Nicolas Sarkozy is facing an unprecedented revolt by French diplomats who warn that his foreign policy gaffes have left France pathetically diminished on the world stage.
After weeks of embarrassing French slip-ups – including Paris blindly standing by the Tunisian and Egyptian dictatorships until the last minute – a group of diplomats have published a scathing attack on the president in Le Monde.
The anonymous letter from serving and former diplomats warns: "France's voice in the world has disappeared." They accuse Sarkozy of amateurism, acting on impulse, ignoring ambassadors and caring more about how he looks on TV than the fundamentals of foreign affairs.
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French diplomacy is struggling to recover from its mishandling of the popular uprisings in the Arab world and cosy business and arms ties to authoritarian regimes. During the brutal repression of the Tunisian revolution, the French foreign minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, offered the "savoir faire" of French police to help the regime. It emerged that mid-revolt, she and her parents stayed with, and did business with, a crony of the dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Full story...
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