On the stump, she warmed up (or rather, berated) supporters by complaining about how her husband is an underdog even after he keeps winning primary and caucus after primary and caucus. With a scowl etched on her face, she bellyached that "the bar is constantly changing for this man." Call the waambulance, stat.
I like the duck-billed platypus Because it is anomalous. I like the way it raises its family Partly birdly, partly mammaly. I like its independent attitude. Let no one call it a duck-billed platitude.
U.K. Media Blames France, but Meterologists Say French Not Responsible
It was so bad, (How bad was it?) Even the Queen was bothered:
Not even the queen was spared, as newspapers reported that Windsor Castle also suffered from the effects of the putrid smell.
Sheesh! At least the national pride remain intact:
The foul smell was not English, Sarah Holland, a forecaster for the Met Office told the BBC. "The origins of the smell come from Europe," she said.
Here it goes:
British tabloid, The Daily Mail was quick to attack the French for "le stink," reporting that "freak weather" had caused the "French stench" to come to England.
Pepe le Pew? Alors, non!
according to Helen Chivers, a forecaster at the Met Office, the smell actually came across "from Northern Europe."
Mr Attias, 48, was the Moroccan-born Jewish lover Miss Ciganer-Albeniz, 50, left her ex-husband for in 2005, only to return to Mr Sarkozy's side in the run-up to the French presidential elections last year.
I probably ran into her at the time. One day I was in New York walking down Fifth Avenue by one of the hotels. There were a couple of guys with cameras across the street, and on the same sidewalk. Suddenly they all picked up their cameras and started taking pictures of a woman wearing jeans and a white shirt who had just come out of the hotel with a man by her side. The following Thursday, I saw the photograph of the woman on the cover of the latest Parish Match. But I digress.
Cecilia's wedding was held at the Rainbow Room on the Rockerfeller Centre's 65th floor and featured singers from the Harlem Gospel Choir, and was preceeded by a three-day celebration involving dinners and a trip to see the Broadway musical Mamma Mia. Somebody must like Abba, but the musical has a wedding theme.
In an interview, Mr Sarkozy said that it was time to reinvent the cross-Channel relationship from the strategic co-operation enshrined in the entente cordiale to become one of genuine closeness and "hand-in-glove" warmth. ...
Launching a charm offensive designed to realign French foreign policy, Mr Sarkozy told the BBC via a translator: "Whoever the British leader may be he will need others, other Europeans.
"And how can we do without your strong economy, your language which is the most spoken language throughout the world — do without your defence, which is the most significant in Europe? I want a new Franco-British brotherhood."
He emphasised France's commitment to the Nato-led alliance in Afghanistan, saying that his country had no intention of pulling out troops and may even be prepared to send in more.
"In Afghanistan what's at stake, it's part of our battle against world terrorism," he said. "Do we need a new strategy in Afghanistan? Perhaps. Placing more trust in the Afghans themselves? The answer is yes.
"Is the only response in Afghanistan a military one? Obviously not. Does France intend to pull out? Obviously not.
"We have to see how long we are prepared to stay...If all the terms and conditions are met, why not send in more troops?"
The Sarkos will be in the UK for thirty-six hours.
President Nicolas Sarkozy affirmed France's commitment to a strategy of nuclear deterrence, saying that countries in the Middle East and Asia are developing missiles that pose a threat to Europe.
"Everyone must be aware today that powerful nuclear missiles can reach Europe in less than half an hour," Sarkozy said in the Channel port of Cherbourg on a visit to France's latest and fourth nuclear-powered submarine, Le Terrible.
"I am thinking in particular of Iran," Sarkozy said in a speech to military personnel. "Iran is increasing the range of its missiles, while serious suspicions surround its nuclear program. It is Europe's security that is the issue."
Possibly to counter the Iranian threat, Sarkozy has been paying a lot of attention to the Middle East and Arab countries:
He's currently pushing his "Club Med" idea, i.e., the Union for the Mediterranean. So far it's not flying,
Analysts blame the disappointing results of the process so far partly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also on Mediterranean governments' poor record in using the EU funds on offer.
Why indeed, when they have the mullahs breathing down their necks? Especially if companies that develop and build the nuclear power plants are owned primarily by the French government?
