France's Efforts to Equate Iraq with Algeria

In its ever-present efforts to demonize Uncle Sam and keep the pressure up no matter what (all the while minimizing French sins, however serious they may be), today's print edition of Le Monde has a special eight-page supplement on Torture in Wartime (which can be obtained by downloading "Dossier : La torture dans la guerre (pdf)"). Parts of the last two pages are devoted to France's experience in Algeria, so the goal is obvious: minimize (in relative terms) the French army's experience in the matter while maximizing the U.S. military's experience. Good for future reference : "Ah, but you did ze same s'ing. Oh non, arrêtez ; vous voulez rire?! — yours was no better zan ours!"

Of course, some will say point to the beginning of Florence Beaugé and Philippe Bernard's interview with Pierre Vidal-Naquet, and say it reveals that the human rights fighter shows some admiration for America (its media's rapidity in uncovering the scandal), but the point here is to make the two cases comparable in the public mind. And the French are ever and always pointing to admirable details (large or small) in America only to follow it immediately afterwards with an ugly generalized picture.

Indeed, in his very next sentence, Vidal-Naquet comes back to say the usual &mdash to regret that America's media outlets are not entirely admirable (they haven't demonized the Bush administration enough) and to huff that "the United States claim to be imposing [democracy] with cannon fire and other, less savory methods".

Vidal-Naquet goes on to say that "the French state has remained virtually mute to this day", but makes no analogy between what still seems to be a state secret 50 years later and the Iraqi one, uncovered after less than six months.

Later, he speaks of what really riles him and gets his temper to rise: he expresses his disgust at the way Americans have "dehumanized the adversary" and at the way Saddam Hussein was treated when he was caught (c'était absolument abject); he qualifies one of Dubya's pro-Sharon statements as "one of the most montrous lies ever uttered by a statesman"; and he says that "what is perhaps the most worrying" is that John Kerry has made almost no comments about the prisoner abuse story. (This — consensus — is "the worst risk for democracy in America".)

And certainly the Le Monde reporters' questions are meant to give the idea that the twin instances of soldiers committing torture ("yesterday in Algeria, today in Iraq") are one and the same. Except that: probably, Americans could — as in so many other subjects! — learn a lesson from France's new generation, which — obviously, so obviously — has advanced far beyond that mentality in the intervening years.

(The ¡No Pasarán! editors will take a deeper look into the file, and we may get back to you…)

And We'll All Feel Joy When Juanito Comes Marching Home…

When Juanito comes marching home again, ¡Olé! ¡Olé!…

The Boston Globe's Charles M Sennott has an article about how proud Spain's soldiers are to have finished their job, how joyous la España is at seeing its "boys" again, and how Spaniards, high-ranking members of el gobierno, and the troops revelled together at the meeting welcoming the latter home. Excerpts:

"It didn't really feel like that much of a homecoming for us. It felt more like a political celebration for Zapatero and those who never wanted us there in the first place," said Manuel Garcia, 31, a sergeant in a brigade that was among the entire Spanish contingent of 1,300 troops ordered home.

"We felt like a used car being passed from one owner to the next," said Felipe Collado, 30, also a sergeant in the Plus Ultra II brigade, which arrived home Wednesday to a ceremony attended by Zapatero, his defense minister, and top brass. …

While all of the soldiers interviewed said they were relieved to be home and out of the harrowing dangers of serving in Iraq, most of them — even some originally opposed to the war — also expressed regret over Zapatero's decision. They said they were forced to abandon what they felt was a useful humanitarian mission. During their time on the ground, they said, they saw a profound need for international troops to stabilize the chaos and violence of postwar Iraq. …

"We should have stayed and finished our mission," said Jose Francisco Casteneda, 29, who was among four sergeants who gathered at a local restaurant Thursday …

Over coffee, the soldiers grumbled about what they viewed as the staged homecoming … The soldiers said they couldn't hide their disappointment that the prime minister did not directly address them and left it to Defense Minister Jose Bono. "A lot of us were wondering, 'Who is this parade for anyway?' " Collado asked.

[Although] Cesar Royo, 29, a communications specialist for the brigade who had just returned to his new bride [was against the US-led invasion, he] said he came away from his experience with a sense that the Spanish troops had something important to contribute, and he felt their mission was cut short in a way that smells of retreat and feels less than noble.

No Comment

"The person at Le Monde most likely to be accused of being anti-American is unfortunately the cartoonist you have before you. Even though I am not. Not at all." — Jean Plantureux

The Financial Times told us: Edwy Plenel, Le Monde's editorial director, says Plantu's cartoons are both "the front door" of the newspaper and its most prominent editorial. "Of course, there is an editorial in Le Monde, but the first editorial in the newspaper is Jean's," Plenel says...

[...] Between 8.10am and 8.30am every morning, Plantu learns which story will run as the splash across the top of the front page, and dashes off half-a-dozen sketches, from which Plenel will choose one. By 10.45am, everything needs to be finished and ready to send to the printers at Ivry-sur-Seine.

Your Average Friendly Europe Day in Paris

End of World War II Day. Dien Bien Phu Day. No Pants Day. All in all, it's been a good week-end for Days. (Those with a capital D).

You probably missed it, but there was also Europe Day, which was celebrated with Tony Blair meeting Jacques Chirac in Paris. As the International Herald Tribune tells it:

Despite their falling out over Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and President Jacques Chirac of France marked a cordial "Europe Day" in Paris on Sunday… The two leaders answered students' questions for more than an hour before breaking for lunch to discuss the issues of a future European constitution and the makeup of the new Iraqi transitional government …

The two leaders … answered questions about Europe's expansion last week from 15 to 25 members and the future of Iraq …"Today it is evident that the great majority of Iraqis have bad feelings about the forces of peace, which they consider occupying forces," Chirac said.

(Where did he get that evidence from? Le Monde? Oh, okay. I see.)

"So it is very urgent to transfer true sovereignty and powers to an authentically Iraqi authority that is recognized as such by the Iraqi people," said Chirac. The French president was one of the most outspoken voices against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that Britain took part in. The French president did not directly address allegations of coalition soldiers torturing prisoners. But he said that people who are "humiliated" would become aggressive.

Limited sovereignty will be restored to Iraqis on June 30, with a transitional government in power until a general election is held by the end of January.

The government that takes power after that must have the capacity to end the international mission in Iraq if it wishes, Chirac said.

Chirac, whose bitter diplomatic dispute with President George W. Bush over Iraq led to a post-cold-war low point in relations between the two countries, has since tried to mend fences.

On Sunday, he said that strong U.S.-Europe ties were in the "fundamental interest" of both sides — but he hinted there were still some hard feelings.

"This presupposes mutual respect, which isn't always the case," Chirac said.

(Meaning Uncle Sam, naturellement.)

But, he added: "Anything that calls this bond into question is dangerous for the future of Europe and the United States." …

On May 9, 1950, the first move was made toward the formation of the European Union when the French foreign minister at the time, Robert Schuman, proposed the creation of an organized Europe.

Earlier, The Economist had warned Blair of

the latest fashionable notion in Brussels: the idea that Britain might be chucked out of the EU if it refuses to ratify the new constitution that the 25 members are likely to agree next month. Tony Blair has promised a referendum on the constitution, and all the polls suggest that British voters will reject it. That, in theory, could mean that the whole document is still-born, since it needs to be ratifies by every EU member. So Jacques Chirac, France's president, has begun to exert what he calls a little "friendly pressure", by suggesting that any country that rejects the constitution will have to leave the EU altogether. Long experience has taght Mr Blair that nothing is more menacing than a "friendly" gesture from Mr Chirac.

