September 9, 2004
THE BIG SLEEP:
Chirac's jet flew an extra 1,200 miles to let him sleep (Christian Jennings, 09/09/2004, Daily Telegraph)
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 problem isn't that he sleeps, but that he wakes. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 9, 2004 1:46 PM
Remind me again why Putin was meeting with those clowns?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at September 9, 2004 1:48 PMThat explains why Chirac closed French airspace to American aircraft on the bombing run to Libya. Despite the appearance that he was sucking up to Arab terrorists, he was in fact exhibiting his concern that American airmen weren't getting enough shut-eye. Tout clair!
Posted by: Bart at September 9, 2004 2:09 PMReminds me of Clinton's haircut on the tarmac of LAX.
Robert:
It makes sense for Russia to maintain good relations with France and Germany; they are, after all, near each other geographically, and Russia can use any commercial trade that exists.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at September 9, 2004 2:42 PMOr we could offer Putin half the loot when we sack Paris.
Posted by: Ripper at September 9, 2004 3:20 PMIf I remember right, the Russian Army _did_ make it all the way to Paris not all that long ago, in the historical scale of things, led by a fellow named Alexander who wanted to chase out a fellow named Bonaparte.
Posted by: Joe at September 9, 2004 4:19 PM