July 2, 2008
Sarkozy and source amnesia
Question: What do the European Central Bank, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, French army commanders, French public television broadcasters, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia and Snagglepuss the Mountain Lion have in common? Answer: they have all come under withering attack in the past week or two from President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
Actually, Snagglepuss hasn’t, but Sarkozy has sprayed his ammunition so far and wide that it was probably a close-run thing. It would be easy to dismiss the presidential antics - imagine Silvio Berlusconi on speed and you are halfway there - as a huge embarrassment for France just as it started its six-month European Union presidency on July 1. But I reckon there is a great deal of method in Sarkozy’s madness.
What I suspect he is up to is seeking to exploit a weakness in the human brain known to specialists as “source amnesia”. As Professor Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt explained in a recent article, we store facts first in the hippocampus, a finger-shaped structure deep in the brain and then, after much re-storing and reprocessing, transfer them to the cerebral cortex. But after a while, facts are separated from the context in which we learned them. It becomes hard for us to remember whether certain statements are true. Even things we once knew to be lies can be erroneously recalled, months later, as truths.
I am not saying Sarkozy is deliberately feeding lies to the European public. But if you consider his spirited attacks this week on the ECB’s monetary policy and Mandelson’s tactics in the Doha world trade talks, he is surely calculating that if you repeat something long enough and loudly enough, a good number of people will start believing you, even if at first they disagreed.
Whether this will improve Sarkozy’s chances of stopping a rise in ECB interest rates or getting a better deal for French farmers in the Doha round remains to be seen. Not for the moment, it would seem.
Pierre-Luc Séguillon, the veteran French political journalist, puts it neatly. He says “President Bling-Bling”, the Sarkozy of celebrity friendships, large wristwatches, fancy sunglasses and Carla Bruni, has morphed into “President Biff-Baff”, Sarkozy the confrontational politician unafraid to say the unsayable. As for the rest of Europe’s leaders, some are no doubt praying that German chancellor Angela Merkel will have a quiet word in his ear to calm him down.
If you repeat something enough and loudly enough,and what you repeat is that we must obey to whatever kind of French leadership over the United Europe and over NATO,that means,Monsieur Sarkozy,that you come from another Planet.And,if you are an Alien,just try to understand how things are used to go,over the Earth.
Posted by: stefano de santis | July 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm | Report this commentIf your memory is good enough, you’ll recall Sarko’s “pauvre con” incident at an agricultural show some weeks ago. Now he’s done it again, complaining that the technicien and the make-up girl didn’t have the good manners to greet him with at least a “bonjour” in the TV studio.
http://www.20minutes.fr/article/240196/Media-France-3-lance-une-enquete-interne-pour-comprendre-comment-la-video-off-de-Sarkozy-a-fuite.php
I’m enjoying France’s the EU presidency - it’s not boring, thank goodness. The star-spangled Eiffel Tower illuminated in blue is just fab.
Posted by: J.J. | July 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm | Report this commentAs from Jan 2009 will the Czechs, followed by the Swedes, be as glamorous and unpredictable as Nicocarla? Hardly.
We, the Macedonians are very disappointed that Mr. Sarkozy’s fury and frustration has befallen us. Why us, we exclaim! Is it just because is easy to insult and flex muscles on us? But why waste a precious time? For France and Mr. Sarkozy, we’re small, insignificant and barely noticeable. What has changed? The rumor is that some great Greak wrote a book about the Great Sarkozy and it really touched Sarkozy’s ego. The other rumor is that Greeks paid Sarkozy to unleash his fury. Greeks spend millions of Euros on military equipment made in France. Whatever it is, thanks to Sarkozy, we’re out of NATO and EU and Greeks threats and bullying are echoed by Sarkozy and his guys. We’re doomed to listen to daily performances from the apocalyptic chorus conducted by Mr. Karamanlis the Greek good. By the way have you seen that great picture of Sakozy and Karamanlis kissing? It’s shown a lot in our daily news. Unlike Carla, Sarkozy can kiss Karamanlis without having to stand on his tiptoes.
Posted by: Elena Naskova | July 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 pm | Report this commentBonus points for Sarkozy! He made the freeing of Liliane Betancourt (6 (?) years in captivity and her health failing rapidly) a top priority of his presidency and yesterday she, 3 Americans and several Colombians were freed in a successful operation by the Colombian army.
Posted by: J.J. | July 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 am | Report this commentI salute Mr. Sarkozy’s firm stand on the former Yugolsav Republic of Macedonia. It was about time to send a clear and unequivocal message to Skopje authorities that leading a nationalistic, provocative and chauvinist policy comes with a (heavy) price. As much as we like to think of Macedonia as a victim of Greece, one cannot disregard the cynical and chauvinist policy that current government leads towards the ethnic minorities in that country. Skopje must realize that the message coming from Paris reflects the true sentiment of EU, and not be fooled by the slavic solidarity demonstrated during the Slovenian presidency. A country and leadership that intimidates, arrests and corrupts own oponents cannot expect any flatery from abroad. A country that aims to build own identity by stealing from others, cannot expect respectability nor support for its aspirations.