In-Depth Article on EU 25

The Economist has an in-depth article on the new Europe.

Makes me wanna holler

Blacks are the Victims of Marginalization in France
byJean-Félix Mouloungui

This title is not an opinion. It is a fact. French blacks are victims of sublte discrimination and marginalization at the heart of the Republic. The condescending attitude of the French elite twoard other countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, etc....) on this score, yet absent condemnation of recurrent discrimination in France, makes me shout with rage to tell all those who give lessons in morality: enough hipocrisy. Put the Republic's house in order first.

Diên Biên Phú and Iraq?

American and other foreign nationals being evacuated aboard Air America, April 29, 1975.

For some reason or other, not one of the four bloggers in this space took any notice of yesterday's 50th anniversary commemorations of the battle of Diên Biên Phú.

General Võ Nguyên Giáp lead the Vietnamese attack and the battle lasted from March 13 until May 7, 1954, when France surrendered [*]. Three thousand French troops and ten thousand Vietnamese died there.

In yesterday's Times, French novelist Antoine Audouard published an op-ed, chosen for its obvious echos:

Fifty years ago today, at dawn on May 7, 1954, after 56 days of battle, silence fell upon the hills of Dien Bien Phu. The French had named the hills Dominique, Béatrice and Isabelle, sweet and feminine names, evocative of the mists of the northern Vietnamese countryside. They had been taken and lost, and taken again, and their shell-plowed soil was drenched in sweat and blood. For years to come they would deliver up fragments of human bodies and muddy jungle boots. This once calm mountain valley had become the symbolic graveyard of the 60,000 French soldiers who died in the Indochina war.

Cruelly, the night before, the Vietminh radio had broadcast "Le Chant des Partisans," [brief MP3 sample] the hymn of the French Resistance. Some of the 10,000 French soldiers there had, 10 years earlier, been part of the fight against the Nazis.

Supplies parachuted in to a French garrison. At Diên Biên Phú

Hearing the familiar lyrics, they felt their hearts being torn apart. What was defeat and humiliation for them — the surrender of their fortified camp to the Vietnamese and the end of French colonial rule in that country — was victory and liberation for their adversaries, the Vietnamese. It was one and the same reality: the two sides of the coin.

Audouard's father, who was born in Saigon, fought in that battle. He traveled to Vietnam to interview former combatants from both sides. He says he found that even in Vietnam "the silence after the battle had never been broken," and that the reasons for this were strange and complex. He continues

The reasons for the French silence are easier to understand: the vanquished lie low. Many survivors of the Indochina war are content to end their lives without answering the question their children never ask: Did you participate in acts of torture? Some did, burning villages, killing children they mistook for terrorists, raping women. "I did what a soldier is supposed to do; and for the rest, I did what I could." This medieval soldier's saying is no longer an excuse. To do "what one could" is indeed a far cry from doing what one dreamed of doing.

For those who lived through the humiliation of the German takeover of France in 1940, Indochina was an opportunity for redemption. They were soon to find out a simple and harsh truth: they were not welcome. The first Westerners to tell them so were hated and dismissed. They were American. Year after year, the French fought on, ignoring their own growing scepticism about the nature and objectives of the war. "A man of honor," De Gaulle once wrote, "pays his debts with his own money." Soon enough, the French war in Vietnam was heavily financed by American money. We might once have had honor, but we had certainly run out of money. All we had left to give was blood.

Audouard concludes with some odd and contradictory thoughts:

Can the echoes of the valley of Dien Bien Phu be heard in the streets of Falluja, at the prison of Abu Ghraib? Forty years ago, French friends of America tried to warn Washington about the pitfalls of Vietnam. The French themselves repeated their mistakes in Algeria. In Iraq every day even the best of intentions are cruelly put to test by the miseries and sorrows of war. As the promoters of a modern, "clean" war would have it, torture, humiliation, rapes, the killing of innocents, useless destruction are now avoidable.

But to go to war is to go to the bottom of the pit: what if those tragedies are not "collateral damage" but war itself, the essence of war? And when the damage is done, the pain and the shame are there to stay, and the dead (those bastards, my pals) keep coming back like ghosts.

What does Audouard council here? Is it just beatific pacifism? What exactly are the lessons of Diên Biên Phú if not even the French were able to draw them? Don't ever fight? Really? Crime and ignominy may very well be inextricable from war, but if Audouard is telling us never to fight, how could this realization have torn apart French soldiers' hearts if they didn't know that the Chant des Partisans and the violence it represented were righteous? And if war is "descending to the bottom of the pit," where exactly would France have been were it not for another earlier battle, the anniversary of which will be celebrated next month?

I may not see it but, if indeed there is a parallel between the torture employed by French troops in Indochina and the torture Abu Ghraib, Audouard maybe among the first in years — in France, or anywhere else for that matter — to give a damn about either.

[*] For those inclined to snicker at the sight of the words "France surrendered," take a few valium and think of fall of Saigon, and then go fuck yourselves.

The Living and the Dead, by Jean-Paul Delevoye

LE MONDE | 08.05.04 | 14h28

Tombs desecrated in the Jewish cemetery of Herrlisheim; others, Christian ones, daubed with nazi inscriptions in another Alsatian village; a cemetery sacked in Amiens, another in Mâcon; nazi slogans, again, and two swastikas on the monument in Fleury-devant-Douaumont (Meuse) to the memory of Jewish soldiers killed at the battle of Verdun during the First World War.

The succession in only a few days of so many obnoxious deeds — as if some disturbed minds sought to outdo each other in ignominy — has of course rightly stirred up sentiments. But how many other acts of this nature in recent years went unnoticed or were only reported by the local press? How many "Carpentras" (1990) [desecration of 34 Jewish graves provoking public outcry and a massive demonstration] will it take for indignation to grow dull and for us to become accustomed to the unacceptable?

Of course, these acts were not committed in concert and their succession is a result of coincidence or of unhealthy competition. They may, in some cases, have been inspired by racism, a descent in to sectarianism and satanism or simple stupidity. It will fall to the investigators to establish and discern the share of hate ideology and stupidity. Still, beyond their differences, they are a monstrous indication of the dysfunctions of a society in disarray, lacking a common frame of reference and common values.

Insulting the dead is indeed a supreme transgression, one of the few remaining taboos in a time when, moreover, it is well looked-on to call them into question one by one.

Pre-historians tell us how important the first appearance of human sepulchers was, some 80,000 years ago: they meant that filial bonds were growing stronger, that social relations were becoming more complex, that the human being, at the very moment that he becomes aware of the ineluctability of his own death, feels a greater need to love and to remember that he has loved.

For the desecrators of our time, it is indeed this humanity, in the strongest sense of the word, that they seek to deny by insulting it.

We are aware of the fragility of social bonds, the doubts, fears and selfishness that undermine the fabric of the nation. We know that the feeling of hopelessness, of "social death," that touches the most vulnerable among our fellow citizens, those who are endangered by poverty. These feelings produce tensions, conflicts and revolt. But in my view nothing is weightier or more worrisome than when the refusal to "live together" concerns not only the living but the dead as well.

[...]

Of course, no mediation can answer aberrant, obnoxious or hateful behavior. No society is livable without authority, without laws and without the will to suppress unacceptable acts.

But let us at least try to see to it that some of our fellow citizens no longer feel abandoned and unheard. Let us not accept that the desire to understand and for debate should give way to the balance of power. This would be to vindicate somewhat those who view human relations only in terms of conflict, exclusion and intolerance.

