FRANCE’S president, François Hollande, has become an inveterate jet-setter. In a single week in mid-December he notched up two continents, dropping in on Brazil for a two-day state visit, as well as South Africa (for Nelson Mandela’s memorial service) and a pit-stop in Central African Republic (CAR), where the French are trying to bring order amid religious and gang warfare. Days earlier Mr Hollande welcomed leaders from over 50 African countries to Paris for a think-in on security. Sending troops to CAR is his second military intervention in Africa. At the end of November he squeezed in a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Shortly after Christmas he is off to Saudi Arabia.Such diplomatic hyperactivity is common for second-term American presidents. It was also a hallmark of the presidency of Mr Hollande’s centre-right predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who liked nothing better than flying in to try to secure peace deals, or contracts for French companies. But for Mr Hollande it is more surprising. During the 2012 election campaign the Socialist leader said little about foreign affairs and gave no hint of a readiness to use military force. His 60-point election manifesto had only four promises on the subject—and one was a pledge to pull French soldiers out of Afghanistan.So it has been with some bafflement that the French have watched Mr Hollande adopt the habits of…
The Economist: Europe
