Having just ended its ninth month in office, French Prime Minister François Bayrou stepped down after the National Assembly endorsed a no-confidence vote by a huge majority. That handed President Emmanuel Macron a hot potato in the shape of naming yet another Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, the outgoing Defense Minister of the Armies, the fifth in just two years, with no certainty that he would be the lucky fifth.
Macron is in a hurry because he wants to fly to New York to settle the Ukraine war, ensure recognition of a Palestinian state, solve the Iranian nuclear problem, and offer a master plan for rebuilding Lebanon and Syria.
Meanwhile, the French have reverted to their classical response to political crisis by taking to the streets, sabotaging railway lines, looting luxury shops and, of course, flying-picket strikes across the land.
Talk of a general strike is making the rounds, with a whiff of revolution polluting the autumn air.
Because the French political vocabulary is full of military terms such as "combat," "resistance," "siege" and, of course, "revolution," the narrative of current events might sound more awesome than it need be.
Seasoned politologue Roland Cayrol says: "The French system is paralyzed."
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