May nothing human
Remain at the bottom of your tripes,
Not even respect
For the dead and for tombs!

Que rien d'humain
ne reste au fond de vos entrailles,
Pas même le respect
des morts et des tombeaux !

Those lines by Théodore de Banville (1823-1891) sum up so well the urgent task that lies before us all: to restore something human to hearts and to the relations at the center of our public, social and economic organizations.

Jean-Paul Delevoye is ombudsman for the Republic, former minister for public service, state reform and national and regional development.

Cops TV

TV flicaille

Dragnet or fishnet stockings? An off duty French cop, arrested for drunk driving, is a transvestite and has been prostituting himself in the Bois de Boulogne on the outskirts of Paris. Oh, those trendy Paris panty-waists! Not surprising given the fact that Dominique 'Who is a Man' Villepin™ is now France's number one cop.

A force de passer la nuit à genoux à tailler des pipes il se disait 'mon dieu, que la terre elle est basse' dans ses bas résilles. Un flic pas en service, arrêté en état d'ivresse au volant de sa bagnole, est un travesti qui se prostituait au Bois de Boulogne. Ah, les pédaloïdes des beaux quartiers! Pas étonnant maintenant que Dominique 'Qui est un bonhomme quand même' Villepin™ est flicaille numéro un.

fast and furious

French authorities claim to have thwarted a fire bomb attack on a synagogue in Villiers-le-Bel, a municipality outlying Paris. Police say the bomb, painted with a swastika and nazi slogan and found in a garden on the synagogue grounds, weighed only 800 grams and may have been intended as an incendiary device.

***
According to Reuters, the Interior ministry simulated a bomb attack at the Place d'Italie metro station as part of a series of exercises to test the preparedness of emergency services. The scenario called for the attack to be followed by a conflagration and a nearby mall was made into a mock triage center.

"France is not specifically targeted by any threat today, even if our country has been mentioned by several terrorist groups," said Interior minister de Villepin.

Er... What?

***
A silent march in solidarity with France's Jewish community and against intolerance took place in Herrlisheim, scene of the attack on a Jewish cemetery in which vandals descrated 127 headstones on April 30. The march proceeded despite rain. The march was called for by the Mayor, Jean-François Willem.

"You have to take part, it's that simple," a marcher told France 2 television.

***
In an interview, Secretary Powell told the AFP that relations with France have "changed remarkably" (perhaps because de Villepin has been relegated to the Interior ministry). Meanwhile, the paper that no one reads, the Washington Times, is printing hopeful speculations about French intentions for next month's D-Day commemorations. The batty WaTi quotes former French ambassador to Greece and the MFA's current director for UN and International Organizations" Jean-Maurice Ripert as saying Bush's visit "will be a tremendous occasion of showing that whatever the differences were, or still could exist on some issues, we are still allies and we are still working together."

***
The seat of the devil himself, French oil company Total SA, announced an 8% drop in first quarter profits over last year. What exactly can an oil company do to lose ground when oil is at $40 a barrel, the highest price in 13 years? Moreover, how can the company suffer only a 2% decline in revenue but an 8% decline in profit? The US dollar dropped like a stone. Global output has increased slightly. Total's exploration and production profits fell by 7% (to €2.82 billion) due to the low dollar while refining and marketing profits fell by 30% (to €546 million) because of the higher price of crude. Since January 1, Total has spent €880 million to repurchase 1% of outstanding shareholder equity. Of course, all that, which I don't really understand, has had serious effect on the company's bottom line.

However, none of that would have mattered if the Iraq war hadn't cost the company the right to exploit Iraqi oil-fields with a combined daily output of 1,340,000 barrels per day. (For the sake of comparison, note that the entire production capacity of Algeria is 735,100 barrels per day).

Some Cartoons Say It All...

Here's more from Daryl Cagle's Pro Cartoonists Index home page…

Don't forget…

Today's the day…

Wacky French Cartoons Roundup

A collection of French-bashing cartoons can be found on Daryl Cagle's Pro Cartoonists Index home page (along with a reprint of Dick Morris's New York Post editorial). It's a nice website to bookmark or, better yet, get regular news from by subscribing to their newsletter.

(And non, French readers, don't be paranoïaques: American cartoonists are not particularly anti-French. As can be seen on Cagle's home page, no topic is taboo and all subjects — particularly American — are broached.)

Wacky French News Roundup

Visitors to Paris will have noticed the electronic signs placed at major intersections by the mayor's office. They often indicate pollution levels and sometimes issue warnings for the elderly to stay in doors and keep activity levels to a minimum. Now the French Agency for environmental health security (AFSSE) is reporting that auto-mobile air pollution kills five to six thousand people a year in France. That's about a third of the number of peopel that died in the space of two weeks during the heat wave last August; however, back then, authorities cited air-pollution as one of the major contributing factors in the death toll. ("...searing temperatures and a lack of wind left a cloud of smog hanging over Paris," say Reuters.) I was there. It was so hot you couldn't move, hotter than I've ever felt it here in NYC.) France is two years behind schedule in its plans to meet minimum requirements for biofuel ingredients in gasoline by 2005. View AFSSE's March '04 report here (PDF: 1.9 Mb; 147 pp).

That crazy, racist witch Brigitte Bardot is on trial for hate speech AGAIN. She's been dragged to court for passages in her book, "A Cry in the Silence," which is supposed to be about how much she loves animals but reportedly contains denunciations of interracial marriage, the unemployed, homosexuals, women in government, Muslims and Islam in general. She is reported to have broken down in tears to-day during testimony. Click here for a picture of her and Jean-Marie Le Pen comforting French soldiers during the Algerian war. In October '97, a court fined Bardot for saying France was being overrun by sheep slaughtering Muslims. In January 1998, she was again fined $3,250 for incitation to racial hatred in comments on civilian massacres in Algeria (you can all guess what the substance of racist remarks on the subject will be, no doubt). Let's hope they give her a meaningful punishment this time.

The Elysée Palace is announcing that Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac will meet with 400 French and British students at the Palace this Sunday at 11 am local time. They will all have a chat about European construction. (This has obvious echos of April's visit by the Queen in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the entente cordiale. Sunday is also Europe Day. ) Blair and Chirac will hold a working lunch with Raffarin.

"Liberty Is Something You Need To Be Deprived of to Understand What It Is"

As the 60th anniversary of D-Day approaches, the press will be publishing more and more material about the greatest seaborne invasion in history. A full-page article in Le Monde describes get-togethers where veterans and civilian survivors, some of them sharing their experiences for the first time, remember the horrors of June 6, 1944, and the ensuing battle of Normandy.

The article ends with an old-timer from Sainte-Mère-Église saying, "But for us, it was the Liberation. Liberty, one needs to have been deprived of it to know what it is." The article is moving, as it is supposed to be. The problem, however, is that as Le Monde explodes with indigation over the war in Iraq and the scandal of a handful of Americans torturing Iraqi prisoners, the old Frenchman's words seem to be falling on deaf ears…

More on www.ErikSvane.com…

Paris Survival Fight Guide: lesson #37

Guide 'baston et survie' à Paris: leçon #37

I get quite a few letters from readers inquiring if Paris is safe for Americans. Here's what to do when confronted by a belligerant Parisian. The first move attempted by any Parisian guy in a fight is a head butt. Don't know why because these guys don't know Bobo Brazil from Koko B. Ware but that's what they do. Meet the guy's nose with a direct upper cut elbow smash. That will throw him back (don't mind the crunching noise his nose will make) and have our old friend the red vino make its appearance. 'red vino on tap and the same in all places, like it's put out by the same big firm' Now that he's staggering it's time to go in for the kill. Don't be shy. Get down on one knee, then reach up and grab the nutsack and tell him his eggs are ready. Apply pressure. The high pitched wail is proof that he's now a 'made man'. He's part of the Soprano family (not the one from New Jersey). If this little incident attracts a gathering, don't worry. One of the good things about living in a Latin influenced degenerate cesspit is that you can explain away most violence as the result of some kind of 'passion'. If some pain in the ass innocent bystander tries to get involved just tell him that the guy was making advances to your mistress. That, these degenerates manage to understand despite their pea brains. If no one is around and you can take your time clearing out, then kick him while he's down, and use both feet.

Je reçois de nombreux courriers qui posent la question 'Est-ce que les américains peuvent aller à Paris en toute sécurité?' Voici comment faire avec un parigot qui cherche la bagarre. La première chose tentée par un mec parisien lors d'une bagarre de rue est un coup de boule. Pourquoi? Je n'en sais rien car ils ne connaissent rien au catch style WWE, mais c'est comme ça. Faites-lui gicler de bas en haut un coude méchamment ajusté direct au pif. Là, sur le coup il va tituber (ne prêtez pas attention au bruit de craquement répété) et là notre vieil ami le vino rouge va faire son apparition. 'vino rouge au robinet, le même en tous lieux, comme s'il venait tout du même grand cru'. Pendant qu'il titube il faut livrer le coup de grâce. Ne soyez pas timide. Mettez vous sur un genou, levez votre main et prenez-lui bien par les bourses en lui disant que ses deux oeufs sur le plat sont servis. Appliquez la pression. Le cri aigu que vous entendrez est bien la preuve qu'il vient d'obtenir sa promotion. Il fait desormais partie de la famille Soprano (pas celle qui passe sur France2). Si cet incident attire un attroupement de badauds, ne vous inquiétez point. L'un des avantages de vivre dans un pays latin style fosse septique est le fait que beaucoup de violence s'explique par la 'passion'. Si un connard de bon samaritain essaie de s'y meler, dites-lui que le mec a essayé de draguer votre maîtresse. Ca, ces dégénérés arrivent à comprendre avec le peu de matos qu'ils ont entre les deux oreilles. Par contre, s'il n'y a personne et vous êtes peinard pour partir, donnez-lui des coups de pied pendant qu'il se trouve par terre. Et soyez sûr d'utiliser les deux pieds.

In Honor of the ResistantsWho Died for Denmark's Liberation (1945)

Drenge, I drenge, som døde,
I tændte for Danmark i dybeste muld
en lysende morgenrøde!

Kaj Munk

Boys, ye boys, who lie dead,
Ye lit for Denmark in darkest gloom
A shining morning red

Kaj Munk

reactions

"The ashes of Algeria sleep framed in these photos. Those whose memory is longest recognized the practices of the nazis in the ghettos, the gratuitous cruelty that consisted in humiliated Jews by forcing them into obnoxious strip-teases." — commentaries on the torture photos by Le Monde editor Eric Fottorino, whose self indulgences lead him far astray in to-day's issue.

"Either these goons were acting on someone's authority, in which case there is a layer of mid- to high-level people who think that they are not bound by the laws and codes and standing orders. Or they were acting on their own authority, in which case they are the equivalent of mutineers, deserters, or traitors in the field. This is why one asks wistfully if there is no provision in the procedures of military justice for them to be taken out and shot." — Christopher Hitchens on the torture scandal

Coming to a Head?

The AFP reports that a Jewish synagogue in Valenciennes was found defaced on Saturday. Some one drew swastikas on the exterior wall of a synagogue, reports the agency, citing "judicial sources." On a wall bordering the synagogue, someone wrote the words "Sieg Heil," and "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" (On people, one kingdom, one leader), in blue ink.

Regular readers will be noticing a streak of incidents here. On April 29th-30th, the Jewish cemetery at Herrlisheim was defaced: 127 headstones were marked with nazi grafitti. On Saturday, the attack in Valenciennes occurred. (Meanwhile, on May 2nd, the Interior ministry reported a rise in anti-Semitic violence for the first three months of this year.) The same day that the Interior ministry made its figures public, a Roman Catholic cemetery in Niederhaslach was found defaced with nazi slogans and swastikas in what police presume was an act copying the Herrlisheim desecrations.

In to-day's issue of Le Monde, former Middle East correspondent Georges Marion (a pro-American and highly talented reporter*) published an essay entitled "European anti-Semitism: the alarming signs." He notes that the Herrlisheim desecrations occurred within hours of the end of the Berlin conference on anti-Semitism held by the the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

One could think that this act, apparently in memory of Adolf Hitler's birthday, is also not unrelated to the Berlin conference, as if the perpetrators had sought to respond dramatically to what they must view as an unacceptable provocation. But for the Jewish associations that for three years have been denouncing the persistent public expression of anti-Jewish sentiment and the rise of its corollary in the form of physical assaults on people and property, the desecration of Herrlisheim-Hattstatt constitutes only a bitter illustration of the fact that their warnings were not superfluous.

The Berlin meeting will at least have allowed us to establish, if not the exact extent of the phenomenon, at least the area over which it has spread. Nearly all of those who appeared reported the return of anti-Semitism to their countries with varying degrees of virulence. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel offered painful contemplations on this new beginning, sixty years after the Holocaust, the horror of which, he thought, would have protected the Jews henceforward. Alas! he could only become disenchanted. "The Jew that I am belongs to a traumatized generation," he told his audience. "We have antennae. Better still, we are antennae. And when we say that the signals we're receiving today are alarming, the world would do well to listen." The message is clear: as European history shows, anti-Semitism concerns not only Jews but the liberties of all.

Marion notes that the first OSCE conference on anti-Semitism was much the same and that this one promised to result in equally little concrete action. However, he notes one change:

Significantly, the principle decision taken at the Berlin conference concerns the collection and central tabulation of trustworthy data by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), an organization founded in Warsaw and funded by the OSCE.

Each country will now have to define its criteria for observation and make its data compatible with those of its neighbors in order to enable comparison, which is no mean feat.

Yet, the "signals" perceived by Elie Wiesel are no less real. A report written last year [shelved under suspicious circumstances — D], by two scholars in Berlin at the request of an EU office, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), professed to be able to discern the presence of a "new anti-Semitism" riding the wave of the Arab-Israeli conflict (Le Monde, December 1, 2003). The report was not published in the ground that its data were incomplete.

The one followed, published (PDF, 1.1mb ; 346 pp./press release here: 2 pp ; 24k) in April, corroborates the conclusions of the previous report while refining its analysis. "Between 2002 and 2003, we've observed a rise in anti-Semitism in Belgium, in France, Holland, Germany and the UK," says Beate Winkler, director of the EUMC. "In Austria, in Greece, in Spain and Italy, the speech is disturbing." According to the EUMC, the "old anti-Semitism" is being expressed once again, serving as a vehicle for the oldest stereotypes of European anti-Semitism: a taste for money, suspect communal allegiances, global conspiracy, the financial exploitation of the Holocaust, etc. But, which is a more recent phenomenon, these ideas are taken up by social, national or political groups that had until now been alien to them.

Gathered in Berlin prior to the conference were several non-governmental organizations that also provided many examples of the old European anti-Semitism, which is now widely exploited in the Arab press and television to feed criticism of Israeli policy. Identical instances are cited in Europe, in political sectors that are theoretically inoculated against anti-Semitism, but that nevertheless remain susceptible to exploiting it.

That is what the German president Johannes Rau recalled upon opening the conference: "Every one knows that behind the criticism repeatedly directed at Israeli policy during the last decade a violent anti-Semitism is hiding."

------------

(*) Marion was one of the only French reporters to cover the famous remarks of Imad Faluji, former Palestinian Communications Minister who gave speech at Lebanese refugee camp on March 2, 2001, asserting that "the Intifada had been planned since the failure of negotiations at Camp David."

The Colin-Rummy Feud?

A couple of days earlier, William Safire put a different perspective on the so-called Powell-Rumsfeld spat, which has been portrayed in Europe as the evil war-loving neo-coms squishing out the life of the valiant and reasonable fellow peace activist ("fellow" to them, the Europeans). Safire, who has enjoyed the company of both (together), says that

these two old pros genuinely [enjoy] sparring intellectually with each other. That [portends] a personal civility to ameliorate the usual State-Defense institutional hostility.

Desperately Seeking Leaders...

William Safire has some choice questions for Iraqis, one of which is:

Where is the leader brave enough to tell fellow Iraqis that the danger to them is not from America, but from Iran, Al Qaeda and a new Saddam?

I'm wondering: is that the type of question that can also be addressed to the peoples of France and Europe?

One German Seeing Eye to Eye with Uncle Sam

"The terrorists should know this: If you love death so much, then it can be yours."

Who's that speaking? A neocon American, assuredly. But which one? Dubya? Rummy? Ashcroft?

Wrong all wrong; you're listening to the voice of Otto Schily. "What?" a reporter asked, seemingly startled. Germany's interior minister went on to state that the situation was such that in extreme cases involving the potential death of thousands, Germany had to decide "if killing a person is justified as an emergency protective measure."

The level of frankness was all the more striking since it came from an extremely popular politician, a Socialist Democratic Party member, and, close to 30 years ago, the former lawyer of Germany's own Baader-Meinhof terrorist group

writes John Vinocur in his IHT column about "a palpable European adjustment to reality", which explains how "the psychic context of Europe's approach to terrorism appears to be altering significantly".

France is also concerned, with

Algerian newspapers on Sunday prais[ing] France for finally abandoning what one called its "benevolence" over the years toward Islamic fundamentalist preachers.

Talking about the connection between Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism as if he had discovered the wheel [our emphasis], Villepin explained on Saturday: "Here's today's reality: under the cover of religion, individuals present on our soil have been using extremist language and issuing calls for violence. These are statements that favor the installation of terrorist movements on French territory. It's necessary therefore to oppose this together and by all available means."

Germany's Vision Closer to Uncle Sam's

In an article for the New York Times Magazine, Richard Bernstein argues that U.S.-German relations have much improved since last year's annual Munich Security Conference, which was beset by mutual hostility. This year, Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, said that

even though the United States went ahead with a war that Germany opposed, it is now in the German interest for the Americans to succeed. It is certainly not in Germany's interest for its major ally, the United States, to become bogged down in a quagmire. Fischer used his Munich appearance to put forward a strategic vision that is actually very close to the American one. We face a common threat, Fischer said, and he attached a clear name to it: ''destructive jihadist terrorism with its totalitarian ideology.'' Facing that threat, Fischer declared, it is imperative that ''the coalition's efforts must be successful; the forces of violence and terror in Iraq must not win the upper hand.''

One former U.S. secretary of defense, however, would not let Fischer off the hook:

If Germany agrees that it is essential to win the peace in Iraq, and if winning the peace is so essential to the security of Europe and America, [William] Cohen asked, why would Germany rule out sending troops to Iraq to help the coalition in its struggle?

Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat...

French police are in a panic to locate 1,100 pounds of ammonium nitrate — a fertilizer, famously used in the Oklahoma City and Bali bombings and the recent bombings in Istanbul, where the government has only just begun regulating sales of the product — which went missing on Monday in the north, according to the Times.

Police suspect the fertilizer was indeed stolen as long ago as Easter weekend from the port of Honfleur (between the Seine Maritime, Calvados, and Eure departments, near the mouth of the Seine river), where large quantities of the material were stored without special protection.

Two unexploded bombs recently found on French commuter railway tracks were made with ammonium nitrate and a group calling itself AZF (for more on AZF, see here, here and here) claimed responsibility. Police in London seized more than a half ton of the substance in March during a raid on a suspected Islamic terrorist hideout. AZF also issued demands for millions of euros.

The name AZF may in fact be a reference to a chemical company that owned an ammonium nitrate factory in the south which exploded on September 21, 2001, killing 30.

In its last communication with the government, AZF said they were regrouping to develop greater capacity. Another group (or individual) calling themsel(ves)f the Mosvar Barayev commando, sent threatening letters to prime minister Raffarin and to the French embassies in Mali and Djibouti, and to five or six others. Authorities noted that the name Mosvar (a non-existent given name) is really spelled Movsar, for Movsar Barayev, the leader of the Chechen group that held a Moscow theater audience hostage in 2002. The spelling error was originally made by an English-language press service and widely repeated. The commander of Abu Sayaf also has claimed that there is no such group as the Mosvar Barayev commando. On March 17, proche-orient.info reported then Interior minister Sarkozy claimed that the letters in question were composed directly in French rather than translated from Arabic, perhaps definitively discrediting them.

The AZF factory which exploded on 9/21/01, killing 30

***
Seventeen people (six women and 11 men) have gone on trial in Outreau (Pas-de-Calais), near Boulogne-sur-Mer, for "rape with torture" and "rape with barbaric acts." They are accused of gang-raping 18 children, aged three to 12 years. Some of the victims were allegedly raped by their own parents.

The accused vary in age from 24 to 67 and all of them deny the charges.

Prosecutors learned of the matter in December of 2000 when social services informed them that an unemployed couple might have been sexually abusing their own four children. The children told investigators that, once in foster care, they were again sexually abused, raped and made to watch pornography. The children also named neighbors. Police have seized sex toys and pornographic videos from the foster family's apartment. As part of an investigation, Police placed a court bailiff, his wife, a taxi driver and a priest under surveillance in 2001.

The investigation has netted 20 arrests. One suspect has committed suicide while in prison and another was declared unable to stand trial. The trial will call hundreds of witnesses and may last six weeks.

Just over the border in Arlon, Belgium, unemployed electrician Marc Dutroux, 47, is currently on trial with three other defendants, for for the kidnapping of six young girls, four of whom Dutroux is accused of murdering in particularly barbaric circumstances. Dutroux has denied the charges and blamed is ex-wife for the crimes.

Ils sont fous, ces Américains !

...Yes, we admit it, Americans are crazy, and we solemnly promise to no longer deny it...

(Important memo: Don't let anybody forget to mark their calendars, now;
it's Friday, May 7, everybody.)

Arnold Gets High Marks from The Economist

A special survey on California in the May 1 edition of The Economist starts thus:

What a short, strange and surprisingly pleasurable trip it's been … Six months into his term, the idea of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger no longer seems so weird.

The issue also includes an article which states that

it is hard to find anyone in Californian politics who has a bad word to say for Mr Schwarzenegger in public. He has charmed people, bringing a touch of glamour to a town that has not seemed cool since Jerry Brown's days; he has a first-rate team of advisers; and, just as in Hollywood, where he remains as much admired for his business sense as for his acting, nobody makes jokes about dumb action heroes any more.

It adds that

momentum will surely be the key to Mr Schwarzenegger's success. In much the same way that a good action movie seldom leaves you much time to watch the details, a successful Schwarzenegger governorship will rely on pushing forward—and solving problems.

I'm just offering this to all those wise people, French or otherwise, who castigated Americans for being so silly and retarded to vote for somebody not hailing from the ENA (France's École Nationale d'Administration) or its equivalent abroad.

To the West of Allah?

Paris police have arrested Turkish imam and 28-year resident of France Midhat Guler in order to expel him. The Interior ministry accuse him of leading an extremist group that advocates terrorism. In a statement on their Web site, the Interior ministry say that there had been a standing arrest and deportation order for imam Guler since April 30 and that Guler was apprehended during a routine traffic stop and placed in administrative detention. Guler has since applied for political asylum in France and the Ministry say they will seek to prolong his detention pending his application.

Reuters reports that Gulat's son Abdulrahman says his father didn't even preach at the mosque and was just its caretaker. They report that he says his father doesn't understand why authorities are holding him and Abdulrahman as saying, "My father has presided over this mosque since 1984, there have never been problems, not an anti-Semitic word or anything, never."

The Guardian reports that there have been five such expulsions in the past four months, adding that the Interior ministry say that just 10% of France's 1,000 to 1,500 imams are French citizens, that many of the rest are undocumented, and that less than half speak French.

On April 20, French authorities arrested Imam Abd al-kader Bouziane of Vénissieux, who preached wife-beating, and then expelled him from France only to watch him be readmitted, to their frustration and embarassment.

Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris head of the French Council on the Islamic Faith (CFCM), gave an interview to Libération on April 29th. Boubakeur has sought to include the council in expulsion decisions but was not consulted in the case of imam Bouziane. He commented, "the handling of this case was distressing. The authorities came away flouted and embarrassed. And, among the Muslim community, this purely law-enforcement handling of events may cause the opposite of the pacification they seek."

However, the next day, Boubakeur claimed his words had been misinterpreted and that he never said that "in the handling of [the case of Abdelkader Bouziane, imam of Vénissieux] the authorities came away flouted and embarrassed." He said that he intended to criticize "the media portrayal and not the authorities' actions," which Boubakeur says he approves of "because it is consistent with public order." Those who read the full interview can see, however, that unless Boubakeur denies practically all of the statements he gave Libé, his intention was clearly to damn the government's actions. He did not mention the press at all. Libé say the stand by the entire interview.

Rebuke

Le Monde editorial
Torture in Iraq
LE MONDE | 03.05.04 | 12h49

The accusations of torture of Iraqi prisoners couldn't have come at a worse time for the US-American coalition, the end of the bloodiest month since the — official — end of the war. The accounts and photographs of brutal and degrading acts have traveled round the world, and their impact in the Arab street cannot be denied. Even if doubt persists as to the authenticity of the photos implicating the British.

The stone must not be cast at the coalition alone. With their blind attacks, the Iraqi opposition are not to be excluded. And torture is, alas, a damndable but common byproduct of situations of conflict and repression. No country can escape this, including France, for those who have not forgotten the black hours of the Algerian war.

Nevertheless, these unacceptable acts were part of worsening relations between Americans and Iraqis since the "liberation" of their country. And may they serve to contradict the Bush administration in its notion that it need not be bound by the relevant international conventions.

Since its arrival in Iraq, the American army has been heavy-handed and has, at the very least, been clumsy in its psychological war. At the same time, the Pentagon seriously underestimated the troop levels necessary to achieve peace. Still, it is true that even a quick reaction by Washington against the guilty parties may be insufficient, so general is the hostility of Iraqis, Shia and Sunna alike.

At least as serious is the dammage to president George W. Bush's prestige that this matter involves: a lessong-giving administration caught in its own trap. And, as the Washington Post points out, " There is an important and deadly serious lesson here, for American politicians as well as military commanders: The rule of law matters, even where America's worst enemies are concerned."

How, for example, can one justify "out-sourcing" the interrogation of prisoners or of others to civilian "consultants," mercenaries recruited from specialized outfits? it is crucial, as much to the coalition's image as to its efficiency, that it respect the Geneva conventions, in the field and in that zone of non-law that is Guantánamo.

It is not certain that this will be enough to right the situation on the ground. Despite this, the honor of the United States, former leader of the "free world" and sole super-power, depends on assuring that the guilty are punished, the such atrocities do not reccur and that international law prevails.

If not, how will they convince the Iraqis and Muslims — if this stil possible — of Washington's good faith? And how will they persuade other countries — European ones in particular — to participate in ther Iraqi peace process under American command?

— ARTICLE PUBLISHED INTHE 04.05.04 EDITION

No Zapo, He

News from Poland.

The new prime minister, Marek Belka, promised to push ahead with tough reforms and keep supporting the United States in Iraq as he took office a day after Poland joined the European Union. …

Belka, who recently completed a term as director for economic policy for the U.S.-led provisional authority in Baghdad, has said he will continue Miller's support of the U.S. mission in Iraq, where Poland has some 2,400 soldiers and leads the multinational force.

He said Sunday his foreign policy priorities continue to be "a successful fulfillment of our mission in Iraq" and overcoming obstacles to a new EU constitution. The constitution was stalled last year by Polish and Spanish opposition to the draft document, which would have reduced their voting powers. "Both those issues must be solved in accordance with the national interest of Poland," said Belka, a member of Miller's Democratic Left Alliance.

Do Questions Reveal Journalists' Curiosity, Or Their Hidden Agenda?

When interview subjects respond to anti-American diatribes with a ready answer (or if they simply fail to take the bait), French journalists... quickly change the subject.

In an interview with three reporters from Le Monde and El País (Enrico Franceschini, Jean-Pierre Langellier, and Walter Oppenheimer), Ralf Dahrendorf — German sociologist and pundit, British Lord, and a self-described European and Atlantist — states that

Europe must understand that the United States is its partner, its ally, a brother country with whom it forms the free world. And that without the United States, it would assuredly be less free.

This obviously ignorant and horrific statement is too much for one of the journalists, who immediately responds:

Even without George Bush's America, which invades Iraq on the basis of lies?

But Dahrendorf won't be baited, and he won't let that stand.

The debate on the war in Iraq is as just as animated in the United States as in Europe. One would be wrong to reduce the United States to their president or their current administration. Having said that, I remain favorable to the intervention in Iraq, for personal reasons. Saddam Hussein once owned weapons of mass destruction, and he used them. Maybe he no longer had them in 2003. But if, instead of closing their eyes, the allies had intervened against Hitler in 1938, we could have avoided the Holocaust.

One good point for Dahrendorf. And what do his interlocuteurs do at this point? They change the subject!

For what matters here is not that the German-British national responds, and does so accurately, but the extent to which the Frenchmen (and Spaniards) he is speaking to do not hear him. The extent to which they do not hear him, or hear those who are like-minded. All that seems to fit their agenda is recarping the official mantra (Le Monde's? France's? Europe's?), and pooh-poohing or minimizing anything that goes against it.

At one point they softly criticize Dahrendorf for not having always been part of the élite that knew, for a fact, that monetary union was an inestimable good for Europe — "You did not use to be very enthusiastic about the Euro" was the way one question (rather, a sly type of criticism) — is formulated. (Which means, of course, that no doubts, however small, must be harbored, when following the all-wise majority in what is undoubtedly for the common good.) When discussing the European Constitution and Tony Blair's decision to call for a (British) referendum thereupon, they ask him "Is it possible that Great Britain still isn't decided to be wholly part of Europe?" (Which means, of course, that democracy is not something that should be resorted to, if the result risks going against our common wishful thinking.)

