Sarkozy wants Japan and Brasil among permanent members at U.N.S.C.

In Tuesday's Paris press conference attracting waves of journalists caught by the media frenzy curiosity for the new France President, Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the UNSC should get 5 new members: Japan, Germany, Brasil, India and an African nation. "How can things work out well in XXIst century with a system built in the XXth Century? Sarkozy told reporters.



French leader also announced he would most probably marry model-turned-singer Carla Bruni. Sarkozy's romance with Bruni reportedly started shortly after the French leader and his second wife, Cecilia Sarkozy, divorced three months ago. Sarkozy, 52, and Bruni, a 40 year old Italian born French model with a successful folk music career, have since been photographed together in recent weeks in locations from Disneyland Paris to the pyramids in Egypt, often entwined arm-in-arm, looking happy.

The conservative president has been accused of publicizing his relationship with Bruni to try to distract from a dramatic recent slide in polls. Some analysts also say that "Sarkozy's flaunting of his private life is a turnoff for many voters, especially more traditional ones." Sarkozy said he wanted "to break with a long tradition of French leaders keeping their love lives secret, with the media's tacit accord." He alluded to late former French President Francois Mitterrand, who kept the existence of a mistress and illegitimate daughter a secret for most of his 1981-95 presidency. Sarkozy pointed out that "journalists felt comfortable" asking him questions they had never dared to ask his predecessors. "I have been a part of a break with a deplorable tradition in our country: hypocrisy and lies," he said.

Sarkozy's approval rating stands around 48 percent, a drop of seven points in a month, a sharp departure from his highest level, 65 percent, in July, according to a recent poll from CSA. People got bored and disappointed with French politics during former president Jacques Chirac. Today, media commentators claim that "Sarko" succeeded in attracting, thanks to the paparazzi stories, more French voters than ever who now want to get informed with their president's policy in addition to his private life, and therefore raising interest for national politics.

A kind of Koizumi Gekijo (theater) "a la mode française"?

On the international economy, France president stated that he expects the G-8 to transform in a G-13. How? "By thinking sound and fair, and by discussing the question with Paris "allies."

Sarkozy's wide-ranging news conference Tuesday touched on questions from the economy to the environment to ways to promote diversity. Sarkozy gave a one-hour speech, then opened the floor to questions. The second question was about his relationship to Bruni — an issue that has had France buzzing for weeks. "What is extraordinary is that you were kind enough to wait until the second question," he told the reporters, drawing laughs.

I feel like people are in a mood of hypnotic fascination same as what fans feel for a rock-star, with Sarko, maybe a new political phenomenon is re appearing in the "City of Lights" fascinated by the Napoleon's ego and decisive rules. Locally here, Toyako remote G8 Summit, while US and Japan communication and leadership are transitionally weakened, will no doubt flash on Sarkozy and his talk-true-to-people tailored communication to gain what I would call a raison d'être médiatique for the costly G8 show.


Yes, but is it enough to deliver and then convince electors on voting day?