Cécilia and her predecessors

Agnès Poirier's observations on French politics and culture are acute and often witty:

Half of France has been fuming about the latest Sarko and co's stunt in Libya. Not that it is opposed to flamboyant coups, mind you. The French like their president to have guts, like François Mitterrand defying the bombs of Sarajevo on an impromptu visit in 1992, or even Dominique de Villepin flying to Beirut last year while the city was pounded by Israeli artillery (but no, not like Édouard Daladier going to Munich in 1938, thank you very much). It's just that half of France doesn't like them boasting about it.

Daladier is indeed rarely mentioned these days, yet it's worth distinguishing him from his British counterparts. Neville Chamberlain genuinely believed Munich was a noble venture; Daladier at least had the insight to understand that he had betrayed French national interests along with the Czechs, and he consequently expected to be denounced by French patriots on his return home. The enthusiastic reception he received astonished him. That reception was as nothing, however, with the welcome Chamberlain received when he returned from Munich. In the worst and most blatantly partisan decision of any British monarch in the 20th century, the King invited Chamberlain on to the balcony of Buckingham Palace to acknowledge the cheering crowds.

I'm not certain which statesman was the more culpable, but I suspect it was Daladier for being more intelligent.