The Rhine River

Affairs (Not of the Heart)

Mitterand used the anti-terrorism service to spy on starlets and political enemies. Juppé ripped off the city to pay the salaries of RPR (conservative party) employees. Villepin implicated Sarkozy in the Clearstream debacle to discredit him in the upcoming presidential campaign. I've been helping someone edit part of his book on the seedier aspects of French politics--I was by no means surprised by this headline:

60% of French citizens see their elected officials as corrupt

Actually, it's better than that: of the remaining 40%, three-quarters refused to answer the question. Only 10% believed in the integrity of French politicians!

(This is all according to a report that should be released in the next few days by Centre de Recherches Politiques de Sciences Po (CEVIPOF).)

posted by Nathanael @ 11:55 PM