However, on Bastille Day, Assad was in the front row to hear the actor Kad Merad read out the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The taint of hypocrisy was too great even for Chirac who busied himself elsewhere.

The best the Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has built a career out of defending human rights, could say was that he was not "especially amused" by Assad's visit. Kouchner's appointment was more about depriving the opposition of one of its most popular figures than re-orienting policy. French foreign ministers are traditionally presidential sidekicks who discreetly carry out the Elysée's orders. Kouchner was never going to fulfil this role so he has been marginalised from day one. The real power is held by Sarkozy's three-in-one diplomatic adviser, sherpa, and head of an embryonic American-style National Security Agency, Jean-David Levitte along with the Elysée Chief of Staff Claude Guéant.

The foreign minister has also played little role in concocting Sarkozy's diplomatic spectaculars such as the release of Ingrid Betancourt. The official version began to unravel within days of her release with plausible reports that a large bribe was paid. There is no question of French involvement but Sarkozy's relentless, manipulative pressure on Columbian President Alvaro Uribe has not endeared him to Latin American leaders.

Sarkozy may be welcome in Washington, where he has won support for European defence -- a priority for the French EU presidency.

But the president's tawdry willingness to embrace any leader who signs a few export contracts is as undignified as his regular appearances draped across Carla Bruni in Paris Match.