Posted on 09/08/2004 6:34:36 PM PDT by blam
Chirac's jet flew an extra 1,200 miles to let him
sleep By Christian Jennings
(Filed: 09/09/2004)
The most direct route from Paris to Moscow by aircraft is to fly due east. Unless you are President Chirac, that is.
The French premier likes his sleep so much that, en route to a Black Sea summit with President Putin and Chancellor Schröder, he had his flight diverted by 1,200 miles so that he could have a long sleep.
Le Canard Enchainé, France's version of Private Eye, tells a tale this week headlined "Chirac's sleep is priceless".
On August 31, Chirac was due to fly from Paris to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, to meet the German and Russian premiers.
The only problem was that the flight to the summit would not be of sufficient duration for him to get a full night's sleep.
The answer was simple: the French air force, which operates the presidential Airbus 319, was ordered to tack another 1,200 miles on to its flight so that Mr Chirac could sleep undisturbed.
The result was a trip to Russia that took the plane due west from Paris towards the Channel Islands, over Brest, south towards Nantes, down from Bordeaux to Toulouse, north back to Paris, and then due east to Moscow.
Le Canard Enchainé revealed that, after its airborne tour of France and a four-hour flight to Russia, the French president arrived in time for breakfast.
The flight is reported to have cost somewhere in five figures.
Courtesy of Saddam.
Has anyone ever seen him awake?
Thats Just So French........
Chirac does need all the beauty sleep he can get.
It appears that Chirac has fallen into disfavor among certain circles here on Free Republic.
Kyoto Accord my @$$.
Are they sure it wasn't 1,200,000,000,000,000 miles, so he could sleep through the War on Terrorism. We should be so lucky.
Yes, the internationalist, socialist Laborite Blair seems to have more supporters here than does the conservative, nationalist socialist Chirac.
It is a waste of time.
bttt
How many air conditioners or window fans for their elderly would that energy have operated?
One is an ally, one is an enemy.
If chIraq dies, the only ones going to mourn are the worms because they have to dispose of the carcass.
At one point, so was Stalin, before he turned on us. Of course, he had been Hitler's ally before he turned on him.
Trust a gun-grabbing leftist at you own risk.
Thanks for the history lesson. I feel like I've learned something valuable.
What would you suggest though, telling Blair to go to hell? Blair stood with us when others chose to spit on America. That carries a a lot of weight with me.
I would certainly trust Blair over that Filthy French Frog any day of the week.
So many comments, so little bandwidth.
Are you related to Lord Nelson perchance?
" To obey orders is all perfection. To serve my King and destroy the French, I consider as the great order of all, from which little ones spring; and if one of these militate against it (for who can tell exactly at a distance), I go back and obey the great order and object, to down - down with the damned French villains! My blood boils at the name of a Frenchman! Down, down with the French! … is my constant prayer. "
~ Horatio Nelson
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