de Villepin meets his Waterloo?

If I told you that the unelected Prime Minister, a protégé of the President, was spying on his popular—and populist—political rival in an attempt to derail his presidential run you would probably think that I was talking about goings on in a corrupt developing country (no offense, but). But you’d be wrong. I’m actually talking ...

If I told you that the unelected Prime Minister, a protégé of the President, was spying on his popular—and populist—political rival in an attempt to derail his presidential run you would probably think that I was talking about goings on in a corrupt developing country (no offense, but). But you’d be wrong. I’m actually talking about what is happening in the land of liberté, egalité, and fraternité.

If I told you that the unelected Prime Minister, a protégé of the President, was spying on his popular—and populist—political rival in an attempt to derail his presidential run you would probably think that I was talking about goings on in a corrupt developing country (no offense, but). But you’d be wrong. I’m actually talking about what is happening in the land of liberté, egalité, and fraternité.

French PM Dominique de Villepin stands accused of telling the French intelligence services to investigate a bogus charge that Nicolas Sarkozy had an illegal bank account stuffed full of bribe money. The genesis of the charge is a forged document and it is being suggested that the forger might be someone not far from the Elysée and the friend of a poet and Bonaparate enthusiast. The Times of London reports that de Villepin might soon be questioned by the judges investigating the case.

How far France’s notoriously closed establishment are prepared to go to prevent the upstart son of an immigrant from becoming president will be one of the more compelling stories of the next twelve months. Stay tuned.

James Forsyth is assistant editor at Foreign Policy.

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