The President was supposed to arrive for his two-day state visit to the U.K. on the morning of May 24. Instead, a plume of volcanic ash from Iceland forced a change of plan that saw POTUS curtail his trip to his ancestral homeland, Ireland, and head for London before Air Force One could be grounded. As officials scrambled to find him a …
France
Paris Reacts To Strauss-Kahn: Do French Elites Deserve Different Laws?
There wasn’t anything particularly French about the enormous attention focused on the New York courtroom hearing Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s successful request for release on bail from Rikers Island imprisonment awaiting trial on charges of attempted rape. But given Strauss-Kahn’s origins and enormous (and now apparently finished) …
Angela Merkel Backs a European for the IMF Job. But Which European Can She Have in Mind?
This morning Angela Merkel made clear that she wishes to see a European replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the helm of the IMF. “It is of course of great importance that we find a quick solution,” she added.
The German Chancellor carefully avoided any hints as to which of the various Europeans mooted for the IMF candidacy might receive …
Global Briefing: Hollow Rhetoric and Bad Ideas
Obama’s Cairo II: At 11:45am EST, President Obama will deliver his latest speech on the Mideast from the State Department. TIME and Global Spin’s Tony Karon writes that the Washington venue is important: “Obama’s Mideast ‘reset’ speech is not aimed primarily at the newly empowered Arab public; its primary audience is Washington, where the …
Schengen Revision: The Backstory To Tightening Europe’s Borders
Mystery solved–of sorts. As noted in a recent Global Spin post on moves to revise the Schengen treaty, alterations now being suggested by European Union officials are curious in two ways. First, they don’t really create any new powers for Schengen member states to re-establish border controls in the face of urgent situations; the …
Signs of Fatigue and Unease as Europe Struggles with Libyan and Syrian Crises
Despite intensified NATO bombings and important gains made by the rebels who are fighting loyalists of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday, it seems increasingly clear that the clock is ticking on the international community’s involvement in Libya’s civil war — and that doubts about the outcomes of other Arab Spring uprisings …
Conservative France Celebrates a Socialist President
If it’s May 10 in France, it must be François Mitterrand Day. Not officially, of course (while the nation has named a library, an embankment of the Seine, and other venues after the late president, it hasn’t gone so far as to honor him with an actual public holiday. Yet…). But anyone passing through France or perusing its national …
Arrested Suspects Increase Speculation Of Al Qaeda Involvement In Marrakech Bombing
A full week after a bomb devastated a popular tourist café in Marrakech killing 16 people and injuring 21 others, Moroccan authorities announced the arrest of three suspects in the attack. Yet despite the information released in the wake of those detentions, it’s still uncertain whether the strike was the work of local extremists …
French National Soccer Rocked By Accusations Of Racist Quotas
In the wake of its 1998 World Cup win, France’s victorious national soccer team was a source of French pride beyond its success in bagging the country’s first world crown. It was also celebrated for its black, blanc, beur make-up: the mix of black, white, and ethnic Arab stars who in the space of a month gelled as a peerless …
EU Revision Proposals For Schengen: A Demonstration Of False Hustle?
The European Commission—the European Union’s executive organ—is slated to present proposals Wednesday responding to the Franco-Italian demand for revision of the 1985 Schengen accords. An excellent story in today’s New York Times offers a forecast of what the EC’s suggestions are likely to include. It also provides a peek into …
Avenging Bin Laden’s Killing: Terrorists Will Need Time
As yesterday’s story following Osama Bin Laden’s death indicated, security officials in Europe don’t foresee the demise of the al Qaeda leader sparking an immediate flurry of retaliation terror strikes by his followers. The logic behind that thinking doesn’t under-estimate the desire for revenge jihadists everywhere are doubtless …
Could Bin Laden’s Death Speed The End To The Afghan War?
As accumulating press reports confirm, intelligence agencies, security officials, and independent experts around the globe agree the death of Osama Bin Laden in no way lowers the curtain on his al Qaeda organization, nor extinguishes the myriad radical groups and individuals sharing its ideology of international jihad. But if there’s …
Six Years After France’s Suburban Project Riots, No Justice For Its Iconic Victims
The decision Wednesday by a French appeals court to drop the case against two police officers implicated in the accidental deaths of youths that sparked nation-wide rioting in France in 2005 offers a reminder of how little things have changed for France’s blighted suburban housing projects since those dark days. Thankfully, …
