Debbie Schlussel: OutBushing Bush (& Laura): French Leader Gets Way Too Sarkozy with Saudis
Last week, I told you about Saudi Arabia's not-so-tactful demand that French President Nicolas Sarkozy not bed up with paramour/ex-model Carla Bruni while on Saudi soil. They're not married, and it's against Islamic law, the Saudis proclaimed (despite the fact that, they have plenty of non-spousal concubines at their disposal in the Kingdom).
Well, Sarkozy bowed to Saudi demands and married Ms. Bruni, last Thursday, to avoid Saudi ire. Anything for those Wahhabis. And I mean anything.
On Sunday, as Sarko began his Saudi sojourn, he was greeted by Saudi King Abdullah (he's one of the guys with the non-married concubine cadre at his disposal), whence they
initialed accords on education, vocational training, political cooperation, and oil, and gas.
You know what that means. It means that, just like George W. Bush, Sarkozy has signed an agreement to allow thousands of Saudis onto French soil on student visas, in the same way Bush has agreed to allow tens of thousands of Saudi students here.
Not sure what the "political cooperation" aspect consists of, but the "education and vocational training" part is scary enough.
So much for all the lauding of France's new "get tough on Muslim immigration" policies. All smoke and mirrors.
But score one for Mr. Sarkozy, sort of. He matched Bush in pandering to Saudi immigration and visa demands. But he surpassed Bush--and his wife, Laura--in pandering to the Saudis with his coincidentally-timed marriage to avoid upsetting the Saudis.
Mrs. Bush only did the outrage of donning a hijab for the Saudis, after expressly telling USA Today and others she would not. But Mr. Sarkozy married a woman to avoid angering them.
Yup, two major Western leaders egregiously in the Saudi's back pockets. And so many others who are, as well, only haven't yet taken a wife for them yet.
And to those who believe that more Saudi and other Muslim students in Western countries makes them more pro-western, tell it to the ghost of Syed Qutb (the pre-eminent Islamic scholar who went to college in Greeley, Colorado and whose writings guru'ed Bin laden).
Posted by Debbie on January 15, 2008 12:00 PM to Debbie Schlussel