[New York Sun] Editorial - On May 10, incoming French President Sarkozy joined outgoing President Chirac for talks with Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, leader of Lebanon's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, underscoring the incoming president's commitment to the outgoing president's policy in respect to Syria and Lebanon. Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Doctors Without Borders and one of the rare Frenchmen who, in 2003, broke with France's anti-American consensus over the Iraq war, is now touted as the new foreign minister. That follows a scare that Sarkozy was considering bringing back the hostile former socialist foreign minister, Hubert Vedrine. In the midst of the intifada, Kouchner received an award from an Israeli university, a sign of backbone amidst the wave of boycotts and extremist anti-Israel rhetoric sweeping Europe at the time. France's current envoy in Washington, Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, is reportedly to be appointed as National Security Adviser.
2007-05-18 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive