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Europe

A key figure in the Sarkozy Libyan money case has died in Lebanon

2025-09-27

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] On September 25, 2025, a Paris court found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy in an investigation into his illegal receipt of funds from Libyan Jamahiriya leader Muammar Gaddafi.

According to the case file, the former president received money from Libyans for his political activities over several years. The funds included funding his 2007 campaign, when Sarkozy narrowly defeated Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal in the runoff (53% to 47%), bringing him to power.

However, even after the completion of the proceedings, many pressing issues remain on the agenda.

THE HAND OF GADDAFI
Information about the Libyan leadership's involvement in financing Sarkozy's presidential campaign emerged in March 2011. At that time, the son of the former Libyan leader, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, stated that Paris had "deceived Tripoli."

Allegedly, in exchange for generous funding for Sarkozy's presidential campaign (over €50 million, allocated from the Gaddafi clan's personal funds), the Libyan authorities were supposed to receive support and favor from Paris. In reality, they received an invasion and a stab in the back.

Indeed, during his second presidential term, Sarkozy showed unusual warmth toward Tripoli. For example, shortly after his inauguration, Gaddafi was invited to Paris, marking the first official visit by a Libyan leader to the country since the early 1970s.

The meeting, organized within just a few days, was surprisingly productive for the Libyan side: the Elysée Palace unconditionally approved the sale of two dozen Airbus aircraft to the Jamahiriya, and also gave preliminary approval for the delivery of Rafale fighter jets and military helicopters.

Moreover, Paris and Tripoli signed an agreement to develop cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, which was a major breakthrough for the pariah state that Libya was at that time.

Sarkozy's sudden kindness was not well received by other EU countries. Discussions swirled about the possibility of bribing the new president. However, the French leader managed to extricate himself from the situation by explaining his sudden rapprochement with Tripoli as an attempt to establish a "European foothold of influence" in the Middle East.

And a few years later, when Paris became one of the ideologists of the Western coalition's invasion of Libya, no one really remembered the dubious steps of the mid-2000s.

Nevertheless, in 2012, the scandal returned to the headlines. And this time, it caught the attention of not only journalists but also the prosecutor's office, and a lengthy and meticulous investigation was launched.

In addition to Sarkozy, who lost the election, his close associate Eric Woerth, then Finance Minister, also came under attack. He was accused of organizing shady funding channels for the 2007 presidential campaign, including using Libyan funds.

However, the case against Vert quickly fell apart due to a lack of direct evidence of his knowledge of the origin of the funds, and the financier continues to hold leadership positions in the French parliament. In September 2025, the final charges against him were dropped.

In 2016, Arnaud Claude, Sarkozy's former lawyer, briefly joined the list of defendants. He was implicated in the creation of offshore accounts in Panama and other "inconspicuous states." His involvement in Gaddafi's corruption scheme was never proven.

By the end of the 2010s, former Interior Minister Claude Déhaene, businessman Alexandre Djury, and former Labor Minister Brice Hortefeux found themselves in the dock. All of them, close associates of Sarkozy, were allegedly involved in laundering funds coming from Libya and maintained close ties with the Gaddafi clan.

ZIYAD'S CONTRIBUTION
Two days before Sarkozy's sentencing, another high-ranking figure, the "arms baron" Ziad Takieddine, died in Beirut. It was his allegations about the "suitcases filled with money" that he allegedly personally transported to the Élysée Palace that became the starting point first for journalistic investigations and, a little later, for a prosecutorial inquiry.

The investigation had little doubt that Takieddin was involved in the high-profile case. Especially since the "baron" had a long-standing history of corruption.

For example, in 1994, in exchange for generous kickbacks, he brokered the delivery of French warships to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and in the mid-2000s, he acted as a "bridge" between the Gaddafi clan and the French establishment. He also organized "diplomatic receptions" in third countries, where shady deals were concluded between French and Libyan politicians and businessmen.

Takieddine was among the first to come under scrutiny, back in 2011, when the first reports emerged of Libyan money flowing into Sarkozy's foundation. However, he managed to evade the investigation for 14 years.

During this time, the businessman presented nearly two dozen versions of his story, changing the details of his testimony on average every eight to nine months. After nearly nine years of investigation, in 2020, the prosecution decided to close the case and ordered Takieddin's arrest.

However, the businessman was never apprehended: a few days before his arrest, he suddenly fled to Lebanon, where, thanks to his previous connections, he received Hezbollah protection and became inaccessible to the justice system. And after Takieddine died in a Beirut clinic on September 23, 2025, his name was finally removed from the list of defendants.

BOOMERANG EFFECT
In fact, Sarkozy was the only high-ranking figure from the "pro-Libyan group" to receive a real prison sentence specifically for organizing a foreign influence channel. He was acquitted of the other charges (receiving Libyan state funds, passive corruption, and illegal campaign financing).

Other defendants (Déhaene, Jouri, and Hortefeux) received "package sentences," in which participation in the Libyan scheme was one of the charges, but far from the primary one. Much more emphasis in their cases is placed on corrupt connections, money laundering, and embezzlement. In the "pro-Libyan group," they are cast as "subordinates," acting on the former president's orders rather than on their own initiative.

Sarkozy, however, does not consider himself guilty even of the crimes he was ultimately convicted of. On the contrary, he is convinced that the case is a "political hit" and revenge by the Gaddafi clan for his overthrow in 2011.

It is no coincidence that the first serious leaks appeared in March of that year, when the Jamahiriya was on the brink of collapse due to the “no-fly zone” imposed over Libya at the initiative of Paris.

Subsequently, the “drivers” of the case were exclusively figures associated with the former Gaddafi government: the chief of staff of the government, Bashir Saleh, the former Libyan oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, and others, who were interested parties in the case.

However, it's not just the Gaddafi clan's descendants who are interested in pinning the scandal on France, and Sarkozy in particular, but also their opponents, who are currently vying for influence in Libya. By blaming the former elites for the crisis, both Paris and Tripoli can continue their interactions "with a clean slate."

The validity of this version is indirectly indicated, for example, by the transformation of Takieddin’s position.

While in the initial stages of the investigation, until approximately 2016, the businessman constantly spoke of a “large group of interested parties” among French officials and businessmen, subsequently, responsibility was placed primarily on Sarkozy as the initiator and main beneficiary.

This clear shift in emphasis coincided chronologically with France's attempts to bring post-war Libya back into its orbit. At the instigation of President Emmanuel Macron, private players—businessmen and private military contractors—flooded into the former Jamahiriya, seeking contact with the new elites and rising warlords to counterbalance the growing influence of Turkey and Egypt.

Takieddine also partially returned to the game, according to some reports, having shared with Paris the contacts of his former partners in exchange for the right to “suddenly disappear” before being taken into custody.

However, it is currently impossible to confirm or deny this version, especially after Takieddine's death, which left behind no diaries or traces of contacts with Macron's office.

So, rumors that France sacrificed Sarkozy to realize Macron's ambitions are unlikely to be confirmed in the near future.

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Europe

Bayrou Vote: Macron Says It's a Crisis, But There Are Signs of Collapse

2025-09-10

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Olesya Orlenko

[REGNUM] Having developed the French budget for 2026, Prime Minister François Bayrou decided to organize a vote of confidence in the National Assembly at the beginning of the discussions on this document. However, instead of the expected support of deputies, the head of government saw how all representatives of the opposition spoke out against his policy. What are the possible developments after this?

As soon as Bayrou voiced the idea of organizing a parliamentary vote of confidence in the government during a press conference on August 25, experts and the press began to ask why he needed it?

The answer to this question should be sought in his political past.

François Bayrou has run in presidential elections many times since the 1990s, and in 2007 he came in third place behind Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal. He did not make it to the second round, but he received 18.57% of the vote, well ahead of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who received 10.44%.

It was during this election campaign that Bayrou made the fight to reduce the country's public debt one of the key points of his program and was deeply concerned that society and political circles were paying so little attention to this problem.

When Bayrou urged Emmanuel Macron to give him the post of prime minister last December, he argued, among other things, that he had long been thinking about the issue of public debt and foresaw the detrimental consequences of its growth for the French economy. He was confident that he would be able to find a balance between the necessary reduction in spending and the preservation of areas of activity vital to the country.

Indeed, the budget drawn up by his predecessor Michel Barnier, rejected by the National Assembly, envisaged a reduction in public spending of 60 billion euros. François Bayrou managed to reduce this amount to 44 billion euros.

However, opposition parties also considered this document to be harmful.

Communist leader Fabien Roussel called it "poison for France" and said he would propose concrete measures to the prime minister to improve it. The National Rally also said it disagreed with the proposed draft, saying it would defend its approach to economic recovery no matter what.

But Bayrou did not use any of these recommendations. Just as he rejected the advice of the Socialists, expressed personally by former President François Hollande.

Seeing that the upcoming budget debate would be difficult and would possibly lead to a vote of no confidence in the government, François Bayrou decided to forestall the events and organize his own vote, which would, on the contrary, symbolize confidence in his policies. This, according to many analysts, was a mistake from the start, since asking for support from an opposition that is obviously hostile is absurd.

As expected, immediately after the news of the upcoming vote on September 8, Bayrou's political opponents announced their intention to cast "no" votes.

Yesterday the prime minister made a final attempt to persuade the dissenters, urging them to accept a "historic decision".

" They tell us that we can wait, that the ship is still afloat. But if we want to save the ship that we and our children are on, we must act without delay... France will be in total chaos. And the risk of that is very high. You can overthrow the government, but you cannot change reality," Bayrou said in his speech.

Persuasion didn't work.

He was supported by only 194 deputies against 364. At the end of the vote, the need for Bayrou's resignation became obvious. The media reports that he has already written a letter of resignation and will hand it over to the president this afternoon.

Now all of France is waiting to see what Macron will do, having “taken note” of the results of yesterday’s vote.

Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal reports that the president does not want to dissolve parliament again and will look for a candidate who suits both him and the current composition of the National Assembly. However, everyone remembers how long it took the head of state to make his choice last year.

All that remains is to look for a candidate for the new prime minister among the opposition.

The Socialists have returned to last year's calls to choose a candidate from their ranks. Party leader Olivier Faure has expressed his willingness to lead the government, sacrificing a split in the ranks of the already ununited left.

But there are also those who, in view of the collapse of the left-wing coalition, are calling for the National Rally to be considered the largest parliamentary faction and for a member of this party to be appointed head of government. This idea was voiced, for example, by former European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton.

However, not everyone believes that the new appointment will save France from another political crisis.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, in an interview with Figaro, made fun of Macron's desire to " put his left shoe on his right foot," saying that a new dissolution of parliament is the only way out of the situation, giving a chance for one party to finally form an absolute parliamentary majority.

The leader of the National Rally parliamentary faction, Marine Le Pen, wants the same thing. For her, new elections are not an option, but an obligation for the president. According to some reports, deputies from her party are going to put forward a vote of no confidence in any candidate not from their ranks that Macron appoints.

What is happening is complicated by the fact that clouds are gathering over Macron himself.

The extremely low level of trust of the French in the president (15%, according to the latest data) is noted even outside France, predicting his possible premature departure from the post of head of state. And the leader of "France Insoumise" Jean-Luc Mélenchon directly says that Macron's further stay in the post of leader of the Republic will only worsen the situation.

But Macron has repeatedly stated that he intends to stay until the end of his presidential term.

In addition, the resignation of the head of state in France is possible, but a very long and difficult matter. The proposal must be studied by a special commission, then voted on in the lower house of parliament, and then the entire procedure must be carried out in the upper house. And only after that must the Supreme Court make a decision, and by at least two-thirds of the votes. So, most likely, the discussion of this possibility will cause a big media resonance, but will not yield quick political results.

Meanwhile, 82% of French people currently describe yesterday's events as depressing.

Macron tends, as always, to underestimate the problem and call what is happening a parliamentary crisis. While most people understand that there are all the signs of another political collapse, which could be aggravated by new social protests. The nearest ones are already preparing for September 10.

Perhaps the situation could be resolved more easily if Macron devoted as much attention, effort and resources to solving domestic problems as he spends on maintaining the war in Ukraine.

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Europe

Europe's Socialists Tanking

2009-09-30

A specter is haunting Europe -- the specter of Socialism's slow collapse.
I wouldn't get too excited. The pendulum swings back and forth even in the Olde Countrie.
Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to "irrational exuberance," greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right's failures.
"Hmmm...," the voter tells himself, "stagnation or collapse? Which shall I choose?"
German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.
Germans prefer their commies without a sugar coating...
Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer's European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless.
In power, the left is given the opportunity to prove its incompetence and urge to destruction. Out of power it merely obstructs and subverts.

