Losing excellence

Losing excellence

Never mind that French mineral water has lost its sparkle;
that we'll be buying Spanish bread sticks; that surat-surat
Perancis are made better in Australia, England and Indonesia;
that brie and camembert now have a worse aroma than a Jakarta
drain; that romance no longer includes the French kiss; and that
previously unsuspecting Jakartans are now aware of the generally
disgusting standard of French wine being dumped here.

I sympathize with the Basque separatists, but they're safer in
the Pyrenees than in the South Pacific.

The Napoleon in French politicians has surfaced again. French
people around the world must be choking on their Moet. Jacques
Chirac's arrogance is based of course on his acceptance of his
inability to solve France's economic malaise. So create a
diversion...an explosive atomic diversion. This politically
motivated stunt is to take pressure off at home by appealing to
the "Gaulingly" chauvinistic French temperament.

However, I trust for most French. This is now confined to
food, fashion and fun; language and literature; art, architecture
and other areas of genuine and laudable excellence. Despite the
French language once being the language of diplomacy, Chirac and
his contemptible currish cronies have lost touch of diplomacy and
reality.

I hope the French Embassy is above defending the indefensible
but in the hapless tradition of the Myanmar delegation, I'd like
to see them try.

GRAEME ST. JOHN

Jakarta