Sarkozy: On the world stage, but which side?

Here's a quiz for you. Let's see if you can connect these dots:

• First, he sent a wreath to Arafat.

  

  




• Then he invited Syrian President Assad to Paris, to be his guest of honor in the Bastille Day parade and help inaugurate Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union (meant "to bolster cooperation between Europe, the Middle East and north Africa").

  

  

  
  Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) reacts near Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad (C) as he arrives on the reviewing stand for the Bastille Day parade in Paris, July 14, 2008. At left is Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani. UN Secretary general Ban Ki-moon, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Finland's President Tarja Halonen are also seen.... REUTERS/Eric Feferberg/POOL (FRANCE)

And now, French President Sarkozy has laid the foundation stone for a new 'Islamic wing' at the Louvre (via LGF).

It is known as the Veil and is described by its architects as a giant glass Muslim headscarf in the heart of Paris. The former French president Jacques Chirac saw it as one way to avert a clash of civilisations in the run-up to the Iraq war. President Nicolas Sarkozy calls it the symbol of France’s friendship with the Arab world.

The Louvre’s bold new Islamic art wing had its first stone laid by Sarkozy yesterday, launching the museum’s most daring project since IM Pei created the giant glass pyramid 20 years ago. The world’s most visited museum will have Europe’s biggest purpose-built exhibition space for an Islamic art collection, which France hopes will reconcile the secular republic with the world of Islamic heritage.

... Sarkozy (R) speaks with Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal during the ceremony marking the launch of the works of the Louvre museum's future Islamic art department in Paris July 16, 2008. al-REUTERS/Eric Feferberg/Pool (FRANCE)

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