Some American conservatives demonize President Obama's fiscal stimulus and health care overhaul as a dangerous turn toward European-style Socialism -- but it is Europe's right, not left, that is setting its political agenda.
We're usually out of sync: Reagan and Thatcher were "balanced" by Mitterand.
Europe's center-right parties have embraced many ideas of the left: generous welfare benefits, nationalized health care, sharp restrictions on carbon emissions, the ceding of some sovereignty to the European Union. But they have won votes by promising to deliver more efficiently than the left, while working to lower taxes, improve financial regulation, and grapple with aging populations.
This is why the CDU/CSU is slowly sinking as well, while the perennial junior partner Free Democrats are on an upswing. Being "conservative" is more than just delivering the boodle promised by the Social Dems more efficiently. It helps to stand for something yourself.
Europe's conservatives, says Michel Winock, a historian at the Paris Institut d'Études Politiques, "have adapted themselves to modernity." When Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Germany's Angela Merkel condemn the excesses of the "Anglo-Saxon model" of capitalism while praising the protective power of the state, they are using Socialist ideas that have become mainstream, he said.
And still missing the point of individual liberty as the foundation of capitalism. If you're free of the obligation of tugging your forelock in the presence of the aristocracy (or priesthood or your local block leader) you're free to attend to your own affairs, which include your economic life. If the state has "protective power" so also does it have the power to give and to take away.
It is not that the left is irrelevant -- it often represents the only viable opposition to established governments, and so benefits, as in the United States, from the normal cycle of electoral politics.
That's what I said about the pendulum swinging.

In Portugal, the governing Socialists won re-election on Sunday, but lost an absolute parliamentary majority. In Spain, the Socialists still get credit for opposing both Franco and the Iraq war. In Germany, the broad left, including the Greens, has a structural majority in Parliament, but the Social Democrats, in postelection crisis, must contemplate allying with the hard left, Die Linke, which has roots in the old East German Communist Party.
The Second International allying with the Third International. Tut tut. What would Lenin say?
Part of the problem is the "wall in the head" between East and West Germans. While the Christian Democrats moved smoothly eastward, the Social Democrats of the West never joined with the Communists. "The two Germanys, one Socialist, one Communist -- two souls -- never really merged," said Giovanni Sartori, a professor emeritus at Columbia University. "It explains why the S.P.D., which was always the major Socialist party in Europe, cannot really coalesce."
Having seen first-hand the drabness of the DDR, and having watched -- if only from a distance -- the events as the wall finally came down, I can't understand the Germans' apparent longing for it. But I've never had to defer to a block leader, either.
The situation in France is even worse for the left. Asked this summer if the party was dying, Bernard-Henri Lévy, an emblematic Socialist, answered: "No -- it is already dead. No one, or nearly no one, dares to say it. But everyone, or nearly everyone, knows it." While he was accused of exaggerating, given that the party is the largest in opposition and remains popular in local government, his words struck home.
I'm not sure if it's actually dead. La Belle France has a liking for illogical politix. I think it's an outgrowth of their liking for counterintuitive philosophers.
The Socialist Party, with a long revolutionary tradition and weakening ties to a diminishing working class, is riven by personal rivalries. The party last won the presidency in 1988, and in 2007, Ségolène Royal lost the presidency to Mr. Sarkozy by 6.1 percent, a large margin.
She was something of a loup-loup, but I think Monsieur Jacque Crapaud simply had more affection for Sarkozy, whom one suspects has testicles.

With a reputation for flakiness, Ms. Royal narrowly lost the party leadership election last year to a more doctrinaire Socialist, Martine Aubry, by 102 votes out of 135,000. The ensuing allegations of fraud further chilled their relations. While Ms. Royal would like to move the Socialists to the center and explore a more formal coalition with the Greens and the Democratic Movement of François Bayrou, Ms. Aubry fears diluting the party. She is both famous and infamous for achieving the 35-hour workweek in the last Socialist government.
Which contributed to le competitivenesse Francais precisely how?
The French Socialist Party "is trapped in a hopeless contradiction," said Tony Judt, director of the Remarque Institute at New York University. It espouses a radical platform it cannot deliver; the result leaves space for parties to its left that can take as much as 15 percent of the vote.
I think it -- and the other parties of the left -- share much with B.O.'s world view, which is divorced from the perception of finite bounds to the things we'd like to do. If the world doesn't fit, it can't be forced to fit, no matter how much you demonstrate.
The party, at its summer retreat last month at La Rochelle, a coastal resort, still talked of "comrades" and "party militants." Its seminars included "Internationalism at Globalized Capitalism's Hour of Crisis." But its infighting has drawn ridicule. Mr. Sarkozy told his party this month that he sent "a big thank-you" to Ms. Royal, "who is helping me a lot," and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a prominent European Green politician, said "everyone has cheated" in the Socialist Party and accused Ms. Royal of acting like "an outraged young girl."

The internecine squabbling in France and elsewhere has done little to position Socialist parties to answer the question of the moment: how to preserve the welfare state amid slower growth and rising deficits. The Socialists have, in this contest, become conservatives, fighting to preserve systems that voters think need to be improved, though not abandoned.

"The Socialists can't adapt to the loss of their basic electorate, and with globalism, the welfare state can no longer exist in the same way," Professor Sartori said.

Enrico Letta, 43, is one of the hopes of Italy's left, currently in disarray in the face of Silvio Berlusconi's nationalist populism. "We have to understand that Socialism is an answer of the last century," Mr. Letta said. "We need to build a center-left that is pragmatic, that provides an attractive alternative, and not just an opposition."
They always say that when they're out of power. They get back in power and they consider it a mandate for the doctrinaire.
Mr. Letta argues that Socialist policies will have to be transmuted into a more fluid form to allow an alliance with center, liberal and green parties that won't be called "Socialist."
"Watermelon" is the term I think is currently favored: Green on the outside, red on the inside, with specks of black to accommodate the anarchists.
Mr. Winock, the historian, said, "I think the left and Socialism in Europe still have work to do; they have a raison d'être, and they will have to rely more on environment issues." Combined with continuing efforts to reduce income disparity, he said, "going green" may give the left more life.
... by concealing its meat within that green shell...
Mr. Judt argues that European Socialists need a new message -- how to reform capitalism, "recognizing the centrality of economic interest while displacing it from its throne as the only way of talking about politics." European Socialists need "to think a lot harder about what the state can and can't do in the 21st century," he said.

Not an easy syllabus. But without that kind of reform, Mr. Judt said, "I don't think Socialism in Europe has a future; and given that it is a core constitutive part of the European democratic consensus, that's bad news."

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Sharon Stone starts run for White House at biennale

2007-06-03

Just when you thought the United States presidential race was crowded enough, Sharon Stone has decided to run for the White House. The Hollywood star has ditched her Democrat sympathies and hired George Bush's former ad guru for her Republican campaign. She has also convinced her friend, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, to stand for the Democrats. But to witness this battle of tinseltown politico v Parisian charmer you will have to attend the world's most important arts festival, the Venice Biennale, which opens next week.

In one of the most talked-about works of the Biennale, the Italian video installation artist Francesco Vezzoli has created two 2008 White House campaigns, Democrazy. Amazingly, some of Washington's top political advisers rushed to take part. Stone's campaign ad has been produced by Mark McKinnon, Bush's top advertising strategist in 2004, who is senior adviser to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign. Meanwhile, Levy, known as "BHL", was managed and directed by Bill Clinton's advertising gurus from 1996.

