US diplomats label Sarko thin-skinned
Sarkozy the "emperor without clothes" as US diplomats' frank pen-portraits of world leaders are put on Wikileaks
AMERICAN diplomats saw President Sarkozy as "thin-skinned" and "authoritarian", according to leaked embassy documents that have been published by website Wikileaks.
Calling him the "emperor without clothes", the Paris embassy highlighted his habit of brusquely slapping down Prime Minister François Fillon and other officials in the middle of discussions.
However, from the estimated 250,000 documents that have been published, France and Mr Sarkozy have escaped relatively lightly.
German leader Angela Merkel is described as being too scared to take risks and called "Teflon Merkel".
Italian president Silvio Berlusconi is a "mouthpiece for Russia" and "too fond of late-night parties", making him too tired to work.
Russian president Dmitri Medvedev is accused of "playing Robin to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Batman".
However, Mr Sarkozy's top diplomatic adviser, Jean-David Levitte, has been caught using non-diplomatic language after he allegedly branded Iran a "fascist" state and called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "crazy", saying he was "turning one of the richest countries in Latin America into another Zimbabwe".