Mr Sarkozy said the reduction to fewer than 300 missiles would leave France with "half the maximum number of warheads we had during the Cold War".
But he also insisted he was committed to France's nuclear deterrent, saying it was its "life-insurance policy".
He made the comments in a major defence policy speech after inaugurating a new nuclear-armed submarine, the Terrible.
Let's hope the Terrible works better than its name implies, but let's ask one question: Is it a good idea to reduce the nuclear arsenal while trying to prevent the Iranians from starting one?
UDPATE: Via commenter Pat Patterson,
I forgot to point out that the missiles that Pres. Sarkozy is deactivating are all older models with single warheads. All the rest and the newer models are MIRV with 6 nuclear devices each, 1800 in all. I feel the aura of peace already.
The lack of curiosity by the press about Obama’s connections to one of the most corrupt city governments in the United States should be one of the big media stories of this campaign. While it is true that Obama's connections to the Machine are not as extensive as many other politicians, I've got news for you Obama apologists; try running for any office in Chicago – local, state, or federal – and see how far you get without support from the regular Democrats.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy married supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni at the Elysee Palace on Saturday, French radio reported quoting several witnesses.
Two radio stations said the pair tied the knot at a low-key ceremony conducted by the mayor of the Paris district that houses the grandiose Elysee estate.
"The bride was wearing white and was ravishing," mayor Francois Lebel told Europe 1 radio. "The bridegroom wasn't bad either," he added, without naming the couple.
The curious case of Societe Generale's Jerome Kerviel
I've been reading about Jerome Kerviel since the story of his $7,000,000,000 loss first hit the news.
All along I keep asking myself, is he the fall guy?
How can a trader (not a manager, partner or senior partner) who was in profit by nearly $2 billionat the start of 2008 lose that kind of money that fast without anyone noticing, especially when SG was looking into his transactions since last April?
Considering how Che Guevara bankrupt the Cuban bankins system, at least the analogy holds.
Because of the ridiculousness of French employment laws, SG can't fire him right now
Société Générale has stopped paying Mr. Kerviel and told him not to come to the office, but it hasn't managed to formally fire him. French law stipulates that to do that, the bank must first call him in for a sit-down meeting and explain its dissatisfaction. He has the right to bring along a trade-union official, a lawyer or anyone else he'd like.
That will be complicated: A pair of Paris judges this week released Mr. Kerviel from custody but forbade him to have contact with the bank. "This is a very peculiar case," says Emmanuel Dockès, a law professor at l'Université Lyon 2, Mr. Kerviel's alma mater in central France.
The article points out that apparently Kerviel didn't profit personally from all those high-risk transactions over the past two years.
My guts tell me that even if Kerviel didn't profit, somebody at SG did.
It's a sign of my present state of mind that I can't even start to tell you, but it has a lot to do with politics.
I'm looking into taking tango lessons: Tango is difficult enough it should take all my concentration to do well in it, and the physical activity should keep my mind off politics when I'm not blogging about... politics.
I must be going through some developmental stage, or maybe one of the above primary stages.
Thompson didn't give off the usual political vibe: the gnawing need to please, the craving for the public's love. A few voters and journalists found this refreshing, many more found it insulting. Some just found it fascinating, in a clinical sort of way: What kind of politician isn't consumed by politics--and what kind of campaign would such a politician run? Well, now we know. If Thompson could plausibly avoid an overnight campaign trip, he did, preferring to return home to his wife and children in suburban Virginia. He spent an inordinate amount of time with his briefing books.
When I remarked to my friend that Fred's exactly the kind of guy I like, he replied that I obviously like guys that are too sane to be politicians, a point Andrew Ferguson makes in his article,
The man or woman who seeks out such a life and enjoys its discomforts is not normal. Not crazy necessarily, but not normal, and probably, when the chips are down, not to be trusted, especially when the purpose of it all is to acquire power over other people (also called, in the delicate language of contemporary politics, "public service" or "getting things done on behalf of the American people"). The case is made, in defense of the contemporary campaign, that this is an efficient if unlovely way to choose leaders: It winnows out those who lack the stamina and discipline necessary to lead a rich, large, powerful, and complicated country. By this argument, Thompson failed because he deserved to.