BHL initially kept quiet about his part in the project, only confiding in his friend Ségolène Royal, who ran for the French presidency last month. A fan of the US but harbouring reservations about the Iraq war, he rewrote the White House party political broadcast that was prepared for him adding his own comments on gun laws, the health service, the death penalty and Guantánamo. His advisers conceded, but insisted he wore a tie. In France, where BHL's chest is an institution and his navel-grazing open white shirts regularly prompt "how low can he go" debates, this fashion departure made it onto news bulletins.

The French philosopher was once hailed by Vanity Fair as "Superman and prophet: we have no equivalent in the United States". But even though the House of Representatives has long returned "French" fries to their canteen menu, he faces a hard task to convince as his fake persona, "Patrick Hill". Stone poses as rival "Patricia Hill" in a power-suit and helmet hair in front of a "Make America Strong" logo. The Washington advisers mocked-up positive campaign ads as well as adverts designed to undermine the opponent.

Vezzoli is known for his Hollywood spoofs such as a fake cinema trailer for a steamy Caligula remake starring Helen Mirren.

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Europe

Sarkozy heads for parliamentary landslide

2007-06-01

President Nicolas Sarkozy, ever-present, hyperactive, and riding high in the polls, appears to be heading for an overwhelming victory in the French parliamentary elections this month. According to the most recent poll, M. Sarkozy's centre-right party and its centrist allies could take as many as 430 of the 577 seats in the national assembly in the two-round election on 10 and 17 June.

Such a tidal wave is not unprecedented. The right did even better in 1993. But an electoral landslide would place President Sarkozy in a commanding position - politically and morally - to force through his programme of social and economic reforms.

A parliament heavily tilted to the right might also be dangerous - not least for M. Sarkozy himself.

The Independent can always find the black lining in a silver cloud.

His glittering, accommodating, all-action first two weeks in power has impressed many French people, both on the left and the right. However, M. Sarkozy has also confirmed fears that he intends to overturn the traditional division of labour in French government and use the once aloof presidency as a kind of super-prime-ministership.

Since that's exactly why he was elected ...

A national assembly heavily dominated by President Sarkozy's Union Pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) would re-inforce the impression of a country dominated, as never before, by one man.

... and an elected parliament ...

There was some consternation earlier this week - even within his own camp - when President Sarkozy broke with constitutional tradition and addressed a UMP parliamentary campaign rally in Le Havre. Previous presidents in the Fifth Republic have maintained the illusion of standing aside from the dirty business of parliamentary party politics. M. Sarkozy has also found time for visits to Germany, Italy and Spain; to hold talks with employers and unions; to visit workers in Dunkirk and Toulouse; and to jog daily in the Bois de Boulogne.

The Socialists, the main opposition party, are forecast to win only 100 to 142 seats. They hope that M. Sarkozy's "in-your-face" style could still help them to mobilise the one in three French voters who cannot stomach the new President. The Socialist campaign has failed to make much impact so far. Grass-roots party workers are exhausted and demoralised after M. Sarkozy's presidential victory on 6 May. Party leaders, including the defeated candidate Ségolène Royal, have been squabbling over who should emerge as the de facto "leader of the opposition" and 2012 presidential candidate in waiting.

The parliamentary campaign is also proving disastrous for the centrist leader, François Bayrou. Emboldened by his 18 per cent score in the first round of the presidential elections, M. Bayrou has dissolved his old UDF party, which was traditionally allied with M. Sarkozy's centre-right. He has created a new Mouvement Démocrate, which has refused all electoral deals with the Sarkozy camp. All but a handful of M. Bayrou's 29 sitting deputies have broken ranks and created another party, the Nouveau Centre, which is little more than an adjunct of M. Sarkozy's UMP. As a result, M. Bayrou's party is forecast to take only 10 per cent of the vote in the first round of the parliamentary elections on Sunday week. He is projected to win at most six seats in the new national assembly - and conceivably none.

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Europe

Au Revoir : Laurent Murawiec's diagnosis on France

2007-05-09

Great read, and spot-on IMHO.
De Gaulle, Le Pen, and the Communist party have been expunged from French politics.

By Laurent Murawiec

Good news for the French, good news for us: Nicolas Sarkozys impressive victory in this weekends French presidential election sounds the death knell of key components of French political exceptionalism.

GAULLISM AT HOME
First, the Gaullist exception in both the domestic field and in international affairs has finally been done away with. Domestically, Gaullism has been terrible for the Right. In France, after 1945, the figure of General de Gaulle singlehandedly prevented the consolidation of a powerful and durable Christian-Democratic party as arose in Germany or Italy and as existed in Britain. Even after de Gaulles retirement, his legacy prevented the often-attempted establishment of a conservative, right-of-center party. This fragmented the center and the Right, and forced a general shift to the center. The Right was softened, which in turn enabled the rise of an uncouth ultra-right in the form of Jean-Marie Le Pen, whose National Front took a large part of the conservative electorate.

Furthermore, de Gaulle essentially established a pact with the Communist party, which paralyzed the political landscape: Against an erratic coalition of Gaullists and Communists, it was virtually impossible to effect significant change. For the better part of fifty years, the Communist-dominated unions were like a lead balloon burdening the body politic, a powerful lobby on behalf of corporatist status quo.

No figure comparable to that of Mrs. Thatcher ever rose to break the back of the unions, no figure remotely comparable to that of Ronald Reagan ever appeared to free the political system from the poisonous legacy of Gen. de Gaulle. Sarkozys ascent represents the consolidation of a genuine right-of-center force in French politics and the final vanquishing of the Gaullist exception.

AND ABROAD
In international affairs, de Gaulle repeatedly broke ranks with Atlantic solidarity; he tried to sunder NATO and flirted with Moscow. De Gaulle foolishly floated France, with him at it head, as the leader of an international third way in which the non-aligned and the Soviet bloc would join him. The Islamic world, Latin America, and Asia would heed his anti-American call. De Gaulles successors kept up that tradition, though with partial exceptions: President Pompidou improved relations with Richard Nixon somewhat; Socialist president Mitterrand supported Reagans deployment of the euro-missiles (but furiously opposed missile defense). Jacques Chirac turned out to be the most virulent hater of America, ready to go to almost any length to harm the U.S.

