For many people outside France, François Hollande is the man—or the name, at least—they’ve heard will be leading the French left’s effort to oust conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in general elections next spring. But for many people beyond France, that’s all they know about Hollande–apart perhaps from the supposedly …
E.U.
Hollande Wins French Socialist Primary, Looks to the Battle Ahead with Sarkozy
Though it may seem cliché to say so, it’s nevertheless true that with his party’s 2012 presidential nomination now secured, the hard work for French Socialist candidate François Hollande is about to begin. With the first round of presidential polling a bit more than six months away, the popular Hollande now becomes the …
Fox Outfoxed: Fresh Revelations Force U.K. Defense Secretary to Quit
Liam Fox must have realized he could not outrun his fate. And so on Oct. 14 Britain’s Secretary of State for Defense delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street. “I have repeatedly said that the national interest must always come before personal interest,” he wrote. “I now have to hold myself to my own standard.”
Fox’s resignation …
French Revolution: Provinces Upending Myth Of Parisian Supremacy
Paris has always maintained a nervy relationship with the nation’s regions—a remnant, to some degree, of Jacobin centralization of the country from the capital, and imposition of policies, administrative structures, culture and language of Paris upon France’s diverse provincial populations. Indeed, in his brilliant 2007 book, …
Obama’s Iran Dilemma: How to Respond to a Plot Seemingly Designed to Provoke Escalation?
The fact that President Barack Obama on Thursday found himself insisting that the facts support his Administration’s efforts to hold Tehran accountable for a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington suggests that the world is not yet rushing to fall in line with his call for “the toughest sanctions” on Iran.
The “toughest …
A Question of 140 Characters: British MPs Vote for Twitter
A glance at the Reporters’ Gallery of the House of Commons indicates how rich and deep Britain’s tradition of political satire runs. Sketch writers—journalists employed to distill their rare understanding of Westminster’s doings and beings into intense bursts of snark—hog the front seats, craning to capture details that transform the …
French Prosecutors Drop Attempted Rape Charge Against DSK
The legal proceedings against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault and attempted rape continued thinning out Thursday, as French prosecutors dropped their inquiry into charges the former International Monetary Fund chief attacked French author Tristane Banon during a 2003 meeting. But that decision by French justice …
French Media Errors Cause Second Death Of A “Hero”
Ours is an era where going viral is considered a sign of achievement, where being late with a trending item is the paragon of lame, yet where the mind-boggling proliferation of news sources has somehow resulted in the considerable reduction of topics and events covered by an often echoing press. One consequence of that is it’s no …
Will the Washington Bomb Plot Force Obama into War with Iran?
“We are not talking to Iran, so we don’t understand each other,” outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last month. “If something happens, it’s virtually assured that we won’t get it right — that there will be miscalculation, which could be extremely dangerous …
Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Who Dat?
As French Socialist heavyweights Martine Aubry and François Hollande gear up for their Oct. 16 run-off in the contest to select the party’s 2012 presidential candidate, other leftist leaders have joined media pundits to hail the enormous public interest and enthusiasm generated by a primary process whose success was anything but …
Who Gains, Who Loses in Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap to Free Gilad Shalit?
Win-win outcomes are all too rare in the Middle East, but the agreement that will see Hamas free captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for a reported 1,000 Palestinian prisoners will allow each of its stakeholders to claim victory.
Details of the deal concluded in Cairo under Egyptian mediation remain sketchy, but it is …
Court Convicts Ukraine’s Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
The judge read out the guilty verdict, and Yulia Tymoshenko’s supporters shouted “Shame!”
This afternoon a court ruled that Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former Prime Minister, had acted against the national interest when she signed a natural gas deal with Russia in 2009, leading to $190 million in damages to Ukraine’s state-run …
Will Britain’s Defense Secretary Lose His Shirt in Gamble on a Close Friend?
Say what you like about Britain’s beleaguered Defense Secretary Dr Liam Fox—and substantial sections of Westminster’s press corps have been doing just that as questions mount up about the proprieties of one of Fox’s closest friendships—he’s well connected. The compact Scot and former medical doctor was once linked by the tabloid …