France

A presidential race leaves French Muslims feeling like outsiders

by News Sources 04.05.2012

The New York Times reports: Nassurdine Haidari knows that people like himself — black and Muslim and a former imam — are not a target audience for France’s presidential candidates. But he is outraged nonetheless that voters in the banlieues, the poor, heavily immigrant suburbs of French cities, are not only taken for granted but [...]

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Russia promotes a “step by step” diplomatic initiative with Iran

by News Sources 11.15.2011

Zvi Bar’el reports: It appears that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can rest easy for now, as voices coming from the European Union suggest a military operation is not in the offing. Not only do Syria and China reject such an attack, but on Monday, Germany, France and Turkey added their voices to those objecting to [...]

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Sarkozy tells truth about Netanyahu but press decide it’s too sensitive to report

by Paul Woodward 11.08.2011

“Who the fuck does he think he is? Who’s the fucking superpower here?” Bill Clinton said in exasperation about Benjamin Netanyahu after one of the Israeli prime minister’s characteristic displays of arrogance in 1996. Now we learn that last Thursday at the G20 summit in Cannes, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy privately described Netanyahu as a [...]

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Nuclear powers plan weapons spending spree, report finds

by News Sources 10.31.2011

The Guardian reports: The world’s nuclear powers are planning to spend hundreds of billions of pounds modernising and upgrading weapons warheads and delivery systems over the next decade, according to an authoritative report [PDF] published on Monday. Despite government budget pressures and international rhetoric about disarmament, evidence points to a new and dangerous “era of [...]

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French Jewish fighters move in to defend Israeli settlements in West Bank

by Paul Woodward 09.25.2011

While Israeli authorities are making it increasingly difficult for non-violent international activists to visit the West Bank, suspected Jewish terrorists — members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) — coming from France in recent days apparently had no difficulty reaching the illegal settlements which they claim they want to defend. The FBI has described the [...]

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Obama to UN: yada yada yada — Israelis applaud

by Paul Woodward 09.21.2011

In case anyone is in any doubt that President Obama’s comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, delivered to the UN General Assembly this morning, were nothing more than a string of worthless peace-process platitudes, then listen to the rave review he got from Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman: “I congratulate President Obama, and I am ready [...]

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The fight for Libya

by News Sources 06.29.2011

Reuters reports: Muammar Gaddafi’s fearsome security apparatus appears to be weakening in Tripoli, but it is still too powerful to risk an uprising — that is the view of Libyans who say they are part of a burgeoning underground opposition network in the capital. The handful of activists, who spoke to Reuters journalists on condition [...]

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Liberté, égalité, fraternité – unless you choose to wear a burqa

by News Sources 04.10.2011

The Associated Press reports: Police on Saturday arrested 61 people — including 19 women — for attempting to hold an outlawed Paris protest against France’s pending ban on face-covering Islamic veils, a top police official said. Fifty-nine people were detained while trying to demonstrate at Place de la Nation in eastern Paris, as were two [...]

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Leaving Gaddafi a way out

by Paul Woodward 03.20.2011

If Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama believe that Gaddafi’s demonization makes the war legitimate in the eyes of domestic audiences which might otherwise lack interest in the fate of Libya, the West will have needlessly restricted the range of acceptable outcomes to this war. Even at this point, there should be some effort to open up [...]

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Arabs say Gaddafi must go, wary of Western action

by News Sources 03.20.2011

Reuters reports: Muammar Gaddafi’s appeal for Arab solidarity in the face of foreign air strikes fell on deaf ears across the Middle East on Sunday, but support for his opponents was mixed with deep suspicion of Western motives. Western forces have unleashed their biggest military attack in the Arab world since the 2003 U.S. invasion [...]

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Military assets in battle for Libya

by News Sources 03.20.2011

After numerous statements from officials and military experts on how difficult and time consuming it would be to put a no-fly zone in state, the Pentagon now says that it’s already effectively been put in place.

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The fight for Libya

by News Sources 03.19.2011

The Los Angeles Times reports: With his popularity at a record low and facing an election next year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in desperate need of a boost to his political stature. And on Saturday, he got it. The French leader, once dubbed Super Sarko by the local press for his eagerness to take [...]

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Nicolas Sarkozy calls for air strikes on Libya if Gaddafi attacks civilians

by News Sources 03.11.2011

The Guardian reports: Nicolas Sarkozy has called for targeted air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime if his forces use chemical weapons or launch air strikes against civilians. As the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, warned that a no-fly zone could risk civilian lives in Libya, the French president told an emergency EU summit in [...]

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After the collapse of the Lebanese government — what next?

by News Sources 01.14.2011

Lebanon’s government collapsed on Wednesday while Prime Minister Saad Hariri was in Washington. It wasn’t until today that he returned to Beirut. Robert Fisk writes: There are many who believe that Lebanon will now descend into a civil war, similar to the fratricidal conflict which it endured from 1976 to 1980. I doubt it. A [...]

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Lula’s new world order

by Paul Woodward 05.18.2010

In a world long dominated by Western powers, the global order has been one shaped by coercion. Although the twentieth century saw the end of formal colonialism — the most overt coercive system — the perpetuation of economic colonialism has meant that the United States and its allies still expect to have the final word [...]

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Haiti’s suffering is a result of calculated impoverishment

by Paul Woodward 01.21.2010

Haiti’s suffering is a result of calculated impoverishment By Seumas Milne, The Guardian, January 20, 2010 There is no relief for the people of Haiti, it seems, even in their hour of promised salvation. More than a week after the earthquake that may have killed 200,000 people, most Haitians have seen nothing of the armada [...]

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NEWS: France’s expanding nuclear trade

by Paul Woodward 01.16.2008

France signs up to £2 billion deal to build nuclear plants in the Gulf By Sonia Verma, The Times, January 16, 2008 France has agreed a £2 billion deal to build nuclear power stations in the Gulf and in return has secured a military base there. The French base in Abu Dhabi would accommodate up [...]

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NEWS: Egypt outrages Israel; Israel ready to talk to Syria; Syria alienates France

by Paul Woodward 01.03.2008

Egypt opens crossing so Palestinians can return By Ellen Knickmeyer and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, January 3, 2008 Egypt opened its main crossing into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to allow more than 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims — including at least one official of the armed Hamas movement — to return to their homes there, outraging [...]

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