A not-so-special relationship
Simon Tisdall
Monday January 15, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
When Ségolène Royal met a Hizbullah MP in Beirut last month, her relatively limited experience of foreign affairs almost caused an international incident.
Ali Ammar told the French Socialists’ presidential candidate that the Bush administration suffered from “unlimited dementia". He also attacked what he called modern-day “nazism" in Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post, Ms Royal was unfazed. “I agree with a lot of things you have said, notably your analysis of the United States,” she replied.Amid the ensuing outcry Ms Royal explained she was speaking only of US policy in Iraq and had not heard the MP’s remarks about Israel. All the same, the unguarded exchange raised eyebrows in Paris and Tel Aviv. It also remains unclear whether Ms Royal realised that Ali Ammar was also the name by which the legendary Algerian guerrilla Ali La Pointe was known. He made his name fighting French colonial forces in the vicious battle of Algiers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/story/0,,1991046,00.html