Sarkozy Hospitalized After Health Scare
For all the talk that President Obama has reconciled America with the rest of the world, I think it's quite overlooked that Nicolas Sarkozy has resurrected the reputation of France. Sure, he's still French through and through, particularly with his high-profile divorce and quickie marriage to a model shortly into his presidency. But his hawkishness has also brought France out of the do-nothing category in foreign affairs, which likely inspired the faux World War II headline on my bulletin board from The Onion: "French Surrender After Valiant Ten-Minute Struggle." (NOTE: For those unfamiliar with The Onion, it's SATIRE.) For all of Sarko's brash mannerisms, he's a big improvement over the Chiracs and Mitterands.Unfortunately, Sarkozy suffered a fainting spell during jogging today, but Bloomberg's update on the health scare sounds positive:
"Sarkozy, 54, was taken by helicopter to the Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris. Monitoring of his heart will continue until tomorrow, according to the statement, which added that this is normal procedure in such cases. Medical tests on Sarkozy so far have been 'normal,' it said.Sarkozy's office has canceled his meetings for tomorrow, but he should be back on schedule Tuesday.'A clinical examination and further neurological tests are normal,' the statement said. 'Cardiological monitoring, which is standard practice in such cases, will continue until tomorrow.'
Sarkozy, who is regularly photographed jogging, was out running on the grounds of the Chateau de Versailles when he was taken ill. Temperatures in Versailles, near where Sarkozy was jogging, today reached 27 degrees Celsius (80.6 Fahrenheit), according to Meteo France.
The president suffered a problem with his vagus nerve, Agence France-Presse said, citing an unidentified aide. The nerve extends from the brain to the abdomen and can be affected by a condition known as vasovagal syncope, which reduces the heart rate and blood pressure, particularly if the victim is dehydrated. Patients can faint but normally make a complete recovery, AFP said, citing medical experts."
(Photo by Chris Ratcliffe-Pool/Getty Images)
Comments
In the battle of France in WW2, in 6 weeks, France lost 150 000 soldiers trying to resist to the most advanced army the world had ever known…. it’s more than the American casualties during all WW1…
I wouldn’t call that a ten-minute struggle…..
Please, your snide insults of France and the French are in such utter poor taste. Have some respect for the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who died in the cause of defending democracy. While your at it, you may want to learn some history.
This is base beyond words. To spit upon the graves of 100,000 dead French soldiers and 300,000 wounded is disgusting.
But I’m a nice guy, and if you really want to learn your history, I’ll give you a hand. Grab a good book on the Battle of France, and have a look. See battles like Hannut, Gembloux, La Horgne, Stonne, Lille, Abbeville, or the heroic sacrifice of the Saumur cadets (Saumur is like West Point for you guys). There are so many instances of the French making the most desperate sacrifices and being overrun, with battallions sometimes entirely anihilated, that any joke is unwarranted and unfounded.
Want to know my favorite? Here’s French WWII veteran Pierre Cazenave of the 33rd BCC. His battallion was sent to try and halt the Germans with obsolete WWI-era tanks, and they were shot to pieces. What follows is his own account:
“They had taken away our modern Renault R40 tanks, which were needed for instruction, and we had been equipped with old Renault FT17s, slow and poorly armed and armoured. Our batallion was sent to a veritable suicide mission against Guderian’s 19th army corps. The German tanks fired upon us as in manoeuvers, their shells pierced our turrets from side to side. Our speed, limited to 8 kph, made us ideal targets. Out of 63 tanks we engaged, we lost 55! Our human losses were terrible. Out of 132 crewmen, only 22 of us survived after the fights of this terrible day. Those of our tanks which survived miraculously were partially buried, with the turret uncovered. Thus less vulnerable, we were able to contain an assualt and even destroy a few tanks, as our 37mm tanks were still effective against the Panzer I and armoured cars.”
Here is the testimony of another veteran, Lieutenant Michard of the 55th DI. His division was an understrength, underequipped B reserve division which was subjected to one of the most intense carpet bombings in the war by over 2,000 German aircraft.
“The blast of the explosions dominates everything, no other sensation exists. The hallucinating noise of the torpedo whose sound grows, nears, prolongs itself. One feels personally aimed; we wait, our sinews tightened. The explosion is a deliverance. But one more, two more, ten more… the whistling sounds mix in a seamless net, the explosions melt into a continuous thunder. When the intensity diminishes for a moment, we can hear panting breaths; we are here, motionless, silent, hunched over and all piled up, our mouths open so that our eardrums don’t burst. Our position shakes. The bombs are of all calibres. The small ones call in batches, the big ones don’t whistle. When they fall, the noise bears an uncanny ressemblance to that of a speeding train. Twice I have had true auditive hallucinations. I felt I was in a station; a train comes… the din of the explosion wakes me from my stupor, and brings me brutally back to reality. The blare of the dive bomber’s siren pierces my eardrums and sets them in agony. One has an urge to howl.”
And here, finally, is the account of captain Pierre Billotte, of the 41st BCC, driving his tank, called “l’Eure”, into the disputed village of Stonne…
“I enter Stonne without opposition; I rush towards the village centre; as soon as I arrive, a column of German tanks appears, at less than 50 metres. I have my firing aim handy as all periscopes have been destroyed previously. With a high-velocity 47mm shell loaded, all I have to do is fire, without barely aiming, at the first tank, a Panzer IV. The tanks behind it are spread along a 100 meter slope and quite impeded by their proximity. On the other hand, I have the high ground and can fire downwards towards them. Intense firing: 140 hits were later found on the shell of my B1 bis. We may bless the steel chrome-molybdene alloy armour. In ten minutes, the tanks in the enemy column are silenced, one by one. I advance further and find myself before two anti-tank guns, which my driver destroys at ten paces with the 75mm cannon…”
I hope this small sample of French bravery in WWII should make you reconsider. Long live French-American friendship.
It’s Mitterrand, not Mitterand.
Please surrender to orthography.