Observers weren’t expecting much from the mini-summit Thursday in Strasbourg, France, where French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Italian leader Mario Monti met to discuss Europe’s dire debt crisis. Such lowered expectations proved well-founded. Because even as the situation threatening the …
France
Death of Danielle Mitterrand, Hailed Human Rights Activist (And François’ Wife, Too)
It might be inviting to react to the death of former French first lady Danielle Mitterrand as the closing of the historical book on the legacy of her husband, France’s late president François Mitterrand. That reading, however, would unfairly short-change both the impact that Madame Mitterrand herself had on public affairs, and her …
Despite a Tougher IAEA Report, It’s Business as Usual on Iran’s Nuclear Program
The Washington spin on the IAEA resolution agreed Thursday is that it “sharply criticizes” Iran — or, more accurately, expresses “deep and increasing concern about the unresolved issues” about the nuclear program Tehran insists is purely peaceful, but which the UN nuclear watchdog has alleged may have have included research work, …
The Euro Zone Crisis: Are the Merkozy Headed for Divorce?
The seamless partnership France and Germany forged in past weeks now shows signs of fraying as both countries spar over the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) and proposals to mutualize euro zone debt. By pooling financial liabilities and assets across the 17-nation euro zone, stronger nations like Germany and France could back …
Israel and Iran: Covert Warfare Raises Risks of Retaliation, and Conflagration
If Iran’s leaders actually believe their official insistence that last weekend’s blast at the Bid Ganeh Revolutionary Guard Corps missile base was an accident, the event is unlikely to make any difference to regional stability. But if Iran, instead, believes claims — and widely held suspicions in Tehran — that the blast, which …
DSK Is Done: Latest Scandal Nixes Prospect of a Return to French Public Life
At this point, writing an update on the continuing travails of former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn seems a bit like flogging a deader than dead horse. But because unfolding developments appear to be delivering the coup de grace to any hopes Strauss-Kahn had of returning to public life–and reportedly …
Whither the European (Dis)Union?
Is significantly greater integration the surest way to prevent both the euro and even the entire European Union from blowing apart? Or is EU federation–and the basic powers national governments now wield being weakened in the process–exactly the kind of radical fusion certain to send countries jealous of their sovereignty fleeing …
Europe’s Debt Tragicomedy: Horror Show Turns Into Shambolic Farce
There are occasions when even the scariest of movies will push the atmosphere of dread, danger, and doom a bit too far, and leave the scenario of improbable horror and panic feeling just stupid. That moment has arrived in Nightmare On Euro Street, as people who watched Europe’s escalating crisis through their fingers in terror begin …
Nuke Report Unlikely to Break the Stalemate, Could Iran Be the New Cuba?
Game changer? Hardly. As the dust settles on this week’s release of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on Iran, it’s become clear that pre-release hype from Western officials that it would produce a dramatic shift in the international standoff over that country’s nuclear program appears to be wishful thinking. …
Thwarted at the U.N., Is Palestinian Leader Abbas Headed Off Into the Sunset?
President Mahmoud Abbas’ attempt to persuade the U.N. Security Council to admit a state of Palestine as a full member of the international body has, all too predictably, hit a wall. The technical U.N. committee to which the issue was referred , not surprisingly, failed to reach a consensus (because there’s no consensus among Council …
Sarkozy to Obama: “I Cannot Bear Netanyahu. He’s a Liar.”
Despite the protective efforts of some of the courtlier members of the Fourth Estate, what the President of France said to the president of the United States about the Prime Minister of Israel was on front pages Wednesday, along with what the American president said in reply.
“I cannot bear Netanyahu. He’s a liar,” Nicolas Sarkozy …
France’s New Austerity Measures: Is It Too Late to Put Out the Fire?
French Prime Minister François Fillon unveiled another batch of debt-reduction measures Monday—and in so doing officially removed the word “austerity” from the blacklist of political correctness to which it had been banished. Instead Fillon rehabilitated the term as the weapon capable of preventing contagion of the euro zone …
At Cannes G20 Summit, Europe’s Currency and Leadership Pushed to the Brink
They may be clichés, but the phrases “life isn’t always fair”, and “things don’t necessarily work out the way you’d like” are cruel realities that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has to be ruefully mulling over just now. Rather than basking in the sunlight of a France-presided G20 summit meant to usher in major …