But the opposite case is easier to make--that the modern campaign excludes anyone who lacks the narcissism, cold-bloodedness, and unreflective nature that the process requires and rewards.
But artists like Fairey, and they are legion in our society, are really just -- like their fans -- playing at feeling oppressed. They actually have no experience with a real oppressive society. If they had their lives and work would not be nearly so glib.
An alternate point of view is on display daily at a site called "The People's Cube." This site is run by a talented artist who grew up under real oppression in the Soviet Union and managed to get out and start a new life here; a life who's liberty he values. He's not a "pretend" propaganda artist, but a man with experience in the real thing. His name is Oleg Atbashian.
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives. ... Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.
Fertility treatment and "social" abortions are also on the list of procedures that many doctors say should not be funded by the state.
I wonder what the American abortion-on-demand crowd would say to that.
But don't expect the British hospital doctors to want to look after you when you are old and ailing:
One in three said that elderly patients should not be given free treatment if it were unlikely to do them good for long. Half thought that smokers should be denied a heart bypass, while a quarter believed that the obese should be denied hip replacements.
Those unwilling to trust that there is meaning to universe can still hope there will be beds available at the NHS or compassion in the heart of a bureaucrat.
Do we tell the poor who tend to have more physical illnesses than more wealthy folk "Sorry, your poor choices of food, tobacco, alcohol, fill in the blank have made treatment for you impossible?"
Do we tell the elderly that "Sorry, your age makes you a poor candidate for open heart surgery?"
Do we empty the nursing homes because some of those patients won't ever get better?
Do we pull a Terri Schiavo on our handicapped because afterall, most handicapps are life long?
The fact of the matter is, that eventually choices must be made because as one commenter at Tom Smith's article noted it is either on the front end with insurance or on the back end with national health care. And, despite the Democrat pie in the sky dreaming, we cannot possibly provide all health care to all people in the country at any reasonable cost.
Another thing that those who praise the "free Cuban health care system" don't want you to know is that the medics regularly have to come to your house and go through your personal effects searching for evidence of your personal habits, such as the drugs you take, whether you smoke, and what you drink. How many Americans would be willing to even contemplate the thought of having a government employee violate their privacy for the sake of "free" health care?
But what about France, you ask? On March 18, 2006 I posted a list of links from the BBC on how the French health care system fails its patients. (you might have to go to the March 2006 archive and scroll down).
Instead of one hot, recognizable style, retailers this spring will be pushing a variety of styles and brands, many of them lesser-known. Intermix, a high-end New York-based retail chain, is making a big push for handbags from labels such as Zagliani and Lanvin. Scoop is stressing Jamin Puech, Whiting & Davis and other relatively unknown, expensive brands. For spring, Henri Bendel is picking up LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton's brand Loewe, which is popular in Asia but hasn't been widely sold in the U.S.
Sarko pushes for French naval base in Abu Dhabi, sells nuclear power
Sarko's been trying hard to re-establish France as a power in the Middle East, and has plans for a French naval base in Abu Dhabi.
First, there are the nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Libya, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco: Sarkozy Pushes Nuclear Energy in Mideast
Currently the world's most aggressive salesman for nuclear power, Sarkozy has visited multiple Muslim states in the last six weeks -- including the globe's biggest oil producers -- to peddle French nuclear technology or make multibillion-dollar deals.
"Why should Arab countries be deprived of the energy of the future?"
Why indeed, when they have the mullahs breathing down their necks? Especially if companies that develop and build the nuclear power plants are owned primarily by the French government?
Sarko's nuclear proliferation plans don't stop with a vision of a Mediterranean cooperation council (whatever that may mean),
Argentina, Chile, Vietnam and Indonesia also are reportedly discussing the possibility of buying French-designed reactors.
May I indulge in a little speculation? Let's say that Hugo persuades the FARC to release French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt. Woudln't Venezuela be included in this group?
This projects France into the complex politics of the Gulf, identifying it even more closely with Gulf Arab countries which have expressed concern about the future policies of Iran.
