Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

May 29, 2007 By Fausta

Hitchens on Kurchner

When Hitchens is bad, he’s awful, but when he’s good, he’s really good. And he’s really good writing about The French Correction
The principled new foreign minister shows how much France has changed of late
(h/t The Anchoress):

The single best symbol of the change in France is the appointment of Bernard Kouchner to the post of foreign minister. Had the Socialist Party won the election, it is highly unlikely that such a distinguished socialist would ever have been allowed through the doors of the Quai d’Orsay. (Yes, comrades, history actually is dialectical and paradoxical.) In the present climate of the United States, a man like Kouchner would be regarded as a neoconservative. He was a prominent figure in the leftist rebellion of 1968, before breaking with some of his earlier illusions and opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan—the true and original source of many of our woes in the Islamic world. The group he co-founded—Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières—was a pioneer in the highly necessary proclamation that left politics should always be anti-totalitarian. (His former counterpart, Joschka Fischer of Germany, also took a version of this view before Schröder’s smirking Realpolitik became too much, and too popular in Germany, for him to withstand.)

His principles led Kouchner to defend two oppressed Muslim peoples—those of Yugoslavia and Iraqi Kurdistan—who were faced with extermination at the hands of two parties daring to call themselves socialist. The Serbian Socialist Party of Slobodan Milosevic and the Arab Baath Socialist Party of Saddam Hussein are at last receding into history, leaving behind them a legacy of utter stagnation, hysterical aggression, and mass graves. I personally find it satisfying that a French socialist was identified with both these victories. Kouchner was instrumental in altering French policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later in filling the position—between 1999 and 2001—of U.N. representative in liberated Kosovo. Prior even to that, he had been extremely active in calling attention to the genocidal policy of Saddam in Kurdistan and in helping to introduce Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the then-president of France, to the exemplary role that she played in opposing it. A few years ago, he wrote the introduction to the French edition of The Black Book of Saddam Hussein, a vitally important volume that educates readers in the pornographic nature of that regime: a nightmare government that is now widely considered by liberals to have been framed up by the Bush administration.

Erik Svane and I discussed Kurchner in last week’s podcast. Erik stated,

“The world did really well in getting Sarkozy as President and Kouchner as Foreign Minister.”

Speaking of Erik, he’s back from Cannes and he’s blogging, but not before getting General Leonardo in the right hands.

In a lighter mode,
Here’s the picture of Erik again, for all of you who wrote saying you like it,

Compare and contrast:

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Filed Under: books, EU, France, Nicolas Sakozy, No-Pasaran, podcasts

May 24, 2007 By Fausta

Sarko: No amnesty, and France will pay immigrants to return home

A friend just IM’d this link from LGF:
France to Pay Immigrants to Return Home

Immigration is one of the key problems of our times. Sarko’s under pressure to carry through his campaign promises because of the upcoming legislative elections of June 10 and June 17, so this is one key issue where he has to take immediate action, and he has.

The article reads,

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy made immigration a central issue of his campaign. Now, his new minister for immigration and national identity says its time to start paying immigrants to leave the country.
…
New immigration minister, Brice Hortefeux, confirmed on Wednesday that the government is planning to offer incentives to more immigrants to return home voluntarily. “We must increase this measure to help voluntary return. I am very clearly committed to doing that,” Hortefeux said in an interview with RFI radio.

Under the scheme, Paris will provide each family with a nest egg of €6,000 ($8,000) for when they go back to their country of origin. A similar scheme, which was introduced in 2005 and 2006, was taken up by around 3,000 families.
…
The new minister voiced concern that the majority of legal immigration into France was that of existing immigrants bringing in relatives, while only a small proportion were granted visas due to their professional skills.

As I interpret this, it would mean that families who are legallyin France would be given an incentive to return to their countries of origin to be reunited with their families instead of trying to bring more unskilled relatives to France, many of which end on welfare.

Additionally, the article states that plan provides individuals with money, instead of wasting it on foreign aid which so frequently ends in the pockets of corrupt politicians.