Sarkozys very first statement upon being elected pointedly emphasized a strong alliance with and friendliness toward the United States. This is an enormous change: For the first time since the strongly Atlantic-oriented Fourth Republic, Paris will not be anti-American. This does not mean that Sarkozys France will be aligned with, or a mere appendix of, American diplomacy in his speech, Sarkozy first underlined that he was a good European and favorable to a stronger Europe. Rather, it means that Sarkozys France will stop trying to berate, harass, and scoff at the United States at every opportunity; that Sarkozys France will stop trying to lead a worldwide anti-American coalition, as was the case under the bumbling but tenaciously noxious stewardship of Jacques Chirac. The professional America-loathers at the French foreign ministry, the Quai dOrsay, will have to watch their step. Israel will be able to count on a more level playing field and less Islamophilia. Washington can do business with Nicolas Sarkozy, whereas Chirac only wanted to do injury to America. The European Union can again envision a center-right French-German leadership that is not intent on pitting the EU against America.

THE END OF LE PEN
The second French exception that suffered a fatal blow Sunday is Jean-Marie Le Pen, a clever, oafish demagogue. By defying the politically correct denial that there was any problem at all with Muslim immigrants, with their wayward, violent, and inassimilable children, or with the ghetto-like banlieues breeding grounds for drugs, criminality, and Islamic recruitment Le Pen proved a powerful attraction for the popular electorate and dragged it away from the mainstream, which in turn strengthened the Left.
Plus several rightwing notable figures reported how little he was interested in actually getting power, and how his party was firstly a vehicle for his ego, and his purse, managed as a family business, like a petty dictator ripe with nepotism.
Mitterrand and the Socialists underhandedly supported Le Pen so as to weaken the Right, which gave Le Pen an otherwise unattainable lease on life. The fact is that Le Pens strength was a mainstay of Socialist power. Deprived by Le Pen of more than 15 percent of the electorate, the Right was politically weakened; with Le Pen unwilling to engage in coalition politics except on his own terms, the conservative camp was in poor shape. The farce of the 2002 presidential election, where all the Left voted for Chirac the crook, as they called him in order to stop the Fascist Le Pen was the crowning tomfoolery of the French exception.

The portion of the popular electorate that supported Le Pen, at least 15 percent of the whole, had shifted over decades from de Gaulle to the Communists and then from the Communists to Le Pen. Sarkozys strategy, tested and steadfastly practiced over many years, much resembles Richard Nixons recapture of George Wallaces electorate. Nixon did not deny, as the respectable elites did, that there were serious reasons for disaffection among blue-collar workers and disenfranchised whites. Sarkozy likewise stated the obvious, which the Chiraquist, as well as Socialist, elites were discounting giving Le Pen, as a result, a monopoly on proclaiming that uncontrolled North African and West African Muslim immigration had created a massive problem; that the withdrawal of police and justice from the high-density clusters of immigrant and second-generation Muslims and the abandonment by the authorities of the poorer, lower-middle-class French had worsened the problem; and that some major policy-shift was urgent.

MARGINALIZED FRINGES
On the abhorrent basis of ideological racism and hatred for foreigners (he even badgered Sarkozy for his Hungarian roots), Le Pen recognized the Muslim problem and spoke up strongly about it. In so doing, he strongly contributed to the disintegration of the Communist party, which was once one of the most vigorous in Western Europe, with a quarter of the vote and a powerful grip on labor: Le Pen stole the Communists popular base. In the present election, Le Pen lost about half his electorate and the Communist candidate polled 2 percent of the vote.

The radical (Left or Right) hijacking of blue-collars has come to an end, even if various Trotskyites and Greens and sundry absurdists managed to siphon off about 10 percent of the total vote in the first leg of the election. In France, the fringe radicals are on the wane. Just as, in Germany, the CDU-CSU was wide enough a tent to include more nationalistic oriented voters, so it will now be in France.

THE END OF AN ERA
The exceptions of Gaullism, the Communist party, and Le Pen have been fatally weakened or eliminated altogether. The French body politic is ripe for a thoroughgoing reshuffle, and this is what will occur now. A new, post-Gaullist conservative pole will take shape around Sarkozy. Should the new president go to the country to acquire the parliamentary majority he needs, he would consolidate a five-year majority for himself, enabling him to implement what priorities he will select, which, if the campaign is any indication, will represent a pro-market inflection (not revolution) in the étatist policies of the French state.

The Socialist party will be torn by defeat, by the exhaustion of the 68 generation, by the failure of the post-68 (Ségolène Royals) generation to capitalize on even as calamitous a 12-year legacy as that of the pseudo-conservative Chirac. The moderate, more Social-Democratic types in the Socialist party have been signaling their willingness to deal with the center: Former Socialist government minister Bernard Kouchner, founder of the French Doctors, is now talking of joining François Bayrous new Centrist (Christian-Democratic) party. Claude Allègre, renowned geophysicist (and noted global-warming skeptic) and a former Socialist minister of Education, was spotted leaving Sarkozys offices a few days ago.

The grip of the Sixty-Eighters (soixante-huitards) on the political and cultural establishment and the complete connivance between Gaullists, Communists, and 68ers on anti-American, anti-Israeli, anti-Christian, pro-Arab, pro-Muslim, pro-Russian, and pro-third world policies has now been seriously weakened. In his campaign, Sarkozy emphasized national identity and cultural roots (Judeo-Christian, Catholic, French, and Western) subjects that drive the Left into fits of rage. The 68ers idolized cultural relativism and multiculturalism; the new president has no sympathy for their shibboleths. The virtues he stresses and the vices he attacks have nothing in common with the worldview of the 68ers.

With the end of its persistent and toxic exceptions, from the so-called French social model to the conceit of French international leadership, and with a new chief executive unburdened by these follies, France will join again the ranks of reasonably governed nations. Good news for the French, good news for us.

Laurent Murawiec is a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. His next book, The Mind of Jihad, will appear next year.

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Europe

Sarkozy increases his lead in France; Royal warns of unrest

2007-05-06

PARIS: The French presidential campaign officially closed Friday with the Gaullist front-runner, Nicolas Sarkozy, looking ever more assured of winning Sunday and his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, predicting street violence if he is elected. Her warning came after the two latest opinion polls suggested Sarkozy would beat her by a bigger margin than predicted a few days ago, before a combative debate on national television in which Sarkozy kept his cool under rhetorical fire from Royal.

"Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice," Royal told the radio station RTL.

"It is my responsibility today to warn people of the risk of his candidacy concerning the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country," she said, suggesting that unrest was especially likely in the volatile suburbs that were the site of rioting in 2005.
B-b-but h-h-e's HUNGARIAN. He's not French enough. Of course, we weaselifoerous ones won't like it!

'Brutality' has been one of Sego's buzz words; she's been trying to hang it on Sarko the entire election.

Whoever wins, the 2007 election will go down in history as one that shook France's political landscape. Sarkozy built a united party machine on the right, and while Royal failed to paper over the large cracks in the Socialist party, the emergence of a strong centrist vote for François Bayrou, third-place finisher in the first round two weeks ago, helped change the left. It must now decide whether to jettison traditional socialism in favor of the more market-oriented social democracy embraced by the left elsewhere in Europe.
Umm Mr. Blair, since you are retiring would you mind consulting?

