More confusitude* from Ségo.

QUEBEC GAFFE HANDS FRANCE'S ROYAL NEW CAMPAIGN WOE

PARIS (Reuters) - French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal was embroiled in a new foreign policy row on Tuesday, denting her hopes of getting her gaffe-strewn campaign on track and catching up with rival Nicolas Sarkozy.

Canada issued a highly unusual public rebuke to Royal after she expressed sympathy with the idea of independence for Canada's French-speaking Quebec province -- at least the third foreign policy controversy to dog her bid for president [here, here, here, here, and here, which makes at least six, but who's counting]. ... "Experience tells us that it is highly inappropriate for a foreign leader to interfere in the democratic affairs of another country," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

... Royal told Canadian radio she and Andre Boisclair, visiting leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois, had common positions that included "the sovereignty and the freedom of Quebec." Defending her remarks, Royal told Europe 1 radio she had not interfered in Canadian affairs: "What I said, which I confirm, is that as in any democracy, the people who vote are sovereign and free. So the people of Quebec will decide freely on their destiny when the time comes, if they are asked."

[Ce que j’ai dit, ce que je confirme, c’est que comme dans toute démocratie, le peuple qui vote est souverain et libre. Et donc les Québécois décideront librement de leur destin le moment venu s’ils en sont saisis.]

... French President Charles de Gaulle sparked a diplomatic crisis when he declared "Vive le Quebec libre" (Long live free Quebec) during a visit in 1967. The remark prompted such an uproar that he cut short his visit and returned home.

ROYAL : LA POLÉMIQUE ENFLE SUR LE QUÉBEC
[ROYAL: THE CONTROVERSY ON QUEBEC SNOWBALLS]

23 janvier 2007 (Libération) - Toute la journée mardi, la polémique n'a fait qu'enfler autour des prises de positions de Ségolène Royal sur la souveraineté du Québec. Au point que la candidate socialiste a dû se défendre de toute «ingérence» dans les affaires internes canadiennes.

... Hollande à la rescousse. François Hollande s'est senti une nouvelle fois obligé d'intervenir, clarifiant les propos de sa compagne. Pour lui, «ce sont les Québécois, le moment venu, s'ils sont consultés comme ils l'ont été dans le passé, qui devront dire ce qui doit être l'avenir de leur province». Il a ajouté que «nous pouvons simplement exprimer à l'égard des Québécois et du Québec une sympathie, celle de la France à l'égard d'une lointaine province qui est aujourd'hui, forcément, dans une relation avec nous qui est une relation d'amitié. Mais à l'heure actuelle nous ne pouvons pas nous ingérer».

[All day Tuesday, controversy swelled around Ségolène Royal's positions on the sovereignty of Quebec. So much so that the socialist candidate had to defend herself against "interference" in the internal affairs of Canada.

... Hollande to the rescue. François Hollande once again felt obliged to intervene, clarifying the remarks of his partner. For him, "it is the Québécois, at the proper time, if they are consulted as they were in the past, who will have to say what must be the future of their province". He added that "we can simply express with regard to the Québécois and Quebec a sympathy, that of France with regard to a remote province, which is today, inevitably, in a relation with us that is a friendly relation. But at the present time we cannot absorb ourselves.]

Of course, M. Hollande -- Mlle. Royal's pillow-pal -- is trying to help, but he has further confused things. Quebec is a province of Canada with a quaquaversal adjacency to other Canadian provinces and waterways, except where sharing a border with the United States. The physical disposition of Quebec to the Canadian nation is snugness, not remoteness. Quebec is remote from France, but Quebec is not a province of France. For M. Hollande, like many French, Quebec has never crossed the 1763 threshold.

SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL PROVOQUE DES REMOUS SUR LE QUÉBEC
[SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL CAUSES A RUCKUS ON QUEBEC]

PARIS 23 janvier 2007 (Boursier.com/Reuters) - "Après l'Iran, Israël, le Liban et la Chine, Mme Royal emprunte une nouvelle fois le costume de Gaston Lagaffe pour évoquer la politique intérieure du Canada", a déclaré Christian Estrosi, ministre délégué à l'Aménagement du territoire.

["After Iran, Israel, Lebanon and China, Mrs. Royal once again borrows the costume of Gaston Lagaffe to bring up the domestic policy of Canada", declared Christian Estrosi, minister delegate for Regional Planning.]

M'ENFIN ?!
Did I Say Quebec? I Meant Palestine!

[Hat tip: Carine]

Gaston Lagaffe is a popular Belgian cartoon character. As his name suggests he is a bungler, and therein lies his charm. Alas, Mlle. Royal does not benefit from the comparison.

What baffles us is why, when her strengths are domestic and populist, Mlle. Royal keeps playing to her weakness, which is foreign affairs. Why, we wonder, with France beset by domestic problems, Mlle. Royal obsesses with French internationalism. She is a candidate for the presidency of France, but she appears to be running for a French ambassadorship.

* Confusion + plenitude = confus-itude. For context, see here.

PFFT (What is this?): Foreign policy savvitude 1½ | Rayonnementitude français 0

Bonjour,

Ségolène est fidèle à la grande politique gaullienne visant à combattre la barbarie de l'anglosphère partout où elle se manifeste.
Nous n'oublierons jamais nos cousins massacrés par la barbarie haineuse et "démocratique" de l'anglosphère.
Nous n'oublierons jamais "le Grand Dérangement".

De la Terre de Feu au Québec , combattons la dictature haineuse de l'anglosphère sur le continent américain !

Francophones et Hispanophones tous unis !

Vive le Québec Libre !

Vive la Louisiane Libre !