by Mark Silva
If President Barack Obama is looking for respect at the G-20 summit in London this week - and most Americans say they expect he'll get it -- the French president may help him along with a threatened sideshow of his own.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened a temper tantrum at the summit - vowing to walk out of the talks - if fellow world leaders do not accede to French demands for tough world financial regulation, very tough regulation.
France will not settle for that famously vague G-20 talk that produces a "false success with language that sounds good but contains no commitments,'' his advisers tell The Times of London.
Sarkozy,who blames the "Anglo-Saxons" for causing the global economic crisis drawing leaders to a summit at which British host Gordon Brown is seeking a "global new deal,'' has told his ministers that he will leave the summit "if it does not work out.''
Does that mean a walk-out is in the offing?
Xavier Musca, Mr Sarkozy's deputy chief of staff for economic affairs, tells the paper: "A basic rule with nuclear deterrence is that you do not say at what point you will use the weapon."
The French president may not be the only show-stopper at the summit, as the Times suggests with its photo gallery of G-20 spouses.
The Indian prime minister's wife is a singer (the couple pictured second from top, above) -- Gursharan Kaur a "celebrated traditional Indian singer who would regularly appear on the radio until Manmohan Singh, her husband, moved to the US to work for the World Bank before he was elected Indian prime minister.''
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario (the couple pictured just above), is an Italian B-movie actress - and the two have had some highly public fallings out.
But it is Sarkozy's wife (pictured just below), model and pop star Carla Bruni, who has been known to steal some shows - her previous beaus inclduing Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton.
The wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sarah, by contrast, (pictured at the top, above) gave up her work in public relations when she became pregnant.
And the wife of President Barack Obama, Michelle (pictured below), is a lawyer, and also, as The Times suggests:
A gardener.
Comments
What do the french have to do with the global economy? With the exception of selling nuclear technology to terrorist states the french are completely irrelevant.
Next time we should let the germans march all the way to the atlantic. Oh wait the french already did that.
Posted by: James Sullivan | March 31, 2009 2:44 PM
Michelle was a lawyer but now a gardener....Oh please.
What a fluff piece!!!
I think it's time to drain the Swamp !!!
Posted by: Al in Chicago | March 31, 2009 3:14 PM
Big shock that this man would threaten to throw a hissy fit. If the French don't get their way they go all 2nd grader or resort to terrorist acts. I work for Caterpillar and am well aware of the immaturity of the French these days.
Posted by: CatBrat79 | March 31, 2009 3:17 PM
What I'm trying to figure out is how an article about a world economic summit turned into a review of the world leader's wives? Next up, their choices for "Dancing with the Stars"!
Posted by: Mike | March 31, 2009 3:46 PM
So Michelle's a gardener?
Yeah, right.
Even in that obviously posed pic, she looks like a woman who would never break a fingernail, let alone a good sweat doing honest labor.
As a gardener and orchardist, I have to say that I find the picture absurd and laughable.
Posted by: Pony | March 31, 2009 4:00 PM
Sounds like Pampers should be included in the attendees' goodie bags.
Posted by: Ken | March 31, 2009 4:01 PM
Wait, how does this article drift from the French president threatening to walk out on fluffy talk about the global economy to the spouses of leaders? That seems to have nothing to do with what the article suggests, and even more, the title gives a lazy stereotype. These are two separate articles, and should be labeled as so, for those of us who do not want infotainment.
Posted by: James | March 31, 2009 4:21 PM
I agree with Sarkozy. Damn those Anglo-Saxons! How dare they invade England in successive waves of brutish paganism! How dare they accept Christianity and force it on all those poor, unsuspecting Celts! Oh, the humanity! How dare they overrun Europe as the guarantors of freedom from Communism and Nazism! No, wait . . .
Posted by: John W. | March 31, 2009 4:34 PM
France is the fifth largest economy in the world. It's actually slightly larger than the UK. China is ahead of both, but China has 20 times as many people as France.
Posted by: lakefxdan | March 31, 2009 4:49 PM
I LOVE that picture of Michelle working in the garden. I ALWAYS dress like that when I want to dig in dirt and get my hands dirty.
Posted by: Photo op | March 31, 2009 5:01 PM
We delight in all the goings on about Michelle. Tell us more, put it on the front page - with bold lettering so we don't have to look for it either.
Also, just because we don't have a mind to think with, use lots of pictures too to fill up all that stupid stuff between ads.
Posted by: David G | March 31, 2009 5:17 PM
The French are complaining about the British and Americans? What right to they have? If it wasn't for the British and Americans, the French would still be living under the Nazis.
Be quiet, Frenchy, or we won't save you the next time the Germans decide to roll unopposed through your country.
Posted by: Frank | March 31, 2009 5:34 PM
i'm confused on how to rate this as it's one fairly useful story followed by waste
Posted by: ideas | March 31, 2009 6:45 PM
i'm confused on how to rate this as it's one fairly useful story followed by waste
Posted by: ideas | March 31, 2009 6:45 PM
Why is that every American here decides to remind the world how they delivered it from Nazism? Stop dwelling on the past and face the present : You might (MIGHT) have saved the world in WW2, but you are also undeniably the cause of the global economic meltdown.
Posted by: Non_American | March 31, 2009 7:04 PM
Somebody better teach Michelle how to work that rake. She is going to hurt her back.
Posted by: Terry | March 31, 2009 9:10 PM
The comments about Michelle Obama, First Lady of the USA, are childish and irrelevant. Grow up, people!
And it is high time we forgot about saving the French from Germans. Tha part of history is over. Now it's time for CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!!
Get it?
Posted by: ib42 | April 1, 2009 4:30 AM
Don't you people think that Sarkozy is right to expect something concrete from this meeting? If not what would be the point to meet?
Enough with your stupid French clichés about WW2 and how you saved the world. That was over 60 years ago. This must be an evidence that you people don't have much to brag about since then.
Posted by: Sam | April 1, 2009 7:49 AM
AL: " Michelle was a lawyer but now a gardener..." Newsflash: Yes, people can be both be more than one thing--calm down, it's ok. PONY: "...let alone a good sweat doing honest labor..."We find your racially stereotypical insinuations absurd and laughable. Shame on you!
PHOTO OP: "I ALWAYS dress like that when I want to dig in dirt and get my hands dirty" Either you've deluded yourself that you're under public scrutiny like the First Lady or you're just tragically impractical. TERRY: "Somebody better teach Michelle how to work that rake..." Since you're a forensic raking expert, you must know that critiquing her technique from a still photo isn't very expert-like.
DAVID G: Wow--what's eating you? This is not an article or headline about Mrs. Obama--in fact, she's practically an afterthought thrown in at the end. Fixated, or something else?
ib42 pegged it. You all sound like children egging each other along in hateful bullying.
Each of you could stand a lesson in class and grace from our accomplished, First Lady Michelle Obama.
Posted by: Ceenick | September 27, 2009 3:37 AM