This is a creative and interesting solution.

While last year he had suggested that illegal aliens who were long-term residents may be allowed to vote in local elections, Sarko’s position was that there would be no amnesty, and his new minister insists,

Hortefeux is also talking tough when it comes to dealing with illegal immigration, insisting that there are no plans for a mass legalization of the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 illegals in France.

They’re also considering a new language skills test.

A couple of days ago I was saying

The Republican candidate that manages to do a campaign running against the Bush administration, strong against illegal immigration and strong on winning in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be the winner in all of this. It can be done, and I suggest that the candidate considering this course of action call Sarkozy’s campaign manager. He did it.

Francois Fillon‘s going to be busy in his new job as Prime Minister but maybe he’ll take calls in his spare time.

Meanwhile, over at the EU…

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Filed Under: elections, France, illegal immigration, Nicolas Sakozy, politics, Republicans

May 23, 2007 By Fausta

More from Erik in Cannes


Erik Svane, No Pasaran blogger and man-about-town in Cannes, and his co-blogger U*2, are following Michael Moore‘s Sicko at the Festival, so don’t miss their posts.

Erik has two books in French that are soon to be translated into English: La Banniere Etalee (sorry about the punctuation marks – they don’t show well on my server), and General Leonardo, which you can purchase at the above links.

Erik’s publisher, Editions Underbahn, also publishes September 11 Wall Street Sonnets by Eugene Schlanger.

In yesterday’s podcast Erik and I discussed Nicolas Sarkozy’s new cabinet. (It was approximately 14 minutes into the podcast. We had phone connection problems prior to that). My question was, in appointing socialists like Bernard Kouchner to his cabinet, would Sarko be setting himself up into a situation similar to Chirac’s when Jospin was Prime Minister, where Chirac and Jospin spent all their time bickering?
Erik stated that appointing Kouchner as Foreign Minister, is part of Sarkozy’s stratey to win the legislative elections. Sarko has to be open in order to win, and is doing a great job. Kouchner’s the Socialist Party’s most popular member.

Kouchner was not the front-runner because he appeared too pro-American. As Erik puts it,

“The world did really well in getting Sarkozy as President and Kouchner as Foreign Minister.”
…
“Bernard Kouchner has been to Biafra, to Bangladesh, to Saddam’s Iraq; he wrote the foreword to The Big Black Book of Saddam Hussein, a 600-page opus on Saddam Hussein’s crimes.”

Doing this podcast was a lot of fun, as Erik was talking from his cell phone en route to downtown Cannes. I could only wish we could have enjoyed the scenery, too.

You can listen to the podcast here.
blog radio
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Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, bloggers, books, France, Nicolas Sakozy, No-Pasaran, podcasts

May 22, 2007 By Fausta

LIVE FROM CANNES: Erik Svane


Today at 10:30 AM EDT, my guest will be Erik Svane of No Pasaran, live from the Cannes Film Festival.

We talked about the Cannes Film Festival, French politics, and his books.

Listen Live
Updated The link goes directly to this morning’s podcast. We had a small audio problem in the middle of the podcast but hold on and you’ll hear Erik’s comments on Sarko’s new cabinet.

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Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, bloggers, books, France, Nicolas Sakozy, No-Pasaran, podcasts, Segolene Royal

May 17, 2007 By Fausta

Berger forfeits law license, and other items

Clinton aide forfeits law license in Justice probe

Samuel R. Berger, the Clinton White House national security adviser who was caught taking highly classified documents from the National Archives, has agreed to forfeit his license to practice law.
…
In giving up his license, Mr. Berger avoids being cross-examined by the Board on Bar Counsel, where he risked further disclosure of specific details of his theft.

(h/t MIchelle Malkin and Pajamas Media)

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Congressman Eric Cantor is launching his website, Solutions Factory, where he invites you to suggest solutions to political problems. The suggestions are rated by other visitors to the website.

Go visit and participate.