President Sarkozy appears willing to accept that this exposes France to the risks involved in such a sensitive area, highlighted by the confrontation between Iranian speedboats and US naval ships recently. There is also a dispute between Abu Dhabi and Iran over three small islands in the Strait of Hormuz. The president said the base was agreed at the request of the Emirates.
That's in addition to the two nuclear power reactors that the French will build in Abu Dhabi.
Nuclear proliferation, and military expansion, a la francaise.
Never mind a mild whiff of realpolitik
The French base agreement coincides with a major visit to the region by President Bush, during which he has criticised Iran.
France might be seen as aligning itself more openly with the US, which maintains its own large base in Bahrain for the Fifth Fleet and which has also been selling arms to Gulf countries.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is believed to have married former Italian supermodel Carla Bruni at a small private ceremony held at the Elysee palace last week, a French newspaper reported Monday.
In a report posted on its website, L'Est Republicain newspaper quoted an unnamed "source close to a witness who attended the ceremony" as saying that it was a "small, very private" affair held at the presidential palace on Thursday.
Presidential spokesman David Martinon declined to comment on the report.
Sarkozy, 52, told a news conference last week that his relationship with 40-year-old Bruni was "serious" and suggested he planned to marry the former supermodel and pop singer.
"There is a strong chance that you will learn about it once it's already been done," the president said.
The Journal du Dimanche reported earlier that the couple would marry around February 9.
Rumours about an imminent marriage have been flying since last week and a Paris city hall office in the chic 16th district was besieged by journalists on Thursday who had received a tip-off that the couple were getting married there.
L'Est Republicain journalist Laid Sammari, who wrote the article, told AFP the newspaper had "good reason" to decide to run the story, but added that he was being cautious "because I did not personally attend the ceremony."
Sarkozy on Monday visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar as part of a tour of Gulf countries and was to head to Dubai on Tuesday.
An AFP journalist traveling with the president said he was not wearing a wedding ring on Monday.
In October, Sarkozy became the first French president to divorce while in office when he ended his stormy 11-year marriage to Cecilia Ciganer-Albaniz, with whom he has a 10-year-old son, Louis.
He also has two sons, Pierre, 22, and Jean, 21, from a previous marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli.
Born into a wealthy Turin tyre-manufacturing family, Bruni has a six-year-old son with the philosopher Raphael Enthoven, but she has never married.
Bruni's previous affairs with such rock stars as Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton have made tabloid headlines and she was quoted in a French magazine last year as saying "Monogamy bores me terribly".
After visiting Egypt and Jordan with Sarkozy last month, she may accompany Sarkozy on a state visit to India later this month.
The latest rumours about the marriage drew criticism from opposition Socialists that Sarkozy was putting too much of his private life on public display.
Sarkozy's rival in the presidential election, Segolene Royal, charged that the president "has decided to turn events in his private life into public events, like Louis XIV."
"It's a bit like the monarchy, where an event in the king's private life become a political event," Royal told French radio.
Sarkozy's second wife Cecilia lost a bid in court last week to block the release of a book in which she is quoted as described the president as a womaniser and uncaring father.
The book "Cecilia" by journalist Anna Bitton has become a best-seller in French bookstores.
With Sarko's two prior divorces and his reputation as a ladie's man, and her prior history of being "the other woman" who came between Jerri and Mick, and Donald and Marla, this is going to be tabloid heaven a la francaise.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned the international community must not let Afghanistan fall into the hands of extremists like the Taleban. He was speaking on a one-day visit to Kabul where he met his counterpart, Hamid Karzai, and was due to see some of the 1,300 French troops based there.
Mr Sarkozy recently pledged France's support for the US in Afghanistan.
He said the French troops, currently 1,900, would help the Afghan army, police, administration and judiciary. Sarkozy said a decision on troop numbers was due in the next few weeks.
Taliban leader Mullah Omar on Tuesday called on foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan. Diplomats and the local military have called for a new strategy to fight the rebels.
"What is certain is that we have not wanted to give the signal of departure, that would have been a despicable signal at a time when one sees the ravages inflicted by terrorism in the world," Sarkozy said.
