Le jour 1 de Sarko

Hubert Védrine is out. [Polite applause.]

NICOLAS SARKOZY DÉFEND "L'OUVERTURE"
ET PRÉPARE SA RÉVOLUTION GOUVERNEMENTALE
[NICOLAS SARKOZY DEFENDS "OVERTURE"
AND PREPARES HIS GOVERNMENT REVOLUTION]

15 mai 2007 (Figaro) - Le socialiste Bernard Kouchner a déjà dit oui au Quai d'Orsay. L'ancien directeur de cabinet de Kouchner et actuel président d'Emmaüs, Martin Hirsch, serait aussi en lice pour un poste de secrétaire d'État. Hubert Védrine n'en sera pas : il aurait été « trop gourmand », réclamant à la fois les Affaires européennes et le Commerce extérieur.

[The Socialist Bernard Kouchner* already said yes to the Foreign Ministry. Kouchner's former chief of staff and current president of Emmaüs, Martin Hirsch, is also in the running for the post of Secretary of State. Hubert Védrine will not be: he was deemed "too greedy", demanding (dossiers for) both the European commerce and foreign trade.]

Below is as good a reason as any for dumping the overreaching M. Védrine. He is a malefic -- and clumsy -- enabler.

Jacques Chirac said things that many experts are saying around the world, even in the United States; that is to say, that a country [Iran, for example] that possesses the bomb does not use it and automatically enters the system of deterrence and doesn't take absurd risks.

Hubert Védrine,
former French foreign minister, posturing as the Machiavelli he is not,
advancing the curious theory that a nation (Iran, for example)
with nuclear bombs poses less of a threat than when without
February 2, 2007 (IHT/LCI television)

* Dr. Koucher, a co-founder of Médecins sans frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) and of Médecins du monde (MDM, Doctors Of The World), early on aspired to the Élysée. Although popular with the public, M. Koucher has been punished politically for supporting the liberation of Iraq. [Hat tip: The Indispensible Carine]

PFFT (What is this?): A more sensible cabinet in the making 3 | Rayonnement français 0