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Sarkozy has appointed Bernard Kourchner as foreign minister (h/t Judith)
——————————————————-

Jeff has a sneak peak to “Sicko”
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Iraqis observe moment of silence to mark “Mass Graves Day”

Human rights organizations estimate that more than 300,000 people, mainly Kurds and Shiite Muslims, were killed and buried in mass graves before Saddam was overthrown by U.S. forces in 2003.

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Wolfowitz Hangs On As Ouster Hits Wall
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A Disaster: The GOP Caves On Border Security, via Larwyn
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The Freedom Alliance offers scholarships for the children of military heroes: Here’s information.
——————————————————-

I once was lost….

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Filed Under: Democrats, illegal immigration, Nicolas Sakozy, Republicans, Sandy Berger, World Bank

May 16, 2007 By Fausta

Sarkozy inagurated

BBC video here

At the WaPo, Nicolas Sarkozy takes over as France’s president

In his inaugural address in the gilded Salle des Fetes, shortly after his predecessor drove off into retirement, Sarkozy vowed he would not disappoint the French people.

“I will defend the independence of France. I will defend the identity of France,” said the conservative leader, who is 52 and the first French head of state to be born after World War Two.

“There is a need to unite the French people … and to meet commitments because never before has (public) confidence been so shaken and so fragile,” he said in an apparent dig at Chirac, a former political mentor with whom he now has strained relations.

He also pledged to put the fight against global warming and the defense of human rights at the heart of his foreign policy.

The BBC emphasized a different aspect,

Mr Sarkozy stressed that “now change is needed” in France, in his inaugural speech, and called for national unity.

France “needs to take risks and follow initiatives,” he said.

The country also needed to “rehabilitate the values of work, effort, merit and respect” and defeat intolerance, he said.

Bloomberg‘s even more emphatic

— Nicolas Sarkozy, sworn in today as France’s president, called for a “fight against the fear of the future” as Jacques Chirac’s 12-year reign ended.

There’s much speculation over who will he choose for his cabinet.

Jacques waves “Ta-Tah for now”,

Meanwhile, Erik says Adieu to M. Pompadour.

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Filed Under: France, Jacques Chirac, news, Nicolas Sakozy, politics

May 15, 2007 By Fausta

The World Bank putsch, and today’s items

Wolfowitz ‘broke World Bank laws’, claims the Beeb; the WaPo says the committe found that Wolfowitz undermined the integrity of the institution.

Clarice Feldman explains The Attempted Putsch at the World Bank

This suggested, of course, that Wolfowitz would be allowed to directly comment to the Board on their testimony before the Ad Hoc Committee issued its final report but apparently he will not be, the Board having received an updated version of the Ad Hoc Report without Wolfowitz having been given an opportunity to address his rebuttal directly to the Board ahead of that transmittal. Certainly, he was given no opportunity to cross examine these witnesses himself, and as the discrepancy on the record of outgoing vice president for human resources Xavier Coll shows, there is plenty of reason to question the veracity of the chief witnesses against him.

Confidential proceedings of this group and the Board are regularly being leaked to friends in the press and to outside organizations critical of Wolfowitz, while he and Riza have been gagged and precluded from responding quickly by releasing internal documents supportive of their defense. In this way, it seems clear the Ad Hoc Committee is trying to force recalcitrant Board members to cede to their recommendations, thereby precluding independent judgment by the larger 24 board of Executive Directors. Indeed, although the media has been rushing to print every word of Board members and staffers opposed to Wolfowitz, the report takes issue with his deigning to defend himself against these baseless and overblown charges of improper dealing.

(h/t Larwyn)

World Bank Jobbery
More evidence the Wolfowitz accusers chose to ignore.

All of this is further evidence that what Mr. Wolfowitz is facing here is a kangaroo court. The Europeans and bank staff thought they could get him to leave quietly if they smeared him and Ms. Riza enough in the press. But now that he has fought back to clear his name, the Europeans led by Dutch politician Herman Wijffels have decided to ignore evidence to justify their one-sided conclusions. They also largely ignore Ms. Riza’s own statements to the committee while condemning her for objecting to a process that all but ended her career at the bank.

