Angela to Sarkozy: some restraint, please!

Poor Angela Merkel! When one is the only woman in a male club of global politicians one has to put up with certain things one had not expected. First it was George Bush with his back massage, remember? Read the rest of this entry »

An Islamic veil versus French citizenship

A ruling to deny citizenship to a Muslim woman has caused a stir in France where President Sarkozy has stressed the importance of integration into French life as part of a tougher immigration policy. Read the rest of this entry »

Are nuclear plants safe?

The price of oil and global warming have been two contributing facts for many countries and politicians – from the American presidential hopeful John McCain to the Italian government- to propose the building of new nuclear reactors. Read the rest of this entry »

The French strike mentality and May

A French friend told me yesterday, “we French don’t let politicians walk all over us.” It is true that of the many things the French do in their own way, and believe me there are a few, what really differentiates them from citizens of other Read the rest of this entry »

Two hours of Sarkozy!

Last Friday I published an article about the French president’s TV interview. As I had written it before it happened, I thought I could elaborate a little about what transpired during the almost two hours (it had been planned for 90 minutes) that it lasted. As I was curious about how he will go about it, I stayed glued to the TV watching Nicolas Sarkozy explaining and unambiguously defending his planned reforms as well as some of his positions on national and international politics. Read the rest of this entry »

Sarkozy on the hot seat

Yesterday evening, Thursday April 24th at 8 p.m. French time, Nicolas Sarkozy, the now beset French president gave a 90 minute TV interview direct from the Elysée, the presidential palace. With this appearance, on the anniversary of the first year in power, the government hopes to get back some of the public support. According to polls the majority of French people think his first year in office has been a failure and a great number are dissatisfied and confused over the supposed reforms his government has proposed. Most of the hardest reforms, such as general pensions and health care, remain to be made and the economic downturn leaves little room for maneuver. Read the rest of this entry »

Will the ‘La Marseillaise” be sung in Afghanistan?

Just because Sarkozy announced at the NATO summit last week that French troops would be sent to Afghanistan does not mean that it is necessarily going to happen. There is a big resistance to it in France, among the people and among the different political parties. As could be expected, the socialist party specially are unanimously opposed to a political alignment with the United States. They put forward the bogging down of the Afghan conflict with it’s human costs and denounce what they call “the Atlantic turning” of the French politics.

Among the intellectuals, the idea has also not been well accepted. According to the well known French historian Emmanuel Todd the reinforcement of the French troops in Afghanistan is a grave diplomatic error and would show the outline of an extreme right ideology at a global scale.
This is obviously the opinion from somebody from the left though if one talks with the French people in the streets many of them are convinced Sarkozy has an obsession with the USA and he is going to do his best to agree with the Americans. Having been “burned” by Bush and his foreign policy the French will not give Sarkozy the “carte blanche” and it is not so sure that ‘La Marseillaise’ will be sung in Afghanistan!