The Burgeoning Sarkozy-Medvedev Bromance

Somewhere in a plush Italian villa, Berlusconi is feeling very jealous.  Cue up a Barry White album for this blog post on the Times of London by Charles Bremner.

What a difference three years make. Campaigning for election in early 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy hammered Russia over human rights and promised to break with the cosy, uncritical relations that President Chirac pursued with Moscow. This week, President Sarkozy has thrown France into Russian arms, receiving President Medvedev on a state visit with the ardour of an eager suitor. (…)

Carried away with the new Franco-Russian honeymoon, Medvedev was lyrical on his visit to Mayor Bertrand Delanoe at the city hall. “Our interest in each other has always been mutual,” he gushed.”To use a word full of emotion, I would even describe this interest as ‘rapturous’.” (…)

In his banquet speech, Sarkozy reminded Medvedev of western worries about Russia. “Your attachment to the rule of law, to the respect for legality, for judicial security, for the defence of human rights greatly helps the rapprochement between our nations,” he said. 

One would have to be lovesick to say something so laughably untrue and obsequious…