Britain, which has about 7,800 troops operating in Afghanistan, part of a 40,000-strong NATO stabilisation force, is expected to increase that number over time as it draws down in Iraq, but no formal announcement has been made.
Did you know Sarko's horse is named Universe? Well, Here you have it:
France's UMP political party presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy speaks with accompanying journalists aboard a tractor as he rides "Universe" on a ranch in Saintes-Maries de la Mer, southeastern France, April 20, 2007.
For those of you asking, Napoleon didn't ride the Universe.
We started by mentioning Eugene Schlanger's excellent book of poems Wall Street Sonnets, which I highly recommend (and which you can buy at the Underbahn link if you live in the EU. American readers should buy it here). Underbahn is also the publisher of Houdna
Erik's written three books, La Bannière Étalée, and two General Leonardo graphic novels, all of which I hope will be available in English soon. Don't miss also Erik's essay on patriotism.
But as the conversation turned to Gaddafi's current trip to the EU, Siggy mentioned Gaddafi's big water project. Mind you, this is not new - but it carries huge implications to the region.
In one of the largest construction projects in the world, engineers are trying to "mine" ice age rainfall, now locked in the sandstone beneath the Sahara, and convey it to Libyan cities and farms along a vast waterworks.
The project is almost invisible, except when something goes wrong. ... But the option that Colonel Qaddafi chose — the extensive pipeline and pumping system that bores into the earth to draw down nonrenewable reserves of fossil water — is now about half completed on a landscape twice the size of Texas and has been delivering water for more than a decade, with occasional interruptions for repairs.
Libya had oil money to pay for the project, but it did not have the technical or engineering expertise for such a massive undertaking.
Foreign companies from South Korea, Turkey, Germany, Japan, the Philippines and the UK were invited to help.
It is impossible not to be impressed with the scale of the project In September 1993, Phase I water from eastern well-fields at Sarir and Tazerbo reached Benghazi. Three years later, Phase II, bringing water to Tripoli from western well-fields at Jebel Hassouna, was completed.
Phase III which links the first two Phases is still under construction.
When it's finished, the Grand Omar Mukhtar will be Libya's largest man-made reservoir.
Siggy will be posting on this later on, I hope.
For now, go listen to the podcast. I'm sure you will enjoy it!
Gaddafi also took a boat trip down the Seine, after insisting that all the capital's bridges be closed to traffic and pedestrians. On Thursday his bodyguards came to blows in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel with security personnel accompanying former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Never mind that pseky torture lawsuit; Muammar's been immune from prosecution in France since 2001.
It's not clear whether the French deals involved 10 billion euros, or 3 billion euros. What's interesting is that this tour is part of a planned "Mediterranean Union", one of Sarko's pet projects:
To Sarkozy Libya is a linchpin in his plan for a "Mediterranean Union" to defuse tension with Muslim countries.
He visited France last week and paid a private visit to the Andalusia region of southern Spain over the weekend. On Monday he held talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos and on Tuesday he is scheduled to meet business representatives. It is the Libyan leader's first official trip to Spain.
He was greeted at Madrid airport by Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso. He then traveled to El Pardo palace on the Spanish capital's outskirts where he was greeted by the king.
In keeping with the desert tradition of his region, Gadhafi has had a green Bedouin tent set up in the gardens of the Pardo to receive guests. The Pardo palace is the official residence for dignitaries visiting Spain.
Spanish firms could also secure bids for 10 billion of the 50 billion dollars which Libya plans to spend to develop its infrastructure, the statement added.
PARIS, DECEMBER 13 - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi showed himself as champion of women's rights, including of European women, denouncing their "tragic condition" during a conference in Paris yesterday.
On the third day of his controversial visit in France, the Colonel spoke of the 'Situation of the Women in the World' in front of one thousand women, almost all of African origin and almost all veiled, in a luxury hall of the Gabriel palace on the Champs-Elysees. "Welcome, Your Excellency," hundreds of women said in chorus when Gaddafi entered the hall.
"Gaddafi wants the French women to rise at his arrival," warned Khadija Khali, president of the French Union of Muslim Women and of a pro-Libyan association, who organised the meeting.
