More Transatlantic politics
So the spotlight is now firmly on John Kerry as the Democratic contender in the US elections,and the Americans are starting to find out who he is. It will be interesting to know about their reaction when they find out that he has the absolute support of their bête noire - the French. Yay!
The truth is that France strongly wants anyone but Shrub as president so that they can turn the page on the damaging relationship with their amis américains. The French press is now gleefully revealing that Brice Lalonde, the former environment minister of the socialist president François Mitterrand, is a first cousin of John Kerry (their mothers were sisters.) Monsieur Lalonde is now recounting how close he is to his cousin, which dates back to their many happy vacations together in the family home in Brittany. Loaded bastards (that’s my voice, not the one of the French press.) Not only does JFK speak fluent French, but he is a dedicated ecologist and a strong supporter of the Kyoto protocol, which Bush has not signed - believing it to be detrimental to the interests of the US economy. The French are understandably happy with the idea of a strong Francophile at the White House who might thaw the current glacial relations. Meanwhile, I suspect the people in charge of Kerry’s campaign will keep his French connection quiet, lest he should be branded yet another anti-war cheese-eater.