To return to the Iraq war questions: when Dahrendorf starts speaking in a way that starts dilluting the charge against Bush (showing how the lie charge is exagerrated and how the outcome, in any case, was positive), the Europeans drop the matter. It's too bad that such an intelligent person as he, they seem to be thinking, does not realize what the élite — people such as themselves — knows, that the U.S. is a terrible country, with an inhumane system, and deserves to be unreservedly opposed.

Lire la version française sur Le Monde Watch

Don't play him cheap 'cause you know he ain't shy

Dauntless and indefatigable, Erik has started a NEW BLOG! Please go check it out (and make sure to extract promises that he won't be leaving NP any time soon. We need him around here).

Culturally enlightened French celebrities show simplistic Americans what human relations are all about

Vedettes françaises culturellement évoluées montrent aux américains simplistes de quoi il retourne en matière de relations humaines

Douglas beat me to it... Trailer trash gone wild. The guy can't have a child with his wife so he bangs his step-daughter and has a kid with her. Later on, he bangs his step-son's wife. So who else in the family got nailed? Is this an episode from the Jerry Springer show? Not at all, it's a chapter from the life of French cycling champion and number one degenerate Jacques Anquetil.

Douglas a tiré le premier... De petits blancs de souche qui pédalent dans la déchéance tout autour du vélodrome baisodrome. Le gars ne peut pas avoir d'enfant avec sa femme donc il baise avec sa belle-fille. Plus tard il pine l'épouse de son beau-fils. On peut se demander qui d'autre dans la famille est passé à la casserole. Le dernier épisode de l'émission de Jerry Springer? Pas du tout, il s'agit tout bêtement d'un chapitre tiré de la vie de Jacques Anquetil, champion cycliste franchouille et dégénéré extraordinaire.

Shithouse yes, but not a brick one	Un chalet d'aisances oui, et en plus pas très solide
Zeropa displays its weakness for all to see. If you thought that diplomacy with 15 countries was a mess just wait for the pig sty to come with 25 countries.	La Zéropa fait l'étalage de ses faiblesses. Si vous croyiez que la diplomatie à 15 était un foutoir, attendez un peu le bazar à venir avec 25 pays.

um...

"Unable to have a child with his wife, he had one with her daughter from a previous marriage, and lived with them for 15 years before the arrangement collapsed in unhappiness and betrayal." — The weirdness of Jacques Anquetil.

Wrong Cemetery, Dumbass

Reuters reports the following:

Vandals desecrated around 20 graves with Nazi slogans in a Roman Catholic cemetery near the French border with Germany, police said on Sunday, two days after a similar incident at a nearby Jewish cemetery.

The two incidents appeared unrelated. Nazi swastikas daubed around the Catholic cemetery in the village of Niederhaslach, west of Strasbourg, were the wrong way around -- unlike those at the Jewish cemetery, where 127 graves were desecrated.

"It doesn't look at all like we're dealing with the same sort of context," one policeman said, adding that the Niederhaslach incident could have been a copy-cat act.

Let's Hand the Prisoners on America's Cuban Base to Europe...

It's obvious that the situation in Guantánamo is a shameful scandal and that the common-law courts championed by the EU represent a much more practical way of dealing with terrorism and creating a peaceful world…

10 More Countries, 9 More Languages: The Babel Union?

Alan Riding has a piece on EU languages in his weekly Entr'acte column in the IHT, in which he notes that the "number of language combinations for interpretation will … jump to 420 from 110, although in practice 'relay languages' like English and French will serve as a bridge between less-spoken languages."

The problem of managing a cacophony of tongues is thought far less daunting than having to silence any individual language. After all, if Dutch, Greek and Danish are used, why not also Estonian, Hungarian and Maltese? The 191-member United Nations may tick along just fine with six languages, but in Europe the right of officials and legislators to work in their own language is now enshrined as a democratic imperative. …

[But] having a voice in Europe — tiny like Latvia or powerful like Germany — does not automatically mean that a country's language will be more widely studied or spoken. A language's use in Brussels may improve public perceptions of the European Union, but this acceptance is more likely to influence how a country sees itself than how it is viewed by others. In fact, since no Union language is actually threatened, the issue is really one of political pride.

(Alan Riding: With 9 more languages, EU's Babel grows louder
By Alan Riding, International Herald Tribune, Thursday, April 29, 2004)

Round-up

***
The day after news broke of the attack in Herrlisheim, the Interior ministry reported that the number of anti-Semitic attacks in France rose during the first three months of 2004. This comes not too long after the National Advisory Council on Human Rights submitted its annual report which found that seven of 10 incidences of racially motived crimes were against Jews in 2003 (though 8 of ten violent acts were committed against Muslims).

Foreign Minister Barnier says there can be "no mercy."

***
Chirac and Raffarin continue their slide in the polls toward positively Shroederian levels. A survey of 1,003 adults found that Chirac's approval rating now stands at 32%, a drop of three points from March. Poor, long-suffering Raffarin is down to 26%.

However, Finance minister Sarkozy, transferred from his lionizing role in the Interior ministry to his current booby-prize of an appointment (likely in order to frustrate him in his declared intentions) to run for Prime Minister and who may run against Chirac for president in 2007), is currently the most popular politician in France, with a 55% approval rating.

***
France's Olympic team will require special police protection when it travels to Athens this summer. It's not just us, it seems.

Again and again and again

MIF informs us of latest outrage. In the Alsatian village of Herrlisheim, vandals painted swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on 127 headstones in the town's Hattstatt-Herrlisheim Israelite Cemetery in the night of Thursday to Friday, April 29th - 30th.

Chirac immeidately said that anti-Semitism is really, really against the rules; or rather that it is "contrary to the all the values, principles and ideas of the Republic." Prime minister Raffarin wrote to a Jewish group to express the embarrassment, awkwardness and difficulty he feels in having to denounce something that is now so routine, common and banal the country he represents. Interior minister Dominique de Villepin cancelled his appointments and headed to the scene of the crimes — which he has the luxury of doing, now that he's no longer required to look the other way before such acts since he is no longer cozying up to anti-Semitic Arab regimes as minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Hattstatt Synagogue

Herrlisheim had a strong Jewish community in 1784 (389 people) but all that remains today is the cemetery. Situated in the middle of a vinyard, it has been sacked and defaced several times since the Holocaust but each time it has been restored and it requires constant attention and continual restoration, given its age. Some of the tombs and stelas have crumbled and most are made from a porous and soft stone which will be difficult to clean. For more information about Alsatian Jews, you can visit this site.

According to local prosecutor Pascal Schultz, the "investigation is making good progress," reports the AFP. "There appear to have been several writers," he said, adding that graphologists would be assigned to determine their number scientifically. Other experts will be appointed to determine the kind of paint used and origin of the two German flags found on two of the cemetery's stela. The flags bore slogans exalting the Nazi regime. Schultz says the investigation may require collaboration with German police.

The legalese for the crime is "defacement of a place of burial aggravated due to membership in an ethnic group, religion or race" and is punishable by three years in prison and a fine of €45,000. This is in addition to charges for incitation to racial hatred.

Daniel Bernard 1941-2004

French ambassador to Algeria Daniel Bernard died Wednesday night in a Paris hospital, aged 62.

While ambassador to London, Daniel Bernard achieved notoriety when Barbara Amiel, wife of the "fat crook" (a.k.a. Conrad Black) reported that Bernard had referred to Israel as "that shitty little country." She writes that he added, "Why should the world be in danger of World War Three because of those people?" (Bernard denied ever making such remarks.)