Applauded when he denounced "the injustices" towards the African women, the Libyan leader received softer applause when he criticised the "tragic conditions of the woman in Europe, forced sometimes to do work which she refuses", such as mechanic or bricklayer. "I want to save the European woman who is struggling," assured the leader of the Libyan revolution.
The audience were invited to ask questions, but without making Gaddafi "angry", Mrs Khali reminded.
After the end of the conference, France Presse collected some critical opinions. "I came here to see what he had to say," commented for example Catherine Chastenet, president of the association 'Femmes et libertes'. "How can he say he has done much for women in the world when he tortured the Bulgarian nurses?" she asks herself. (ANSAmed).
I haven't had a chance until now to post about it but for the past two days I've been following the stories on Gaddafi's excellent Parisian adventure. Here's the short version:
He came, he pitched a tent, he conquered.
Here's the tent: And now for the details: Gaddafi (he of the multiple spellings - Gaddafi, Kadhafi, whatever) spent five days in Paris, accompanied by his bodyguard babes, and left with several deals, not the least of which is "a co-operation accord to develop the peaceful use of nuclear energy".
We all have heard about "peaceful use of nuclear energy" in other quarters.
Beeb has more on the deals, and it's worth noting that
France is the first Western country to welcome Col Gaddafi since he took the decision to end the country's diplomatic isolation four years ago.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday dismissed those who criticise his human rights record as coffee-drinking intellectuals who stood idly by while he fought to change things.
At least he didn't call them "tea-drinking intellectuals". Sarko likes to get his shirt wet, or so it seems:
"It is all well and good to never get your shirt wet, to take no risks, to stay on the sidelines, to speak to no one, to be so sure of one's self and what one believes in while sipping one's cafe creme on the boulevard Saint-Germain," he said, referring to a traditionally intellectual, rich area of Paris.
Muammer Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, yesterday began a five-day visit to Paris to buy arms, nuclear power and civil airliners, triggering a storm of criticism from campaigners and an outburst from a government minister who said France should not accept his "kiss of death".
Moammar Gadhafi swept into town with all the trappings of his Bedouin heritage Monday and got straight to business, cutting $14.7 billion in deals for arms and nuclear reactors on his first official visit to the West since renouncing terrorism and atomic weapons. ... President Nicolas Sarkozy defended the visit, saying it is France's duty to encourage states that move toward international respectability.
I still think the word "nuclear reactor" shouldn't be on the same sentence as the guy who's connected to "Lockerbie, Scotland", no matter how graceful the move toward international respectability.
Daniel thinks that Sarko "has shown to be someone ready to do anything for a fat check for French goods offer."
What strikes me about Sarkozy's attitude is its total absence of embarrassment, the lack of any attempt to excuse or explain: business trumps human rights. Full stop. Contrast this with the behaviour of Gordon Brown and the British government when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia came on his state visit to London six weeks ago. Embarrassment oozed out of every British pore. We really don't want to do this and wish we didn't have to, was the clear message - never spoken out loud - but we'd better, because the Saudis help us catch terrorists and buy things from us. Human rights? Jolly important, but we won't mention it now, in case they get cross; but we assure you we're working on it behind the scenes.
The British and French governments were doing the same thing - entertaining a tainted head of state to make money. Sarkozy did it openly, almost proudly; Brown hypocritically. The prime minister did, it's true, demonstrate his human-rights credentials with his easy, unnecessary, pointless and possibly counter-productive boycott of the EU-Africa summit last week, because Robert Mugabe was there. But then, Zimbabwe isn't buying billions of pounds' worth of British goods.
Erik Svane, on the other hand, notices a difference:
Although Kadhafi's Paris visit has led to a number of criticisms by French lawmakers (notice reactions like the crybaby Christiane D's agreeing with the dictator as well as pouting how much the Iraq war had led to suffering for… Europe — Europe, for Christ's sake!), heaven forbid that there be any demonstrations like that in Paris when George W Bush came to commorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day.
Heaven forbid as well that there would have been a glowing reception given to the American president like the Ritz event described by Ariane Chemin in Le Monde in which Kadhafi is told he has nothing but friends and is oohed and aahed over by Paris's intelligentsia.
