When the news is bad, kill the messenger !
When the Ancient Greeks received bad news they took it out on the poor sod who brought the news; he got the knife. From his eyrie in Antibes, it seems François Stifani has been seeking inspiration in the ancient customs of the Peleponnese.
One of his most faithful apparatchiks has been given the shove without the slightest sentiment or consultation. Raymond Sasia, lifetime faithful servant of the French Republic, has been “thrown out like a footman”. Sasia, famous for his role as personal bodyguard to President de Gaulle, one of the finest sharpshooters France has produced, former soldier, Resistance fighter, top policeman who worked closely with 10 successive Ministers of the Interior, recipient of a multitude of top decorations from the Republic (including the Legion d’Honneur that was refused to Stifani) accepted to reconstitute the Council of the Wise after its en bloc resignation.
In his blog, “La Lumière” link journalist, François Koch of the French current affairs weekly « L’Express » reveals the exchange of correspondence between the ex-Grand Master and Sasia. In mid-May the Council of the Wise resigned because François Stifani did not consult them. Stifani called upon Sasia to reconstitute the Council. Just 3 months later Stifani sent him an e-mail informing Sasia that he (Stifani) had “taken the initiative to free him of that charge”. No telephone call, no meeting, no consultation whatsoever, just a cold, impersonal e-mail.
But Sasia isn’t one to take such treatment lying down. In his reply he informs Stifani that over the past 3 months the various Brethren he approached “…all accepted to work beside him on the Council but categorically refused to work under Stifani whom they no longer recognised as Grand Master.”
Sasia ends his reply with the following salvo, in keeping with his habit of hitting the target : “All your impulsive decisions of suspension, striking off or of nomination of certain of our Brethren have brought greater prejudice than they have served your cause.”
Sasia’s replacement, National Treasurer, Dominique Le Guerinel, is considered more docile than the former marksman and bodyguard, perfect lapdog material for he who was unsuccessful in his request for the Légion d’Honneur.