involved for a total sum of 2.7 billion dollars, as a means of settling the last dispute which opposed him to the Western powers. Aware that he would have to deal with the fantasies of the Islamists, the Guide decided to use the nosocomial infection in Benghazi to recuperate what he had been unjustly forced to pay for Lockerbie. He then demanded that this money be given back in exchange for his withdrawal from certain African states and the freedom of the nurses and the doctor. Finally, the United States paid the sum to Qatar, who in turn paid Libya, under the control of the European Union. Minister for Justice Moustafa Abdel Jalil, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who had covered up the tortures when he was President of the Court of Appeal in Tripoli, thus came to meet President Sarkozy’s emissaries. As for Cécilia - still according to the same senior Libyan official – she received a proportional gratuity from Libya (2.7 million dollars). Nicolas Sarkozy, who was then in the middle of his divorce proceedings, gave it to her as a present. She could now afford to open a Public Relations Bureau in Qatar with her husband. Bulgaria celebrated the liberation of its citizens, while also frowning on the way the agreement had been reached.

Now that he was « respectable » again, Mouamar Kadhafi undertook a European tour, including a five-day visit to France. He caused a scandal by pitching his tent in the gardens of the Hôtel Marigny, the residence of guests of state. Above all, he declared on France24 that Libya was more democratic than France. The provocation is not as crazy as his listeners thought, as we shall see as this story unwinds - in reality, France is not a democracy, insofar as neither the people nor their representatives are really consulted about any number of decisions, particularly those concerning foreign policy and defence. On the other hand, France was a Republic until the end of Jacques Chirac’s mandate, because until then Power only made decisions based on the President’s perception of the general interest. We shall see that this did not hold true for very long. As for Libya, it was a direct democracy inspired by the experiences of the French utopians of the 19th century. However, this system is also a trap. Indeed, Libyan society is founded on tribal ethnicity, so that personal opinions have little value. It is in fact this social reality which allowed Kadhafi to exercise the function of head of state, while officially, this post does not even exist. The major difference between the two countries lies elsewhere – negotiating with the United States, Libya ceased all intervention in the affairs of its neighbours, while France cheerfully violated the Charter of the United Nations, particularly in Africa, and soon also in the Levant. Above all, Kadhafi proclaimed the emancipation of all human beings and ended slavery, while France - which has not practised slavery on its own territory since 1848 – has no problem allying itself with slave states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Having returned to the United States and complied with all of President Bush’s demands, former revolutionary Muammar Gaddafi became honourable.

President Sarkozy’s first act concerning Syria, in March 2008, was to organise the flight of the most important false witness in the Hariri affair, Mohammed Zuhair al-Siddiq, who was given a fake Czech passport [6]. Certainly, the accusations of murder against Emile Lahoud and Bachar el-Assad collapsed, but the identity of the real organiser of this masquerade remained a mystery. As if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, Sarkozy made an official visit to Damascus to reboot the relations between the two countries and to ensure that Syria would no longer intervene in the political affairs of Lebanon.

In May, the Prime Minister of Lebanon (and agent of the Jordanian secret services), Fouad Siniora, opened hostilities with Hezbollah. He attempted to neutralise the air bridge between Iran and the Resistance as well as his own internal communications system, so that the United States and Saudi Arabia could take control of the country and attack Syria. But Hezbollah attacked first. Within a few hours, Siniora’s security system collapsed, and he was obliged to retreat.

Peace negotiations opened in Doha. Qatar and France imposed a new President in Lebanon, which had none since the end of Emile Lahoud’s mandate six months earlier. Paris chose the Chief of Staff, General Michel Sleimane, because he was easily manipulable. Sleimane had in fact presented false documents in an attempt to obtain double French nationality for himself and his family. The affair was ongoing in the courts. His designation as President of Lebanon left this problem hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles. Worried about Syria’s possible reaction to this affair, Qatar offered President Assad - who had asked for nothing - a plane and a fleet of official vehicles.

Qatari Emir Atari Hamad ben Khalifa Al Thani came to inaugurate « President » Sleimane as the replacement for his predecessor Emile Lahoud, who was not even invited. During the ceremony at the Lebanese National Assembly, French Minister for Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner was seated not on the public benches, but on the benches of the Lebanese government. He expressed his irritation when the ex-President of the Assembly observed that article 49 of the Constitution forbade a Chief of Staff to become President less than two months after he had left military service. No-one took the time to modify the text, and the deputies elected Michel Sleimane in violation of the Constitution.

In July 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Union pour la Méditerranée (Union for the Mediterranean), a vast operation intended to compete with its European partners and also to reinstate Israël in the concert of regional nations. For the occasion, Lebanon and Syria finally reactivated diplomatic relations (which had been entirely absent since their separation by the French in 1943), while Sarkozy invited both Bachar el-Assad and his Israëli counterpart, Shimon Peres, to take part in the 14th July parade on the Champs-Elysées. The former carefully avoided the latter.

The Union pour la Méditerranée (UPM) failed for the same reasons as the Barcelona Process initiated by the European Union – it is impossible to unite all the actors of the region as long as the Israëli conflict has not been resolved.

Sarkozy made a second official visit to Syria in January 2009. Contacted by the Obama administration, the French President abstained from deciding anything at all. It was simply a scouting trip.

(To be continued …)

Translation 
Pete Kimberley

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http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/32242

There we expose the SECRET DOUBLE-DEALINGS between kings designed to rob someone else, in good time:

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Back to the Dutch. The main components of the secret treaty were as follow:

The King of England will make a public profession of the Catholic faith, and will receive the sum of two millions of crowns, to aid him in this project, from the Most Christian King [France's Louis XIV], in the course of the next six months. The date of this declaration is left absolutely to his own pleasure. 

The King of France will faithfully observe the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, as regards Spain, and the King of England will maintain the Treaty of the Triple Alliance in a similar manner. 

This was a massive deceit! Charles II and Louis XIV would lie to the others, Holland and Sweden, as if they were still good friends through treaties, until Charles and Louis were ready to loot and kill them. Remembering a redeemed Gaddafi... 

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Now you know how the game is played by the psychopaths in charge...

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and especially: