French Culture Now

Archives: February 13-19, 2008

French protest China’s dog killers
AFP. Feb. 19, 2008
A French association of animal lovers launched an online petition aimed at encouraging China to ban, by the Summer Olympics, the killing of dogs for food. One Voice said the practice of preparing canines for the pot often involves slow and brutal methods.
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Paris cops stage “photo-op” raids
Time. Feb. 19, 2008
On Feb. 18, more than 1,000 French riot cops raided apartments in the Villers-le-Bel suburban housing projects north of Paris, arresting 33 suspected leaders of violent rioting in the region last November. But along with cheers, the spectacular dawn raid reaped plenty of scorn. Former Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal called it "spectacle politics.” Scores of journalists had been tipped off and given access to ensure maximum coverage of the secret police operation.
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IHT predicts Sarko recovery
IHT. Feb. 19, 2008
Despite Sarkozy’s fall in opinion polls by 27 points over five consecutive months, the International Herald Trbune bets that Sarkozy will reform his unpopular ways, electrify France’s upcoming the six-month presidency of the European Union, and thus emerge from his deep winter of political grief.
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Is Colonel Gaddafi a Frenchman?
UKTimes. Feb. 19, 2008
Is Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi half French? A report has emerged that his father was an air force pilot from Corsica. According to rumor, a Corsican gendarme's son called Albert Preziosi was stationed in the Libyan desert with the Free French air force in 1941-42. He is said to have had an affair with a local woman at about the time that young Muammar would have been conceived.
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Profile of France’s “Aristocracy”
NewYorkTimes. Feb. 19, 2008
France’s ruling class is a tightly knit group of millionaire businessmen who all went to the same schools, share the same clubs (the Club des Cent, etc), board memberships and rituals like hunting and wine-tasting. At least half of France’s 40 largest companies are run by graduates of just two schools, the École Polytechnique and ENA, the national school of administration. It is a surprisingly small coterie in a nation of more than 60 million people. Their rules are backscratching, log-rolling, and mutual defense when the chips are down.
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French con-woman arrested
UKTelegraph. Feb. 19, 2008
French fraudster Gilbertte Van Erpe, 67, is facing organized group embezzlement charges for ruining thousands of South American peasants with a cosmetic Ponzi scheme. Police allege she made over $20 million from Chileans and Peruvians who invested their savings in "magic cheese", which she dishonestly claimed would be sold for a massive profit to the French cosmetics industry.
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French aghast at Sarkozy’s antics
WashingtonPost. Feb. 17, 2008
Nine months along, the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy is drawing comparisons to a bad soap opera. He is ruthlessly lampooned as a monarch and a money-obsessed dilettante. His presidency has been marked by public temper tantrums, a 172% pay raise, a divorce and marriage four months later to an Italian model-turned-singer he'd known for 80 days. Such acts have led to questions about what goes on inside the man's head.
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French politicians protest Sarkozy
Reuters. Feb. 17, 2008
In a thinly-veiled attack against President Sarkozy, a group of leading French politicians have signed an appeal opposing the creation of an "elective monarchy" in France. The appeal was signed by Socialist former presidential candidate Segolene Royal, former conservative Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and centrist leader Francois Bayrou. The group assert "their refusal to accept any slippage towards a form of purely personal power that borders on an elective monarchy” and reaffirms their determination to keep religion out of the public discourse and their attachment to media freedom.
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Sarko approval bottoms out at 42%
Angus Reid Global Monitor. Feb. 17, 2008
Fewer people in France are expressing confidence in their president’s ability to deal with national issues, according to a poll by CSA published in Le Parisien. 42 per cent of respondents trust Nicolas Sarkozy to face the country’s problems, down six points since January.
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Sarko polls as “non-presidential”
SarkotheAmericanblog. Feb. 18, 2008
Opinonway has just released detailed polling data on Sarkozy's current image and behavior, and whether or not he matches their idea of a president. Those polled are evenly split as to whether Sarko’s foreign relations are presidential. But 82% believe Sarkozy's behavior concerning his private life does not match their idea of a how a president should act.
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French economy grinds to halt
SarkotheAmericanblog. Feb. 18, 2008
Bad news for Sarko's approval: the French economy grew by just 1.9% last year, despite government prediction of 2% to 2.5%. Fourth quarter growth, predicted to be .5% in November, was reported to be only .3%.
