From the sublime to the ridiculous, in one fell swoop. Where else but in France? And we think the British are dotty? Two things: verification that both former French President Jacques Chirac and his Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, actively conspired to falsely implicate current President Nicolas Sarkozy, to scupper his chances of election to President of France.
Skulduggery in high places. Hard to believe, but there you have it. Both de Villepin and Chirac undertook to engage in a smear campaign against the high-flying, energetic, ghetto-bashing Sarkozy to undercut his presidential ambitions. Computer experts revealed evidence recovered from the hard disk of a laptop once in the possession of a retired spymaster.
The results of which may bring Mr. de Villepin under official investigation, while bringing into question the legacy of Mr. Chirac. It would appear that both men ordered a forged list of illicit offshore bank accounts to be sent to an investigating magistrate. Mr. Sarkozy was not involved in what was called the "Clearstream" affair, but his name was surreptitiously added.
A Luxembourg clearing bank by the name of Clearstream, revealed a list of politicians and businessmen all suspected of receiving illicit kickbacks from the sale in 1991 of French warships to Taiwan. The list had been tampered with, and Mr. Sarkozy's name included as one of many who received kickbacks, a charge he strenuously denied, and with good reason.
The computer from which the files were recovered was that of General Philippe Rondot, a senior in the French intelligent service whom Mr. de Villepin as foreign minister, ordered to conduct an undercover investigation into the list, keeping Mr. Sarkozy ignorant of the matter. Unsurprisingly, both Mr. de Villepin and Mr. Chirac have denied any wrongdoing in the affair.
The cads. But there doesn't seem to be much of uproar about this. As far as politicians are concerned, it appears to be business as usual, just a little murkier than usual.
For titillation and condemnation, though, we go to other, far more important matters. Whether Nicolas Sarkozy is sufficiently magisterial in his conduct and bearing as France's new high-powered, energetic, optimistic, up-front President. From his domination of recent events at meetings of the European Union, it would most certainly seem he is.
Ah, but from another, completely different, far more vital perspective, alas, perhaps not. For the French don't approve of jogging, and Mr. Sarkozy is an enthusiastic jogger. It energizes him, he enjoys jogging, it keeps him in shape and burns off some of his excess energy, obviously. Oops, he wears shorts while jogging. Oops-oops, his favourite jogging shirt reads "NYPD". Hot damn, this is incendiary stuff!
"Is jogging right-wing?" wondered Liberation, a left-leaning French newspaper. A French philosopher evidently called upon Mr. Sarkozy on France 2 television to abandon his "undignified" pursuit. A French poet recommended that Mr. Sarkozy take up walking, like Socrates. "Walking is a sensitive, spiritual act. Jogging is management of the body. The jogger says I am in control. It has nothing to do with meditation." No kidding.
The French are...different, yes indeed they are. It is a sign of self-centredness according to French philosophy. "Jogging is, of course, about performance and individualism, values that are traditionally ascribed to the right", according to the editor of V02 magazine. Oh. Oh dear. His critics accuse him of using video images of his jogging as "a major weapon of media manipulation".
The pain of it, the utter disgrace of it all, what to do, and how to proceed?
Charge de Villepin, un-legacy Chirac, and applaud Nicolas Sarkozy.
Labels: Political Realities, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Friday, July 06, 2007
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