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Europe

The New Europeans

2007-05-05

The changing of the guard in Europe's biggest countries is a chance for the Continent to renew itself. That's the good news. Here's the other kind: This fresh crop of leaders doesn't look well-placed to pull it off.

New political management will be in place by summer. Whomever the French elect tomorrow, the next President is going to be a younger face. Tony Blair plans to set a date next week to give the keys to 10 Downing Street to Chancellor Gordon Brown. Germany and Italy chose new leaders in the past 18 months. All are different, and Britain is the one economic standout, but this foursome sets the pace in Europe.

France is a good test case. Its socioeconomic troubles are nothing unusual for Old Europe--from stagnant growth to a debt-ridden welfare state to restive, underemployed young Muslims. But the political barriers to tackling these problems are highest in France. The presidential election, pitting center-right Nicolas Sarkozy against Socialist Ségolène Royal, might provide a mandate for change. According to an Ipsos survey on the day of the first round of voting April 22, the three main issues were unemployment, purchasing power and economic insecurity.

In the runoff, Ségo and Sarko have proposed very different solutions. Ms. Royal would bump up the minimum wage, already the highest in the OECD, by 20% and spend lavishly on social programs. She wants to make life easier for business, but the bulk of her program is old school Socialism. If Ms. Royal is the vision of a reassuring but untenable past, Mr. Sarkozy promises an uncertain, tumultuous, possibly brighter future. He mixes free markets and protectionism, yet emphasizes "action" and "rupture." The man wants to shake France out of its doldrums, the woman to softly nudge.

Even France may be ready at last to abandon statist orthodoxy. Mr. Sarkozy got 31% in the first round, the highest score for a right-wing candidate since 1974, and heads into the runoff with a nine-point lead in the polls. French voters are saying something must truly change. But will it?

Germany gives a half-reassuring answer. The "sick man of Europe" a few years back, a nickname today applied to France, the world's third-largest economy notched a recent high of 2.7% growth in 2006 and saw joblessness last month fall to its lowest level in five years. The previous government's limited welfare reforms helped, but the real credit goes to Germany's private sector.

Global competition, free capital flows and the single European currency have forced Deutschland AG to go around the politicians and get its act together. German companies restructured, outsourced aggressively and won wage concessions from unions. Now the world's biggest exporter can take better advantage of globalization. Last year, exports grew 13% and investment 8%, driving the revival, since consumption was up only 0.9%. Likewise in Italy, the private sector bypassed a shambolic state to pull the country out of recession; look at the turnaround at Fiat.

Europe's last watershed election was Margaret Thatcher's in 1979. Thanks to her and the Reagan Revolution, as well as globalization, politicians today matter less. In spite of Mr. Brown's penchant for stealth taxes and regulations, New Labour's commitment to leave Thatcherite reforms in place means that investors have little to fear from the change of leadership in an economically vibrant Britain. The Nordics, Ireland and Spain are all doing well after opening up their economies in recent years.

Alas, in the "Big Three" the pols have a central role to play--mainly to undo the policy mistakes of the past. Whether for lack of conviction or political will, they're falling short. Content with high approval ratings, Chancellor Angela Merkel has shelved her promises of flat taxes, the easing of firing restrictions and an overhaul of the health system. Her one big move was a three-point increase in the VAT this year, showing that Continental politicians can still do plenty of damage. Retail sales are down 9% in the first quarter. Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi pushed through some deregulation but also a big tax increase.

France's next President inherits an arguably tougher situation. Exports and market share abroad are falling and the French outsource less than Germans or Italians. France lags Germany on labor and welfare liberalization, which along with regulation and high taxes stifles innovation and economic growth. Capital and skilled workers are moving out of France.

The campaign may have culminated in a clear left-right split, but with little room for free-market ideas. In a telling moment in Wednesday night's presidential debate, Mr. Sarkozy declared in his concluding statement that his priority was "to protect France from delocalisation," or outsourcing. He didn't provide details along the lines of Ms. Royal's tax on companies that move operations overseas. In France, both left and right have pushed statism as well as market reforms when convenient, but neither has yet embraced anything even resembling a Thatcherite agenda.

Until a political consensus emerges in the Big Three that competition is the surest route to job creation, lower prices and higher wages, don't hold your breath for a genuine European economic renaissance.

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Europe

Debating in French

2007-05-03

HT No Pasaran!

PJM Paris editor Nidra Poller - who has been following the French presidential election closely for Pajamas Media - reports on Wednesdays debate between finalists Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy. The hot-headed Sarko was supposed to lose his cool, but it may have been his opponent who did.

by Nidra Poller
In anticipation of the Royal-Sarkozy debate, commentators speculated on the unexpected: what might happen to surprise us; will one of the candidates lose his or her composure or, on the contrary, say something so memorable that it could change the course of events.

Every single day for four months we have been hearing that Nicolas Sarkozy is nervous, hot-tempered, impulsive, and liable to erupt at any moment against his own will. At its furthest extremes, the hate campaign against Sarkozy is steeped in anti-Semitic, anti-American poison; in polite circles it is fashionable to talk about his brutality. Ségolène Royal, at the height of fashion, never misses a chance to label her rival and his politics as brutal.

Tonight the two candidates engaged in face to face debate for over two hours. Nicolas Sarkozy was calm, cool, and collected. Relaxed and comfortable, he had perfect control of himself and his language. He addressed every question intelligently, replied clearly and coherently. Ségolène Royal was nervous and aggressive from the get-go. She attacked, jabbed, taunted. She stared at him with narrowed angry eyes. Her voice was harsh. She spoke through clenched teeth. And, as I expected, before the debate was over, an issue hit her panic button, she lost control and turned spitfire.

Thats it, right? Thats what everyone was waiting for. Could two rivals in fierce competition handle themselves with dignity in a two hour face to face, or would one of them fall into a trap and explode? Yes. Except that it was supposed to be Nicolas Sarkozy.

The first media reactions came to us on France 3. The debate after the debate. Four guests for Royal, four for Sarkozy. Two moderators. Royal was praised by her loyal supporters who had no doubt that she had won the debate. They were honest enough to admit that she did not necessarily win votes, but her performance in the debate was dazzling. She was so deliciously pugnacious. Yes, pugnacious. And when she went into that riff, shouting at Sarkozy for minutes on end, totally out of control, and he told her, calmly, that a president doesnt blow her top, she slammed back, I am not blowing my top, I am revolted! I have a right to be revolted at what you said! I am angry, I am not blowing my top!

