Monday September 19, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

One of the job requirements for being a world leader, it seems, is not knowledge of world history. At least that seems to be the case in France.

In an effort to smooth over the rocky relations between Israel and France the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Balzy, paid a visit to Israel earlier this month. While there he made an obligatory appearance at Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Holocaust.

Innocently, but persistently, the French foreign minister asked about England, whether British communities had not also been destroyed by the Nazis. He wanted to know if British Jews had also been murdered.

How do you say "duh" in French? This man is not a youngster. He has been the health minister of France and is a trained cardiologist.

According to Le Canard Enchaine, the satirical French magazine reporting the story, no one will confirm this extreme faux pas, but neither will anyone deny it.

This is a case where "no comment" would have served the minister well.

You wonder how anyone can tease Bush.