Will these slanders against the son of Sweyn Forkbeard never end? The latest traducer is Adam Sage, writing in the
Times:
However, M de Villepin’s determination to buck the markets is proving futile and damaging — futile because he does not have the power to do so and damaging because it prevents his compatriots from accepting the reality of globalisation.
After the French Government announced its opposition to Mittal’s offer, ministers realised their powerlessness. The decision lay not with them, but with Arcelor’s shareholders. They were acting like King Canute.
Canute commanded the waves
knowing they would not obey, as a rebuke to flatterers. I suppose it could be that M. de Villepin is engaged in a self-abnegating campaign to persuade the French that even an
énarque and a poet cannot buck the market, but I doubt it.
posted by Natalie at 10:16 AM
