Saturday, May 04, 2013

Hollande's First Year in Power


After 12 months in the Élysée palace, François Hollande can only be said to have had a disastrous first year — as depicted as a typical Frenchman on the cover of Courrier International (obrigado para Underscore), albeit with hardly a seductive facial expression, a presentable loaf of baguette, and a ridable (tricolored) bicycle.
One year in, writes Anne-Elisabeth Moutet in the Daily Telegraph (merci à Evelyne), François Hollande has "alienated most voters, antagonised Angela Merkel, driven droves of French into exile and presided over a worsening economy": "Mr Normal has become the Pitiful President"
With hindsight, it seems as if François Hollande’s troubles started the day he was inaugurated, on May 15 2012. First he was drenched by a surprise storm as his open Citroën drove up the Champs-Elysées. Then, the very same day, his Falcon plane was hit by lightning on the way to Berlin, where he was scheduled to meet Angela Merkel – making it possibly the first and last time the German Chancellor has felt unreserved sympathy for him.

The new president had to turn back before travelling to Berlin in another aircraft. When he got there – in more pouring rain – he missed a turn on the airfield red carpet while reviewing German troops, and had to be steered back in the right direction by Mrs Merkel’s firm grip on his elbow, a moment that presciently symbolised their future relationship.

And everything went downhill from there.

One year later, the man who had billed himself as the “normal president” during his victorious campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy is breaking records for unpopularity. With 75 per cent against him, Hollande is scoring the lowest approval ratings of any president of the Fifth Republic since the country started conducting polls. Unemployment has risen by 11.5 per cent since his election, reaching an all-time high of 3.2 million. An estimated 150,000 young people have left the country in search of better prospects abroad: the only jobs created in France have been in the public sector, usually in fields such as teaching that are solidly controlled by Socialist voters.

Despite a widely touted “austerity” drive, public spending stands at 57 per cent of GDP – the figure in Britain is 45 per cent – and the country’s public debt is about to reach 94 per cent of GDP. The largest street demonstrations since 1984 – when the country also had a Socialist president, François Mitterrand – have brought more than a million people on to the streets of Paris on two occasions (and more are planned), to protest against justice minister Christiane Taubira’s new law on gay marriage and adoption: given that France is a fairly tolerant society, these were effectively a street referendum against Hollande.

 … Despite a widely touted “austerity” drive, public spending stands at 57 per cent of GDP – the figure in Britain is 45 per cent – and the country’s public debt is about to reach 94 per cent of GDP. The largest street demonstrations since 1984 – when the country also had a Socialist president, François Mitterrand – have brought more than a million people on to the streets of Paris on two occasions (and more are planned), to protest against justice minister Christiane Taubira’s new law on gay marriage and adoption: given that France is a fairly tolerant society, these were effectively a street referendum against Hollande.

 … “The country is drowning in an ocean of discouragement,” said Christophe Barbier, the influential editor of L’Express. “It’s not just the tax-avoiding rich, artists like Gérard Depardieu, businessmen – everyone is now tempted to leave for a better life elsewhere. Young people feel they will never get a break, a job, a sign of trust. Entrepreneurs have to fend off red tape, rising costs and levies.”
In April, to add to this toxic climate, came the Cahuzac scandal: France’s budget minister, the man in charge of fighting tax fraud, was revealed to have a secret bank account in Switzerland – and in all likelihood another in Singapore – and to have lied to the president and parliament about it.
In the past week, polls have given Marine Le Pen, the far-Right National Front leader, record numbers in a hypothetical presidential election – 23 per cent, well above Hollande at 19 per cent, while Sarkozy scored 34 per cent. Were Sarkozy to stand, he would beat Le Pen easily in the second round but the talk in France has been of the dangers of Fascism, beginning with the very real distrust of all politicians and of the ruling class.

Friday, May 03, 2013

Torture in the Sahara: Not an Issue Although It Is Another Foreign Defeat for Obama in the Arab World

Even Morocco makes the Apologizer-in-Chief pull back, we learn from Le Monde's Alexandra Geneste in a report that not even conservative websites seem to have picked up.

After asking for support from Moscow and Beijing (no difficult feat), and following only two weeks of protest against Susan Rice's initiative (supported by the Robert F. Kennedy Center), Rabat managed to get Washington to drop talk of human rights in the Western Sahara for another year.

Of course, it's only when torture, real or alleged, is conducted by a Western country — especially if it is not under a leftist president — that it becomes a scandal as well as an international cause célébre.
Sans prévenir aucun de leurs partenaires au sein du Groupe des amis du Sahara occidental (Russie, France, Royaume-Uni et Espagne), les Etats-Unis avaient préparé un projet de résolution proposant la création d'un mécanisme de surveillance des droits de l'homme intégré à la Minurso. L'initiative, défendue avec acharnement par l'ambassadrice américaine Susan Rice, a déclenché l'ire de Rabat, qui considérait cette démarche comme une atteinte à sa souveraineté. Il l'a rejetée "catégoriquement" et a reporté sine die des manoeuvres militaires prévues avec les Américains.