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Small business owners see no change
SarkotheAmericanblog. Feb. 18, 2008
A TNS-Direct poll shows that small business owners in France have experienced no effect on their business activities since Sarkozy's election in May. A strong 68% said that government action has had no effect on their activities.
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Half a million euros to save wild hamsters
AFP. Feb. 18, 2008
France has earmarked 500,000 euros (735,000 dollars) to save the great hamster (Cricetus cricetus), a species threatened with extinction through loss of habitat in its native Alsace, the ecology ministry said on Friday. There are only between 400 and 1,000 great hamsters left. France had been strongly warned by the European Commission last October to beef up action to save the creature.
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Sarkozy: Students will be 'twinned' with Nazi victims
UKIndependent.Feb. 17, 2008
President Sarkozy has provoked controversy by ordering that every 10-year-old in France should know the name and life story of a French-Jewish child who died in the Holocaust. His proposal that primary school children should be, in effect, "twinned" with young victims of the Nazi genocide has generated a cacophony of protest, as well as praise. Most teaching unions have condemned the proposal as ill-considered and likely to place too great an emotional and psychological burden on the young. Even some Jewish leaders and writers fear the idea is "exceptionally morbid.” Galliawatch blog condemned Sarko’s “vulgar notions of justice, of history, of repentance, of education.”
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Sarkozy’s “average guy” persona offends France
IHT. Feb. 18, 2008
The plummet in esteem currently suffered by President Sarkozy touches on certain factors in the French public's view of France itself. France remains a very formal country, in which dignified usages and formal language provide a useful distance in daily life, as well as an indispensable and relaxing courtesy. But Sarkozy’s American style “regular guy” persona offends the French who feel that their national dignity is being demeaned.
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France defended Chad with ammo, logistics
AFP. Feb. 15, 2008
When Chad granted amnesty last week to the French “Zoe’s Ark” child kidnappers, observers wondered exactly what support France had given the Chadian government against rebel insurgents to deserve such a favor. Now we know: French armed forces delivered ammunition, logistical and intelligence support to the Chadian army to help it repel rebel assaults, a French defence ministry spokesman confirmed.
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France wants global oil tax
BusinessWeek. Feb. 15, 2008
President Sarkozy has asked the head of the International Monetary Fund to consider a tax on oil companies' profits to help countries without energy reserves, the French finance minister said Wednesday. The decision comes in the wake of record earnings by French oil giant Total, whose thriving business with pariah state Myanmar/Burma is condemned by humanitarians.
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France adds Brazil to its military client list
UPI. Feb. 15, 2008
France’s “mission civilatrice” is increasingly becoming a “mission meurtrière” as she becomes one of the biggest arms peddlers in the world. This week the France announced it will help Brazil build helicopters, fighter jets, and submarines. The arms agreement was hammered out at a summit in French Guyana between French President Sarkozy and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
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Vivendi's Dead, Long Live Vivendi
Businessweek. Feb. 15, 2008
Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and chief executive officer of French conglomerate Vivendi (VIVEF), is well on his way to burying the image of his company as one of the biggest suckers ever to hit Hollywood. Lévy is a smooth operator who's reinventing the French entertainment company by moving it from movies to video games and music.
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Sarkozy ‘s nuclear gamesmanship
WorldPoliticsReview. Feb. 15, 2008
Everywhere he has gone, President Sarkozy has been peddling nuclear energy via France’s nuclear giant Areva, as a reaffirmation of French influence. Among the reasons Sarkozy's strategy has raised eyebrows is the fear of nuclear weapons proliferation, though experts assert that the risk is almost non-existent. Then there is the impact nuclear cooperation might have on regimes that are at best repressive and at worst dictatorial.
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French engineer invents air-powered car
EnjoyFrance. Feb. 15, 2008
French engineer Guy Negre has invented a totally non-polluting car that runs on compressed air. He has recently secured backing from the giant Indian conglomerate Tata to put the finishing touches to “The World’s Cleanest Car." A five-seated vehicle with a range of approximately 200 km can run using 300 litres of compressed air stored in either carbon or glass fibre tanks.
