Reminiscent of Thursday’s meeting of NATO defense ministers, today’s summit of European Union leaders produced a largely symbolic collective statement demanding Muammar Gaddafi give up power and end the violence raging in Libya—but refrained from proposing anything to back that urging up with. But given the important advances of …
As her popularity and credibility as a presidential candidate has grown among a rising number of French voters, National Front (FN) party honcho Marine Le Pen has seen detractors draw negative comparisons between her and extreme-right figures elsewhere in Europe—a notorious crowd including Dutch politician Geert Wilders, British …
Props to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for becoming the first international leader to recognize the opposition battling Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi as the rightful representatives of their country. But should it have taken this long for someone to make such a no-brainer decision? And what’s taking Sarkozy’s peers so long in …
After the controversy of the first poll comes confirmation in the second. Just 48 hours after a Harris Interactive survey simulating voter intention for the first round of France’s 2012 presidential election found extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen finishing first, a second wave of polling not only reaffirms Le Pen’s domination of …
French politicians and pundits were in an tizzy Monday following the publication Sunday of a new poll showing extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen winning the first round of presidential voting were it held now. In it, Le Pen—who took over the presidency of the National Front (FN) party in January from her father, Jean-Marie Le …
Is the dramatic mystery surrounding the spy scandal at French carmaker Renault deflating like a particularly gravity-prone soufflé? That seems to be the main conclusion of recent media reports contrasting earlier allegations that China, international espionage rings, and just about any other convenient suspect was behind the purportedly …
It’s not exactly “wear a burqa, go to jail”, but the French state has begun a sloganeering information campaign aimed at dissuading a crime that has fueled growing public concern. As part of that effort, the government is reminding Muslim women who wear the full-body veil that they’ll soon be legally prohibited of being seen in …
To further Tony’s excellent post yesterday on obstacles that any eventual Western military action in or around Libya will face, it will be interesting to watch in the coming hours and days whether a more consistent view on outside intervention forms on the Libyan street. For the moment (as the NY Times piece Tony refers to notes) there …
Though hastily organized in appearance, the cabinet shuffle announced by French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sunday night was in fact designed to do something that had long become inevitable: dump scandal-plagued Foreign Affairs Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie. But while Sarkozy justified the shake-up as necessary to get France’s sidelined …
Torn between backing long-time dictator allies and supporting the surging popular revolts seeking to bring those regimes down, few Western governments have sparkled in their tormented responses to protests sweeping the Arab world. But few nations have appeared as dumbly frozen in those headlights as France—where the government of …
Was the lifting Thursday of Algeria’s 19-year state of emergency a sign the country’s corrupt, authoritarian regime is responding to the growing public unrest that brought down the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt—and now looks set to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi? Without any doubt. Yet it would be naïve to interpret the repealing …
In the decade since 9/11 forced the world to update its views of Islam and look for ways to dissuade its practitioners from drifting towards extremism, Western societies have placed a high premium on the moderate Muslim: those modern, sensible examples of how Islam can be practiced and honored harmoniously within predominately non-Muslim …
As Ronald Reagan might have said with a disapproving shake of the head, “There they go again”. Faced with souring domestic political prospects, Europe’s top three leaders have sought to stoke flagging support by telling their societies to beware of nefarious foreign influences—especially from fellow citizens from minority groups. …