Nicolas Sarkozy, no matter what you think of his politics, is simply one of the most fascinating individuals on the world stage. As strikes grip Paris in protest of his proposed cuts to worker pensions, he’s announced that he’s getting divorced from his wife of 11 years, Cécilia, who has long seem uninterested in his career. Libération, the lefty tabloid, leads with the divorce story, while staid, center-left Le Monde features the protests. Center-right Le Figaro features three human interest stories on the strike above the divorce news.

News reports say Sarkozy and his wife first had divorce papers drawn up over a year ago. Could this be a “wag the dog” moment, an attempt to distract the press from disgruntlement with the new administration?

And can you ever imagine an American president divorcing in office?

–Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.