LETTRE DE PROTESTATION

Le roi du Maroc, Mohammed VI, aurait dépêché ses conseillers en Russie et en Chine pour solliciter l'appui de ces deux membres permanents du Conseil de sécurité. Pis, selon une source diplomatique, il aurait adressé une lettre de protestation au président Barack Obama. Deux semaines de lobbying effréné plus tard, Washington, "refusant sans doute de s'aliéner un pays stable dans la région et un allié en matière de lutte antiterroriste, a capitulé", résume une source proche du dossier. …

"OCCASION MANQUÉE"

Les ONG regrettent "une occasion manquée". Pour Philippe Bolopion, le directeur de Human Rights Watch auprès de l'ONU, "il est regrettable que les Etats-Unis, qui avaient au départ une position louable, aient reculé si vite sans obtenir une seule concession marocaine". Selon lui, toutefois, le Maroc "a senti le vent du boulet" et a bien conscience que tout faux pas lui sera vite reproché.
Si les experts ne s'expliquent pas ce qui a motivé l'initiative américaine – sauf à spéculer sur le rôle de l'ONG pro-démocrate et pro-sahraouie Robert F. Kennedy Center, dont la présidente serait proche du secrétaire d'Etat John Kerry –, le rapport 2013 du département d'Etat consacrait 12 pages à la situation des droits de l'homme au Sahara occidental. "Les forces de sécurité marocaines sont impliquées dans la torture, les coups et autres mauvais traitements infligés aux détenus sahraouis", souligne le document. Des violations confirmées, en mars 2012, par le rapporteur spécial de l'ONU sur la torture, Juan Mendez, à son retour du Maroc et du Sahara occidental.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Depardieu Plays Strauss-Kahn in a Reenactment of the IMF Chief's Sexual Assault Trial

Gérard Depardieu is the spitting image of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, writes the Daily Mail (merci à Duncan), as the French movie star as the Russian movie star plays the IMF chief on a set in New York reenacting the media storm surrounding the sexual assault trial in the company of Jacqueline Bisset co-starring as his then-wife, the French TV reporter Anne Sinclair.
In an interview with Swiss Television RTS last year, Depardieu revealed he agreed to play the part because he found his fellow countryman 'arrogant and smug', adding: 'He is very French. I will do it, because I don't like him.'

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

The Stars & Stripes After Immigration Reform



As Le Monde praises Barack Obama to the heavens for his ambition for a historic plan on immigration, Selçuk delivers a cartoon portraying the American flag in the new flavors of the new world created by The One…

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cartoon on Iraqi Elections That Avoids Any Reference to Who Made those Elections Possible


• That guy is scary!

A Plantu cartoon on the elections in Iraq, of all places, that — again — manages to avoid any references to George W Bush and obliterate any positive references to what, and to who, made those elections possible in the first place…

French Cartoonist Uses Boston Terror Attack to Lash Out at… Handguns?!?!


• The question we must ask is: who can be so hateful towards this type of sport?

Since a leftist is at the helm of the White House, Le Monde's Xavier Gorce makes a totally asinine cartoon — deliberately abstaining from making any profound statement on terrorism or on the state of our world — while Plantu uses his cartoon not to damn terrorism — let alone to say that America and it's president are somehow responsible — but to demonize… handguns?!?!

No statement à la "The question we must ask is: did America create these terrorists?" from this crew, as in Bush's time…


Monday, April 29, 2013

If Bush DOES Intervene Militarily Abroad, He Is to Be Lambasted; If Dubya Does NOT Intervene Abroad, He Is… ALSO to Be Lambasted

Former President George W. Bush rejected a request from former Mexican President Felipe Calderon to use armed drones to curb the growing influence of drug cartels, the Washington Post reported Saturday
writes Mollie Reilly. Or, as the Huffington Post summarized the story on AOL's front page:

George W. Bush Ignored Leader's Plea

A report suggests that Bush denied a request from the president of Mexico in 2006 -- and it could've possibly alleviated a problem today.
When Bush DOES use the military abroad, it can only create problems;
when Dubya does NOT use the military abroad, it can… only… (wait for it) create… problems…

In the meantime, of course, we learn that Syria has used chemical weapons in its possession. Needless to say, this in no way means that Syria's former neighbor, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, ever used, or tried to obtain, his own weapons of mass destruction — what a ridiculous idea!