Posted by: Eric | July 3rd, 2008 at 7:50 am | Report this commentStand firm of Sarkozy on Macedonia? As soon as things will turn hard,he will call America,as they are used to do since 1917.If you count on French Gaullists,your future will look like the Srebreniza past.
Posted by: stefano de santis | July 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 am | Report this commentTo Eric, my nationality, identity, language, culture and that of my grand parents and distant ancestors is Macedonian. You may put words that deny my existence but you will never change history and quelch the truth, it will come out. For Greek policies and pressures through Sarkozy they are low and unworthy of anything that Europe should represent and no longer does. I am telling you, this Sarkozy, he will take this Europe of ours and sink it into the ground. When he is finished there will be no EU to speak of. The British have never liked Europe that is united and strong, the EU was to take as many members and possible as they knew and predicted that larger EU will never be able to agree on the coveted union. The French wanted a smaller, united EU where they will dominate the agenda and dictate the policies. I suspect this is them puting the breaks on the enlargement.
Igor
Posted by: Igor | July 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm | Report this commentRepeating lies (or at least half-truths) often enough to be believed is an old trick, well practised by Mrs Thatcher.
The French trades unions claim that Sarko is seeking to be “the French Madame Thatcher” - seems they could be right?
In reality what’s happening on the EU stage is simply an expansion of the way he behaves at home. Problem is, he thinks he’s President of the EU - which he is not, of course (France holds the presidency, different thing). Don’t tell him I said so, though, I live nearer to him than you do!
Posted by: Derek Tunnicliffe | July 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm | Report this commentSarcozy’s “firm stand” on Macedonia? But why, that’s the question. Is it because he believes in the Greeks’ centuries old attempt to erase the Macedonian nation and commit a 21 Century ethnocide, or is it because he got something out of it? And is it right to use EU to pressure Macedonia for personal or French and Greek’s interest? EU doesn’t have to let Macedonia in, if EU doesn’t want it, but why use EU to black mail, buly and twist Macedonian’s arms and help the Greeks to again commit their ethnocide? EU was supposed to fight Europe’s chauvinism, not support it. It’s sad to see that EU is being made a blackmail instrument for some EU members to achieve their old not so free, and not so progresive and not so humanistic aspirations.
Posted by: Elena Naskova | July 3rd, 2008 at 4:21 pm | Report this commentIf somebody thinks that EU is supposesed to fight Chauvinism,he or she doesn’t understand tha REAL nature of Gaullism.The Gaullists are fundamentally Fascists:the truth is that Europe is under menace of a Fascist plan of domination that could lead to a new war.This is what somebody in Washington believes:fortunately,we can depend on the USA to stop this potential crime.
Posted by: stefano de santis | July 4th, 2008 at 9:29 am | Report this commentEuropa wants leaders to unite us all in growth and jobs and solve the energy crisis making the EU Energy Independent and Secure ,among other key issues, will Sarkozy and the rest of them deliver ?
a) About the FARC, we still don’t know all the facts about who is behind it, who banks the “white powder cash” around the world, where it goes,who benefits about their activities, about the “terror threat” and consequent security and weapons contracts , etc.,etc. ,still a lot of questions….one thing is for sure : the more ” terror”, the more civic and social control, right ?
b) Wonderful to see all the Europeans arguing with each other about history,high heels, TV make-up ,hairspray and fabricated wars to feed the usual investors and bankers , amazing ! …..and while Europa ( and the USA) sends away 200.000 millon euros aprox.( USA bill is 400.000 millon aprox.) to the darlings at the OPEC for foreign oil and gas, natural gas which by the way just had a nice 120 % run-up, maturity is on vacation in Europa while the Middle East can’t get enough gold shower and toilet faucets and top exotic marble for kitchens, wonderful!
c) Gordon Brown wants to install 3.000 water current turbines on the Atlantic Coast of England,good for him and England ! , and why not a massive ” Farm of Water and Wind Turbines ” from Norway-Iceland-Greenland-Canada all the way to South Africa and Southern Argentina ? , the Atlantic Wind and Water Turbine Plan ? ,with giga-watts of power and hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in growth ? …and these Turbine Farms could be used as islands of energy to search for minerals,oil, gas and algae-biofuels crops….
why not right now ? ….. but of course , that would be too mature and boring , right? better send all our money to the Middle East oil producers , their Hedge-Funds and their business associates, right?
No one to blame but ourselves….Europa !
Posted by: blogger | July 7th, 2008 at 8:14 pm | Report this comment