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POPSAnti-Americanism is Mostly Hype American liberalism is heavily invested in this narrative of U.S. isolation. The Shiites have their annual ritual of 10 days of self-flagellation and penance, but this liberal narrative is ceaseless: The world once loved us, and all Parisians were Americans after 9/11, but thanks to President Bush we have squandered that sympathy.... Indeed, in the Arab world of the future, there will be streets and shrines dedicated to George W. Bush, their liberator. Future generations will admire this American president who, against all odds and resisted viciously by rabid liberals, courageously held the line and in the end, prevailed.
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POPSGeorge Bush and 'Sarko the American' To America's delight, Sarkozy has boosted troops in Afghanistan and is preparing France for a return to Nato's integrated command. This sparked Sarkozy's political opponents in France to rise up against what they warn is an "alignment" with Washington. Current topics of friction between Paris and Washington include Turkey's entry to the EU - Washington supports this but France continues to put spanners in the works - and climate change. Another awkward point is Sarkozy's warming of relations with Syria, which has already met a cautious reaction from the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. The Élysée palace announced this week that France has invited the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to attend the July 14 Bastille day celebrations after a Mediterranean summit in Paris next month.
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POPSEurope's New Pro-American Direction Europe’s new political configuration has already partially manifested itself in NATO’s decision in Bucharest to support deployment of U.S. missile defense assets in Poland and the Czech Republic. Even the Bucharest Summit, however, reveals continuing problems, such as Europe’s reluctance to start Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward ultimate NATO membership. For both America and Europe’s leading nations, therefore, the diplomatic chances of preventing Iran from achieving its objectives are rapidly diminishing. Although tough sanctions are at this point almost certainly too late, they would at least demonstrate that Italy and other Europeans are preparing for the even more difficult step that may be required, namely changing the regime in Tehran, or, as a last resort, the targeted use of military force against Iran’s nuclear program.
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POPSA President's Right to Happiness Mr Sarkozy said: “You wouldn’t have asked that question of any of my predecessors. I reflected a lot on this,” he said. Alluding to Mitterrand, he said: “Everyone knew. No one talked about it. The President delivered a pugnacious defence against charges that he is stage-managing his private life to divert attention from discontent over his management of the country. “I take responsibility for my actions . . . If you feel you are being manipulated, don’t send your photographers after me,”
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POPSA Look into the Muslim Headscarf Hysteria in France
The Conseil d'État eventually ruled that students could not be refused admission simply for wearing headscarves, but it also gave teachers and principals the power to decide, on a case-by-case basis, whether such signs of religious affiliation were permissible. In 2003, two teenage sisters were expelled from their high school for refusing to take off their headscarves. The Lévy sisters are the daughters of a lawyer who considers himself "a Jew without God" and a Kabyle teacher who had been baptized a Catholic during the Algerian war. The girls had converted to Islam after their parents' separation and had donned the scarves as part of that process. In an interview with Le Monde, the girls' father declared, "I am not in favor of the headscarf, but I defend the right of my children to go to school. In the course of this business I've discovered the hysterical madness of certain ayatollahs of secularism who have lost all their common sense."
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POPSBush and Sarkozy find common ground against Iran Ahhhhh...this feels much better. Begone, Chriac!! And thank you, Mr. Sharkozy, for your eloquent expressions of appreciation for those Americans who gave their lives for the freedom of France. My husband's uncle is one who never returned. It seems he might know a lot about terrorism and oppression.
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POPSWhat the French think of US Policy. What policy? Palestine: a policy of deliberate blindness. How the world backed itself into a corner. President Jacques Chirac asked Régis Debray to study the situation in the Middle East. On 15 January 2007 Debray sent the French authorities the following document on Palestine. It is an important key to understanding a long policy drift whose results are now obvious. Régis Debray is a writer and philosopher, and honorary chairman of the IESR (European Institute of Religious Studies), Paris
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POPSMrs. Vitter has cut the cutting-off!
I happen to be one of those folks who believes that adultery and other marital problems is something that is strictly in the purview of the marriage itself, and not, in any way whatsoever, the business of the public. Only in America do we force our politicians to live up to unnatural standards in their lives in order to satisfy this phony puritanical , fictional idea of sexual behaviour we have been led to believe is essential in our leaders. In Europe, for example, Jacques Chirac, the former president of France, was more than once seen in the company of his wife and mistress at the same time. The two women knew each other very well. Please do not misunderstand. I am not a proponent of adulterous behaviour. I am only saying that we should not expect our politicians to lead their lives on a different standard than the rest of us. I have never met a man, who when discovered to have been having an affair, who did not lie to cover his tracks. Not admirable but also not all that rare
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POPSDemocrats Follow Bush's Lead I don't intend my comments as an endorsement of President Bush or much of his agenda. That said, I find it interesting that over the past six years, many Democrats will echo the thoughts of GW after having vilified him for espousing such views months or years earlier. Remember their outrage when Bush and members of his administration spoke of 'Old Europe'? I guess it is only an example of imperialist unilateralism when spoken by evil Republicans.
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POPSInquiétude au QG de Sarkozy : "On tourne en rond" C'est un ministre UMP qui confie, sidéré : "Ma fille de vingt ans va voter Bayrou." Un conseiller de Nicolas Sarkozy qui lâche : "Pourvu que Ségolène Royal tienne." Un député du parti majoritaire qui s'alarme : "En appelant à donner des parrainages à Le Pen nous allons transformer le second tour en un référendum contre nous." Depuis deux semaines, l'atmosphère autour de Nicolas Sarkozy est devenue plus opaque, plus angoissée. Philippe Ridet
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