As far as scandals go, it’s the gift that keeps giving—and now it’s starting to give French President Nicolas Sarkozy the same pain in the derrière that it previously inflicted on his fellow conservatives. “It” is the now notorious “affaire Bettencourt”—a tangle of allegations involving manipulation, influence …
It’s a small, real-time world, and it’s now evident no niche is too elite or removed from it to withstand a fad that has gone viral. Take France’s rich folk, who have turned billionaire businessman Warren Buffet into the hottest trend-setter among the globe’s super-wealthy by echoing his attention-grabbing New York Times …
As polls have persistently shown both leading candidates in France’s Socialist Party presidential primary beating conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in mock elections over the months, Elysée advisers have confidently predicted voters will again swing behind their champion en masse once he starts campaigning on his bilan—or, …
After a certain point, it was probably fated to be so. But less than 24 hours after a New York judge dismissed the criminal case against former International Monetary fund chief for sexual assault, it’s clear the outcome of the drama that mesmerized much of the world leaves everyone a loser. In the end, virtually everybody will …
No one thought Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his hard-core supporters would go away easily, and more than 48 hours after rebel forces stormed the capital of Tripoli, that determination to dig in was still evident. But if few observers believe Gaddafi’s renewed efforts to prove his regime remains a force to reckon with can turn …
If the dramatic advances in recent days that have taken opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi toward — then into — Tripoli have thus far elicited only the most careful responses from tight-lipped Western leaders, there’s a good chance those officials are showing more emotion over the conflict, which is apparently nearing …
Politicians are notorious cynics, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy may be in a league of his own when it comes to exploiting collective crises in the hopes of creating personal gain. That is precisely what he was up to Tuesday during his joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, where he sought extend a …
It says a lot about the dramatic crisis facing the euro zone when the leaders of its two biggest economies go into a highly scrutinized summit amid promises, assurances, and even a form of hype stressing that nothing much will come from it. But that’s precisely the buzz surrounding this afternoon’s Paris meeting between German …
It may wind up proving to be nothing more than mere politics, but if the re-thinking now being expressed by French Socialists about the country’s engagement in Afghanistan is in earnest, it could have some serious consequences for the military operations Paris is already involved in—and any more than might be looming.
On …
Spreading chaos stokes rising fear. People rush to secure or otherwise protect valuables suddenly exposed to threat. Every 24 hours or so, mobs of faceless people converge anew to form an unpredictable, menacingly amorphous force whose destructive power strikes terror throughout society. Distraught citizens look on at the frenzy with the …
With the violence that broke out in London Saturday having spread to other English cities during a third straight night of rioting Monday, it’s tempting (and probably portentous) from the comfort of Paris to offer up lessons learned from the nearly three weeks of upheaval that rocked French towns in 2005. Yet while there seem to be …
Does Friday’s decision by French justice officials to open a legal investigation into abuse of power allegations against Christine Lagarde mean the International Monetary Fund head risks losing her job less than a month after succeeding the disgraced Dominique Strauss-Kahn? The short answer is no, and for many reasons. Still, that …
It didn’t take for confirmation of our warning last week that the initial report into the causes of the 2009 crash of Air France flight 447 wouldn’t stifle debate about who was to blame for the calamity. Less than a week after France’s official Bureau of Investigations and Analyses (BEA) issued a preliminary finding stating …