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Bruni pledges love, fidelity in magazine interview
NYTimes. Feb. 15, 2008
In her first interview since she married President Sarkozy, model-turned-singer Carla Bruni said that they fell in love immediately and predicted that only death would part them. "I am Italian by culture and I would not like to divorce," she said in the interview, published Wednesday in the weekly magazine L'Express. "So I am the first lady until the end of my husband's mandate and his wife until death. The interview seemed intended to stanch criticism that they had flaunted their love affair in public.
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French bosses are best paid in Europe
FinancialTimes. Feb. 15, 2008
Top bosses at French companies are the best paid in Europe, according to new research by management consultants at Hay Group. The average total remuneration for chief executives of French companies was EUR5.9m ($8.65m) in 2007. "French pay awards tend to be higher because the long-term incentive award levels are bigger and the performance conditions tend to be lighter touch."
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Islamic critic seeks French asylum
BBC. Feb. 13, 2008
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born former Dutch MP and outspoken critic of Islam, says she is seeking French citizenship. Ms Ali has received death threats from Islamist extremists and the Dutch government has been paying for her protection, which she feels is inadequate. She said the campaign for her to receive honorary French citizenship was being spearheaded by a group of French intellectuals and was supported by the country's political leaders.
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Égalité for French Workers
WallStreetJournal. Feb. 13, 2008
The French jobless rate has now fallen to 7.8%, the lowest level in 25 years. Disentangling the genuine long-term improvement from mere cyclical gains is tricky. Th WSJ offers a complex analysis of French employment policy, law, and taxes.
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Sarkozy plays up Lisbon Treaty
GoldhammerBlog. Feb. 13, 2008
“Sarkozy's speech on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was as anticlimactic as its delivery was frenetic. Clearly Sarko felt he needed to impress the public with a major win, since the news has been largely negative for weeks now, but Europe is hardly the issue with which to attempt a reversal of opinion, because the subject is bitterly divisive.”
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Sarkozy calls for world mission to Mars
Reuters. Feb. 13, 2008
Like unpopular American Prsidents before him, French President Sarkozy seeks to boost his low popularity with talk of a grand space mission. His “global programme to explore Mars” would bring together European states, the United States and Russia. Sarkozy said he would ask the European Space Agency and the European Union to cooperate on a framework for dialogue. "Because Mars is there and Mars is accessible to the technologies available to humanity, we cannot refuse to attempt this adventure," Sarkozy said.
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Court Awards $13.8. Million in Shipyard Accident
NewYorkTimes. Feb. 13, 2008
A court in St.-Nazaire ordered two French companies to pay $13.8 million in damages for their roles in a shipyard accident that killed 16 people and injured 29 when a gangway leading to the Queen Mary 2 collapsed in 2003 when workmen were finishing the ship. The court convicted the companies, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, which built the ship, and Endel, of manslaughter and involuntary injuries. They were also fined $255,000 each.
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Sarkozy to address French Jewry
JTA. Feb. 13, 2008
Sarkozy will be the first French president to address the annual dinner of French Jewry's representative body, Le Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), on Feb. 13, a key political networking event that attracts senior lawmakers as well as business, diplomatic and social leaders, and media representatives. CRIF is regarded as Zionist and has been critical of the French government for not doing enough for French Jews. Sarkozy is descended from Jewish grandparents.
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Sarkozy: The problem with the president
UKIndependent. Feb. 13, 2008
He swaggered into the Elysée Palace on a promise to reinvent France for the 21st century. He was hailed simplistically by the British and American right-wing press as a Gallic Margaret Thatcher, pledged to liberate French markets, but in fact he remains an interventionist and a protectionist at heart. After just eight months, Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity is plummeting – and his personal life is becoming a soap opera. Is “Président Moi” up to the job?
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Sarko Fatigue in a Ghetto of the Rich
Time. Feb. 13, 2008
Paris suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine (or "Sarkoville") is an oasis of affluence, distinguished families and ponderous quantities of old money, and has always been kind to candidates of the right. For nearly 20 years it has served as the base of Sarkozy’s campaign for higher office. So it is a sign of how far Sarkozy has fallen that his party's candidate for mayor of Neuilly, David Martinon, has quit his campaign because of his ties to the unpopular HyperPresident.
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POLITICS AND SOCIETY NEWS AND EVENTS ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 2008-3