The question remains, Did Sarkozy tackle human rights with Colonel Gaddafi? Sarko told France2 TV anchor David Pujadas, "No, absolutely not"; at the same time Sarko says he told Gaddafi that more needed to be done "to improve human rights in Libya.
Mr Sarkozy argues that it is sterile to oppose an idealistic to a realistic brand of foreign policy. He believes you can pursue both. Even as he pushes arms contracts and entertains the likes of Mr Qaddafi, he is also sending over 1,000 French peacekeepers to the Darfur border. France is ready to talk to anybody who tries to improve their behaviour. As Mr Sarkozy asked, “what would we say to Iranian leaders if we did not offer a hand to a Libyan leader who has himself chosen to turn his back on nuclear arms and terrorism?”
The trouble arises when one pursues moral diplomacy and realpolitik with the same country. Were the arms contracts from Libya part of the deal to free the Bulgarian nurses? Mr Sarkozy says not, but the terms are being looked at by a parliamentary inquiry. Mr Sarkozy is pressing to free hostages in Colombia, among them Ingrid Betancourt, a Franco-Colombian. But he also persuaded the Colombians to free a top guerrilla from the FARC, considered a terrorist group by America and Europe.
In short, Mr Sarkozy's action-man diplomacy is about results, not means: if it works, it works. The release of Ms Betancourt, for instance, would be warmly welcomed in France. And Mr Sarkozy has no time for left-bank intellectuals “so sure of what they think while drinking coffee on the Boulevard Saint-Germain”. They may not have much time for him, either.
A parcel bomb explosion has killed one person and injured at least five others at law offices in central Paris. The former law firm of President Nicolas Sarkozy is located in the same building as the office where the device exploded, at 52 Boulevard Malesherbes. ... Another parcel bomb arrived at the same address, but remained unopened, officials said.
But this is what caught my attention:
The building also houses The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah - a Holocaust remembrance body.
Youths rampaged for a third night in the tough suburbs north of Paris and violence spread to a southern city late yesterday as police struggled to contain rioters who have burned cars and buildings and - in an ominous turn - shot at officers.
A senior police union official warned "urban guerrillas" had joined the unrest, saying the violence was worse than during three weeks of rioting that raged around French cities in 2005, when firearms were rarely used.
Bands of young people set more cars on fire in and around Villiers-le-Bel, the Paris suburb where the latest trouble first erupted, and 22 youths were detained, the regional government said. In the southern city of Toulouse, 20 cars were set ablaze. Fires set at two libraries were quickly brought under control.
Despite the renewed violence, France's prime minister said the situation was calmer than the two previous nights. About 1,000 officers were on patrol in trouble spots in and around Villiers-le-Bel, he said.
AP mentions the ethnicity:
The government was striving to keep violence from spreading in a stern test for new President Nicolas Sarkozy, which highlighted the anger that still smolders in France's poor neighborhoods, where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live, largely isolated from the rest of society.
No Pasaran posts on a murder in the RER D line, probably unrelated to the rioting.
Nearly 80 French police officers have been injured, six seriously, during a second night of riots by youths in the suburbs of Paris, police unions say. The police say some officers suffered bullet wounds, while others were hurt by stones, fireworks and petrol bombs thrown at them in Villiers-le-Bel.
The youths said they were avenging the two teenagers killed when their motorcycle hit a police car on Sunday.
A senior union official said the riots had been more intense than in 2005.
The 2005 unrest, sparked by the accidental deaths of two youths, spread from a nearby suburb of Paris to other cities and continued for three weeks, during which more than 10,000 cars were set ablaze and 300 buildings firebombed.
'Fired upon'
The second consecutive night of rioting began early in the evening in Villiers-le-Bel, the northern suburb that saw most of the violence on Sunday.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to keep at bay gangs of youths who were attacking them with stones, fireworks and petrol bombs.
More than 70 vehicles and buildings, including the municipal library, two schools and several shops, were set on fire. ... Mr Ribeiro said police were facing a situation that was "far worse than that of 2005", which began in the nearby suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
Rioting broke in one of Paris's tinder box suburban housing estates last night after two young boys were killed when their moped collided with a police car.
Molotov cocktails were thrown, and cars and plastic bins set on fire following the tragedy in Tolinette, a notoriously crime-ridden district of Villiers-le-Bel, some 20 miles north of the centre of the French capital.
One police station was set alight and another, in a neighbouring suburb, was ransacked after youths threw cocktails, and set bins alight and upturned cars.
Officials said seven police and one firefighter had were injured and there were fears the violence, which spread to the neighbouring town of Arnouville-les-Gonesse, could also take hold in other poor, suburban enclaves.
The boys who died were said by locals to be "aged between 12 and 13".
advertisementPolice insisted that their car had not been chasing the boys, and that the officer driving suffered facial injuries in the incident, which happened soon after dusk.
While one rioter asserts that "the rioting ;was not violence but an expression of rage,'", France24 reports that gangs torched cars and looted shops and buildings in the north Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel, injuring 25 police officers. More blogging later.
Le Point, the French magazine, said that advisers to the 65-year-old Libyan leader had told Paris he wanted a tent because he suffered from a phobia brought on by being confined indoors.
So what to do, then? Try some dhimmitude:
The protocol service is unsure how to respond, since it is unwilling to displease the volatile ruler but unsure about setting a precedent that could lead to similar demands from other heads of state.
Charles Enderlin, France2's correspondent in Israel, is infamous for using Palestinian stringers to do his reporting. Clearly it's a lot safer for Enderlin to stay in his hotel while someone else is in the middle of the fray. Once he receives the video footage Enderlin reports whatever his stringers bring back to him.
On September 30, 2000 France 2 broadcasted 55 seconds of edited footage while Enderlin, who was not present at the site, reported that 12-yr-old Mohammed Al Dura had been killed by the IDF. Philippe Karsenty, director of the media watchdog group Media Ratings has maintained all along that the footage was a hoax staged by France2.
Neo-Neocon was able to attend one of the trials brought about by Enderlin's lack of journalistic integrity.
For years, Charles Enderlin of French public television network France 2 has been battling accusations that his September 30, 2000 newscast of a Palestinian boy allegedly shot to death by Israelis was staged. The 12-year-old, Mohammed al Dura, became an icon of Palestinian "martyrdom," fueling Arab hatred of and violence against Israel, even while serious doubts mounted about the authenticity of Enderlin's broadcast.
Enderlin and his network responded aggressively with deceptions, cover-up, and lawsuits, while the mainstream media largely ignored or dismissed the accusations, as well as the inconsistencies in Enderlin's story. But Enderlin and France 2 might have finally overplayed their hand with a defamation lawsuit against a tenacious blogger whose appeal resulted in a court-ordered public viewing of some the original film footage France 2 had been concealing. According to witnesses, the original footage shown in the courtroom by Enderlin was edited. The question is, will the Al Dura affair finally be discredited in the mainstream media?
According to Boston University Professor Richard Landes, who saw the original footage of the event in Enderlin's office four years ago, Enderlin provided the court with an edited film from which two obviously staged scenes were cut. Click here to see a film of the evidence suggesting the broadcast was staged, and here to read CAMERAs backgounder on the affair
Enderlin stands in front of the judge and says everything and the opposite about the positions. He does not reply to a single objection raised by Karsenty, raised by other analysts repeatedly over the past seven years: The father's arm is intact, he claims he was hit nine times by high power bullets, his muscles smashed, his bones crushed. No blood on his white t-shirt. Voices in Arabic shout 'the boy is dead! the boy is dead!' He is sitting next to his father, eyes wide open.
Charles Enderlin standing in a French court explains: Oh, that's something cultural. In their culture, when they say 'the boy is dead' they mean he is in danger of dying, that he is in a very dangerous situation, he might die. The judges smile.
We reach the end of the scene as it figured in news reports, the point where Charles Enderlin said, "Mohamed is
I've been reading about Jerome Kerviel since the story of his $7,000,000,000 loss first hit the news.
The film about the very ill Edith Piaf 
Sarko's been trying hard to re-establish France as a power in the Middle East, and has plans for a French naval base in Abu Dhabi.
It's not clear whether the French deals involved 10 billion euros, or 3 billion euros. What's interesting is that this tour is part of a planned "Mediterranean Union", one of Sarko's pet projects: 
