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Embarrassed France backpedals support of Ben Ali
Paris -- "There is no love; there are only proofs of love," the French poet Pierre Reverdy once wrote.
No doubt that sounds more romantic in the original French.
I'm sure his ex-girlfriend once loved him...
Now, in the wake of the French diplomatic disaster over its support of Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali until moments before he fled the country, France may owe Tunisia "proofs of love."

So says Moncef Cheikh Rouhou, a prominent Tunisian investment banker and media group owner forced out of the country in 2000 over issues related to censorship and physical threats from the Ben Ali regime, and who is mentioned in Arab expatriate circles as a possible future finance minister in a new government there.

French support of Ben Ali and French silence on the shootings of Tunisians has brought a week of recriminations in Paris. France now admits it was out of touch with Tunisian public opinion, has barred Ben Ali from coming here, and says it is freezing the ousted president's assets.
Posted by: Steve White 2011-01-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=314342