Well, they took her at her word. Nicolas Sarkozy couldnt fool them, oh no, they could see through his deceptions. Everyone knows how hot-tempered he is. And he just sat there, looking relaxed, speaking calmly, never raising his voice or his hand. To hear them describe it, it was almost too evil. A brutal man like that should at least have the honesty to show his real face.

Naturally, each candidate developed arguments that we have heard before, that we can read in their respective programs. The point of a face to face debate is to allow the opponent to challenge statements as they are made, on the spot, without stumbling or stuttering. Much of what we heard tonight has already been elaborated during the course of the campaign.

She throws in anecdotal details, adds some heavy emotional seasoning, turns the question into a flattering spotlight on her own person, and just keeps talking until someone, in this case the moderatorsPatrick Poivre dArvor and Arlette Chabotpolitely waves her to the side and stops her long enough to ask another question.

There were no surprises on that score. Ségolène Royal cannot focus her thoughts. She cannot give a straight answer to a direct question. Her ideas are strung together like beads, in no particular order. She throws in anecdotal details, adds some heavy emotional seasoning, turns the question into a flattering spotlight on her own person, and just keeps talking until someone, in this case the moderatorsPatrick Poivre dArvor and Arlette Chabotpolitely waves her to the side and stops her long enough to ask another question. On every crucial issuethe 35-hour work week, the admission of Turkey into the EU, reform of the pension systemshe flourishes a plume of high principles and then abdicates: the decision will be made after consultation with all parties, after discussion and debate, by referendum, by a flick of the wrist.

When Nicolas Sarkozy confronted her with facts, she hissed. Dont try that on me. I know your tactics. On many points, it was obvious that she was faking. He has far more experience than she does in the affairs of state. Which is why she endlessly refers to regional government, and all of the miracles she has performed in the region she governs.

Sarkozys entire campaign is based on a promise of accountability. He has fully developed his thinking on the longstanding problems of France. He has clearly defined a coherent program of proposed solutions. And he has pledged to stand by them, and be judged by his results. While Royal refers to her region, Sarkozy refers to Europe and the world. If Germany, England, Denmark, Ireland, and Spain can have full employment and healthy economies, there is no reason that France should be suffering from stagnation.

Ségolène Royals campaign is based on herself. In tonights debate, she could not use her charm. And her anger, for all the praise it might win from her diehard supporters, did not come across as righteous. Faced with Sarkozys concise thinking, her rambling arguments did not billow, her slogansgagnant-gagnant, donnant-donnantfell flat, and she didnt sing her usual tunes with the same conviction she musters when standing in front of ten thousand cheering fans.

Before the debate began, we were informed that Royal and Sarkozy had exchanged a cordial handshake (like Sumo-sans?) in front of the camerasbut the scene would not be shown until the debate had ended. For some unexplained reason the curtain came down and there was no delayed broadcast handshake.

After all the tough questions from unemployment to Irans nuclear ambitions had been hashed over, the moderators asked the debaters what they thought of each other. It might seem like a silly question. In fact it was quite revealing because Ségolène Royal could not and did not pour out a dose of the anti-Sarko hatred that inspires her voters. She could not say then and there, after viewers had watched them in action for over two hours, that he was such a danger to the nation that even people who didnt like her or her politics should vote for her just to keep him from being president. Fans being fans, they probably wont hold it against her.

My choice for the best stumping exchange is the China Olympics Boycott issue. Both Royal and Sarkozy deplore the reluctance of the international community to act decisively to stop the massacre of the innocent in Darfur. Royal proposes a boycott of the Chinese Olympics, to punish the Chinese for preventing an international intervention simply to protect their interests in Sudan. Sarkozy asked her why, in that case, she made a high profile visit to China. Of course he might have asked her why she wanted to be president of Francebecause, if Im not mistaken, the French, too, have interests in Sudan.

Will the debate change the figures?. Sarkozy is predicted to win by as much as 53 to 47. If anything, it might convince certain reluctant voterspeople who share his analysis, share his solutions, but are inhabited by that vague Sarkozy is scaryto vote for the hot-tempered guy who is so clever he can keep his cool.

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Europe

Sarko v Ségo in French poll

2007-04-23

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's rightwing former interior minister, last night stormed to one of the most impressive first-round victories in French presidential history, making him favourite to beat the socialist Ségolène Royal to the Elysée in a fortnight's time. The head of France's ruling UMP party emerged as the most popular rightwing politician in 30 years after promising to shake France out of its decline with a mixture of free-market reforms, and to restore "authority" with tough law and order measures, clamp down on immigration and instil a sense of "national pride". According to early official counts, he scored 30.5% of the vote.

Addressing a rally of around 2,000 supporters in Paris, Mr Sarkozy said: "I wish only to rally people around a new French dream of a fraternal republic." He said his vision of France valued work, instilled authority and was a France where people did not fear others. He said he would rally the workers, farmers and all those who had suffered and were "exasperated".

Ms Royal, the first woman with a chance of becoming president, comfortably qualified for the second round run-off on May 6, with an estimated 25.7% of the vote, the highest for a Socialist since Francois Mitterrand in 1988. She has styled herself the defender of social justice who "listens to the people", challenging Mr Sarkozy indirectly for his "brutal" style, divisiveness and "dangerous" authoritarianism.

And who better than a socialist to recognize those things?

The centrist Francois Bayrou, the dark horse "third man" who had posed a surprise challenge to the frontrunners, took 18.5% of the vote. Mr Le Pen came fourth with 11.5%, his worst result in a presidential election since he first ran in 1974.

Francois Fillon, of the UMP, widely tipped as Mr Sarkozy's possible future prime minister, said the result was not about "crying victory" but would allow the nation "to choose between two concepts of national identity and two ways of doing politics". Mr Sarkozy, whose inspirations are Charles de Gaulle and Pope John Paul II, has said France needs "a new Renaissance" and has promised to restore pride in "what it means to be French".

Ms Royal has broken away from the traditional left, styling herself as a mother figure who sings the Marseillaise and calling for everyone to place a French flag in their window.

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Europe

TURNOUT- 85%! FRENCH ELECTION UPDATES FROM NIDRA POLLER

2007-04-22

Election Fever is Busting Out All Over
Reporting the French elections : Sunday Noon

by Nidra Poller

Ive never seen anything like it since I came to live in Paris in 1972. Election excitement is busting out all over. Every snippet of conversation that wafts my way as I walk around on this glorious hot-as-summer day in April is about the election.

Today is the last day of a two-week spring holiday for schoolchildren. Families usually stay on vacation until the very last minute. Well, in the neighborhood I am covering, they all came home to vote. And, this being France, when friends get together to watch the election night programs, they have a feast. Long lines in all the shops, people buying food for the party.