Say things like that and "those people" will still be talking about it the day you die.

Bernard was anything but marginal. A graduate of the National School for Administration (a factory that produces France's political elite), he started out as vice-consul in Dublin before moving on to Brussels where he represented France at various multilateral organizations. In 1984, he became diplomatic advisor to Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius. From 1990 to 1993, he was director of foreign minister Roland Dumas' cabinet. Following this, he became ambassador to the Hague, then to the UN (in Geneva), and then to London. He became French ambassador to Algeria in 2002 (his final posting) and was still in office when Chirac visited that country last April — the first official visit by a French president since the Algerian war of Independence. Chirac visited Algeria again this April.

On Thursday, Algerian president Abd al-'Aziz Abu Tifliqa expressed his "most friendly condolances" to Chirac. "The news of his death (...) fills me with sadness," said Bouteflika. "The few years he spent with us taught us to appreciate his indisputable qualities as a informed diplomat but also, and above all, for all that was human in his conduct and amicable in his relations with us." Bouteflika was also very cordial with one of Iraq's great butchers, Ali Hassan ibn al-Majid.

UPDATE: Le Monde appears almost charmed by Bernard's indiscretion. Daniel Vernet writes in passing:

In his diplomatic postings, he maintained his frank (*) way of speaking and this earned him a few moments of discomfort; particularly in London, where, over the course of a diner, he used an incisive expression with regard to Israel that, even though uttered in private at the home of a press baron, could never have remained a secret.

That's it. Tut, tut; hee, hee! When the representative of France calls Israel a pile of excrement in polite company, this ammounts to no more than a comedy of manners. Oh, that zany Daniel! "Those people" and "shit," how incisive! Does Vernet share this view of Israel as shit? Does he consider it worth criticising? Can this be so unimportant as to go unexamined as it does here?

(* nb: the word "frank" comes from the French word franc, which itself comes from the Latin Francus, a name for the Frankish people. Le Robert (the standard-bearing French dictionary) says this name may come from the Germanic frëka, meaning "eager for battle." Weird.)

How Best to Explain the Iraq Conflict to Your French Kid?

By calling it "the War for Oil", bien sûr. (Vous êtes cons, ou quoi?)

Better yet: let a twice-monthly magazine for kids do the work for you.

That's part of what is called education in France (l'éducation nationale).

In its Discovery of the World section, Okapi number 744 (thanks to Gabriel Gonzalez for bringing this to my attention and for providing me with that particular issue of the magazine "100% ado") has a double-spread photo of an American soldier standing on a tank and brandishing an automatic rifle while on the horizon, (sabotaged?) oil wells rise in flames.

Entitled "La guerre du pétrole", the article's subhead reads as follows: "Every year, 3,5 billion tons of oil are used on Earth. That makes it the most-used commodity in the world... and also the most coveted. To gain control over this black gold, certain countries fight each other in battles without mercy. Explanations follow."


Oh, c'est génial, Okapi, merci beaucoup! Good thing the all-knowing Jean-Yves Dana will provide the explanations for this war, and inform us French kids that "certain countries" (unlike us peace-loving French) are so cruel and crazy and greedy as to kill each other, while we Frenchmen are the epitome of humanity, generosity, and the ability to reason. Everybody else in the world is base and stupid, only we are "lucides". Good thing we start getting taught these self-serving truths right away, while we are young. Good to know that we French are above all that. And what about the French government kowtowing to a mass-murdering dictator, you ask? And how about the UN graft scandal? Any articles about that? Ça va pas, non?! Nooooon, ça ce sont des situations beaucoup plus compliquées, comprenez-vous. Zose are very complicated situations, somesing that ees far too complicated for our young kids to understand.

Turning the page of the Bayard Presse publication, we come to another double spread, illustrated by a "Monsieur Mérou": "Iraq's oil at the heart of the conflict" rings the title, with this subhead speaking directly to the kids: "During the war in Iraq, one image may have shocked you: while the museums were abandoned to the looters, oil wells were protected by the soldiers. Here is why." Three reasons follow (entitled "The United States need Iraq's oil", "In the Middle East, Iraq is an important country", and "Iraq also holds large reserves still unused"), each of them followed by matter-of-fact-tone castigations of Uncle Sam in what is nearly baby talk.

Elsewhere in the magazine dated September 15, 2003, we have more information abut l'Amérique. François Descombe provides us with a view of ER, as well as the paramedics and emergency rooms that provide the TV show's content. It goes without saying that the article compares the U.S. with the French equivalents, and that the comparison (quelle surprise, les enfants!) comes out in favor of la République française.

Isn't it chouette that French kids are taught the intricacies of the world, and that in such a straightforward manner? Isn't it génial that they are made to understand how the world works? Isn't it merveilleux how they start getting, this early, a view of the legendary objectivity of their country's journalists?

And the Dinner Winner Is...

When results came in for the 50 best restaurants in the world, French restaurants, not surprisingly, dominated the top 10 (four of them, five if you include Monaco). But none of those was among the top three eateries, in this event run by Restaurant magazine and decided by an international panel of restaurateurs, chefs, critics, and journalists.

And first prize went to a — choke — Yankee. While second place went to — oh Seigneur! — a Limey. In fact, London restaurants dominated this year's list of top 50 restaurants. Finally, no French-speaking country won in the individual award category. (I got what follows in an email without attribution, so all I know is it's from British magazine; if any reader has any clues, kindly forward them to me.)

British cuisine is celebrated as Fat Duck
brings home the bacon (and egg ice-cream)
By Cahal Milmo and Andrew Johnson (21 April 2004)

When it comes to finding the best cuisine in Europe, many gourmets will head for the hills of Tuscany or the boulevards of Paris. But, as of today, the correct route is to turn off the M4 at junction eight and seek out a 450-year-old former pub run by a chef named after a motorway service station.

Heston Blumenthal, the proprietor of the Fat Duck restaurant in the Berkshire village of Bray, which has become synonymous with such gustatory delights as bacon and egg ice-cream and cauliflower with chocolate, is now the owner of the best eaterie on the continent.

The restaurant, which is already the holder of the most rapidly achieved three Michelin stars in British history, saw off competition from such temples to gastronomy as El Bulli in Spain and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris to collect the award at a ceremony in London last night. It was only beaten to the title of the world's best restaurant by the American incumbent, French Laundry, in California's Napa Valley.

The top 10 for the award, run by Restaurant magazine and decided by an international panel of restaurateurs, chefs, critics and journalists, contains two other UK restaurants — Gordon Ramsay (8th) and Nobu (7th), both in London. These make Britain second only to France, which has four listed. …

Commentators will draw parallels between the philosophy of Blumenthal and that of his rival for the number one spot in global gastronomy, Thomas Keller, who opened the French Laundry in the Californian countryside in 1993. Just as his British counterpart pays obsessive attention to the constituent parts of his ingredients and the physics of cooking, so too does Keller. …

Thom Hetherington, the marketing director for Restaurant magazine, said yesterday: "It's great to see that such a variety of British restaurants made the list." Experts also pointed to the nation's growing strength in depth. Eleven of the top 50 restaurants are in Britain.

TOP TEN RESTAURANTS

1: French Laundry, Yountville, California
2. The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire
3. El Bulli, Montjoi, Spain
4. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Paris
5. Pierre Gagnaire, Paris
6. Guy Savoy, Paris
7. Nobu, London
8. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London
9. Michel Bras, Laguiole, France
10. Louis XV, Monaco