Claudia Rosett writes on World Bokum.

Meanwhile, George Soros sets his sights.

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Call It the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Dictatorships
Business as usual as Zimbabwe takes a seat.
This is exactly how the UN is meant to work.
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Sarkozy soap opera grips Paris
Amazing how the press is spilling the beans on Sarko but kept silent everybody else’s soaps – starting with Chirac and his Japanese mistress.

Update: Via Maria, No rest for Citizen Chirac as he relinquishes the throne

“Jacques Chirac has deep convictions,” he told Le Monde. “A locomotive like Chirac will get things moving.”

As vans shuttled the Chiracs’ belongings across the Seine, staff at the Elysée Palace spent the day shredding documents. Orders were given to destroy or take home all personal documents and notes. Tapes of meetings and press conferences were also destroyed and deposited in rubbish skips that were parked around the palace.

Don’t expect any new developments to shed light on Chirac’s mysterious millions any time soon.

Or ever.

——————————————–

Getting past prestige names when searching for a college

Strategically, students have a better chance at capturing merit money if they look for schools where they will be among the top 25 percent of incoming students in grades and SAT scores. You can find out how your child stacks up by looking at the CollegeBoard.com and examining the range of SAT scores.

Being in the top tier of kids, however, won’t get you any money if the school doesn’t award any. So it’s important to know which schools do. This will be especially important if you do not expect to receive any need-based financial aid. Some Ivy League schools and other prominent East Coast schools don’t award merit money.

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Filed Under: economics, EU, France, news, Nicolas Sakozy, politics, UN, World Bank

May 11, 2007 By Fausta

Sarko meets Tony

In yesterday’s podcast, one thing Siggy and I discussed was how Blair made the British people proud of being British again. Then in last night’s France2 news they showed Nicolas Sarkozy giving a speech saying he wants the French to be proud of being French again.

I find that a very refreshing idea but I’m not optimistic for its prospects. Instead of a collective show of EU hands, it’s time for individuals to take pride for their own heritage and what their nations have and can contribute. On the other hand, Sarko’s proposing a mini-treaty to replace the failed EU constitution, which would mean that people wouldn’t be able to reject it through referendums as they did the first time.

So much for the individuals.

Sarko’s EU strategy has two other points:

  • calls for Europe to “protect” its citizens from globalisation
  • ,

  • his call for an explicit statement that Turkey will never become a full member of the EU.

Sarko will take office on May 16. There’s more in the works:

  • Today he’s meeting with Tony Blair in Paris. They will discuss the EU. There’s another meeting scheduled on a different date with Angela Merkel. The emergence of leaders like Merkel and Sarcozy signals to perhaps not a new Europe, but perhaps a Europe less hostile to America. (No, anti-Americanism didn’t start with GWB. It’s been around for decades.)
  • Chirac and Sarko met with Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, signalling continued support of the Lebanese over Syria. Will the Sarko years reflect Chirac’s customary duplicity? We’ll have to wait and see.
  • Sarko’s been criticized for taking a 2-day luxury cruise on a billionaire‘s yatch. Not only is he unapologetic – since the trip was not at taxpayers’ expense – he asserts his position that he wants rich people to remain in France and to invest in France.
    (and according to Erik, apparently he was wearing a NYPD t-shirt while jogging)

Next month’s Parliamentary elections are crucial.

Meanwhile, out on the streets, the link above states that there have been over 1,200 cars torched in France since last Sunday’s election: 730 on Sunday, 296 on Tuesday, 200 on Wednesday. I don’t know how many were torched on Monday night, but we’ll know Sarko has changed things when whatever few French automotive insurance companies are left in the country lower their rates.

In other French news, Erik Svane made it to the front page. He looks marvelous.

Update: The French Left Pitches A Fit
Digg!

—————————————————-

For an excellent essay on how Tony Blair’s attitude towards the EU went sour, read Richard North‘s article at Pajamas Media

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Filed Under: EU, France, Germany, news, Nicolas Sakozy, politics, Tony Blair, Turkey, UK

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