The level of voter participation was estimated at 35% at noon. There is every expectation of an exceptionally strong turnout. For the first time French citizens in the Americas were able to vote with the same level of suspense as their compatriots here in France, because they cast their ballots yesterday instead of tonight French time, when the results are already announced. Their results will of course be held secret until this evening. Voter turnout in the Americas was exceptionally high.

Todays noon interview: Waiting in line at the charcuterie I hear the person next to me speaking on his cell phone. to watch Ségolène Royal lose. I ask him if there is a special menu for the occasion. And we embark on a most enlightening conversation. When I tell him that I am covering the elections for Pajamas Media, he switches to English. Very fluent English (youll see later why I mention this).

His predictions are just about the same as mine: Sarkozy will win by about 5 points over Royal. Bayrou will stagnate at around 18 or 19%. Politically Le Pens finished old hat; hell probably level out at 12% or 13%.
Very acurate! I must confess I thought it was gonna be Sarko-bayrou.
My informer says that Ségolène Royal did not understand what it means to be president. President, etymologically, means to be seated in front ofin other words, to lead. She went through her phony exercise of participatory democracy, listening to peoples gripes, and churning them into a so-called political program. She didnt understand that many people in her own party are fed up. The French are fed up. Out in the banlieue, people on welfare are earning more than hard-working salaried people. That doesnt mean that Sarkozy is perfect. But you vote against the disastrous candidate, and take the best you can get. The old guard of the Socialist party is going to make her pay for this defeat! The hard left wing, led by [former PM] Fabius, will take over. Of course there will be a violent reaction to Sarkozys victory. It will begin tonight.

The gentleman is a 44 year-old professor of law at the Assas branch of the Sorbonne. And he learned English five months agounder hypnosis.

Radio J [a Jewish station] reported early this afternoon on a serious fight between Maghrebis and Jews in Belleville today. Further details in a few minutes.

Yesterday I had one of those touchstone conversations with a French friend. Aghast at the Virginia Tech massacre, she gave me the same lesson I had been hearing day in and day out in the French media: gun control! Why dont you Americans impose gun control? Cant you understand? The reference of choice here is Michael Moore. And everyone believes its easier to buy a gun in the US than to buy a baguette on Sunday morning in Paris. My friend said they should have metal detectors at the entrance to the campus. I explained that there is no wall around an American campus. I explained that our Constitution was made to last, we dont revise it every other year like the French. I explained why I cant listen to these automatic pop-up French lessons that cover everything from a marital spat to car bombs in Iraq. Its always the same lesson: do like us, dont do anything, dont moveand dont shoot.

These conversations can only go so far. Either the friendship ends, or the friend backs out. We left it at that and then went together to the Paris City Hall to visit an exhibition organized by the Filles et Fils des Juifs Déportés (Sons and daughters of deported Jews)dedicated to the 11,400 French Jewish children deported to the Nazi death camps. The dark flashing eyes of those children, the exuberant life that blossoms in their beings, the intelligence, tenderness, charm and youthful awkwardness captured in photos haunts us forever. The babies! The mothers plucked out of the hospital with their babes in arms. The children separated from their parents in the French concentration camps, deported separately, thrown into the ovens by the hundreds. Familiar faces and namesour families, our distant cousins, our landsmen.

On the way home I passed a local school. Official posters of all twelve candidates are displayed on zigzag row of panels on the sidewalk. No sooner are they put up than some are defaced. Posters of Left and far Left candidates are almost always untouched. The others are slashed, tagged, covered with insults. The vandals unwittingly reflect on their chosen candidates!

On this panel, Nicolas Sarkozy was reworked as Hitlerthe thick lock of hair across the forehead, the little moustache. The authors of the profanation signed their work with a big printed sticker. They call themselves ARTRESISTANCE.

My blood boiled. What punks! What slime! So they think thats the Résistancea thick black magic marker and a pinhead brain? They think thats a Nazi? Nicolas Sarkozy? And what do they think about the faces of the children whose lives were slashed, broken, and burned?

My friend went on to another rendez-vous and I continued the conversation alone in my white hot mind.

My friend, I was in the United States when our cousins were exterminated. And we had the same Constitution then as now, the same right to bear arms. Well, my friend, no one shot up the schools in those days. But here, in this country, tens thousands of Jews were taken to slaughter. Try to understand why we defend the right to bear arms. Most of us dont exercise it. But its an eloquent statement. Dont mess with me. And French people should not be aiming easy lessons at us today. They should be asking what they are going to do about the violence looming on the horizon here and now.

Report on the incident at Belleville, as described by the Uncle of the Jewish boys. Saturday evening two religious Jewish girls came out of the synagogue after the end of Sabbath service. A group of Maghrebis accosted them. A young Jewish man, Didier, intervened to protect them. The Maghrebis turned and attacked him.

Today Didier went back with his brother, found the assailants, attempted to settle their differences peacefully. The Maghrebis immediately started beating the Jewish boys. Their uncle called the police repeatedly. It took them 10 minutes to come. The uncle regrets: Im 66, I couldnt intervene. The aggressors ran away. The police took the Jewish boys into custody. They didnt try to find the Maghrebis, says the uncle, because they dont want to set foot in that part of the neighborhood. A little later, a new wave of assailants, at least 50, appeared.

At the moment there is a standoff. The uncle says he is afraid of what will happen this evening.

He is not the only one.

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Europe

Sarkozy, Royal pull ahead in French election race

2007-04-20

France's presidential election on Sunday looks set to be a traditional contest between the main right and left parties as a bid by a centrist candidate to mount a challenge loses steam, a poll on Thursday showed. With three days to go before the first round of the election, the race appears to be between former interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Ségolène Royal as the challenge from centrist Francois Bayrou fades.

The survey from pollsters BVA, one of the last before the weekend, showed law-and-order hardliner Sarkozy on 29 points in the first round, ahead of Royal on 25, Bayrou on 15 and far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen on 13. The other eight candidates, who stretch across the political spectrum, were well adrift.

Le Pen stunned France in 2002 by knocking then-Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin out of the race, before going on to be crushed by President Jacques Chirac in the run-off.

With up to 40% of voters yet to make up their mind or uncertain of their choice, the candidates are criss-crossing France to try to bolster their vote. The influential newspaper Le Monde urged the French on Thursday to set up a classic left-right second-round contest by voting for Royal or Sarkozy, saying they had the most coherent programmes and the strongest teams for eventual government. "It is important that in the second round, our 'old and dear country' can say clearly where it wants to go," it said in an editorial, without choosing between the two frontrunners.

Opinion-poll leader Sarkozy, whose high-octane personality has been vilified by opponents in recent days, launched an operation dubbed "72 hours to win" on Thursday, promising events right up to the eve of the election to win over the undecided. "This operation is important because lots of people have not yet chosen," he wrote on his internet blog. "Now is the time to whip up support and enthusiasm."

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