Sarkozy accused of hypocrisy as his wife meets the Dalai Lama

The French First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, will meet the Dalai Lama in France this week – adopting for the first time her self-proclaimed role as a kind of queen of human rights. Officially, Mme Bruni-Sarkozy will meet the Buddhist spiritual leader as a man of faith, not as as a symbol of Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule. In truth, her role will be more ambiguous and more political, deflecting criticism from her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, who announced last week that he would not "provoke" the Chinese government by meeting the Dalai Lama while the Olympic Games were in progress in Beijing. Although French first ladies are frequently deployed to greet visiting cultural or spiritual dignitaries, the Bruni-Dalai meeting has taken on unusual international, and domestic, political significance. Left-wing opposition... [read full story]