  For a smooth and geometrically irreducible variety X over a field k, the
quotient of the absolute Galois group G_{k(X)} by the commutator subgroup of
G_{\bar k(X)} projects onto G_k. We investigate the sections of this
projection. We show that such sections correspond to "infinite divisions" of
the elementary obstruction of Colliot-Th\'el\`ene and Sansuc. If k is a number
field and the Tate-Shafarevich group of the Picard variety of X is finite, then
such sections exist if and only if the elementary obstruction vanishes. For
curves this condition also amounts to the existence of divisors of degree 1.
Finally we show that the vanishing of the elementary obstruction is not
preserved by extensions of scalars.
