Forget the
Ewings, the
Carringtons, or the
Channings and Giobertis, France is in the grip of the real-life soap opera of the
Bettencourts, heiresses to the
L'Oréal cosmetics empire, featuring a suave gigolo, a scheming wealth manager, a paradise island, feuding lawyers, embarrassed politicians, squabbling magistrates, New Media, another major multinational, and even a butler with a tape recorder...
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posted by Skeptic
on Jul 15, 2010 -
25 comments
In 2010,
Obama will have a miserable year,
NATO may lose in Afghanistan,
the UK gets a regime change,
China needs to chill,
India's factories will overtake its farms,
Europe risks becoming an irrelevant museum,
the stimulus will need an exit strategy,
the G20 will see a challenge from the "G2",
African football will
unite Korea,
conflict over natural resources will grow,
Sarkozy will be unloved and unrivalled,
the kids will come together to solve the world's problems (because their elders are unable),
technology will grow ever more ubiquitous,
we'll all charge our phones via USB,
MBAs will be uncool,
the Space Shuttle will be put to rest, and
Somalia will be the worst country in the world. And so
the Tens begin.
The Economist: The World in 2010.
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posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Nov 14, 2009 -
60 comments
The sales of a book by
Madame de Lafayette, "La Princesse de Clèves", are up in France and there have been public readings of it in theatres and universities. The reason? Sarkozy
hates it. As Sarkozy's popularity
plummets, the "17th century tale of thwarted love" gets unexpected attention beyond the classroom.
Badges inscribed with "I am reading The Princess of Clèves" were the most popular item at the opening of the Paris book fair this week.
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posted by lucia__is__dada
on Mar 19, 2009 -
29 comments
Pardon my French: after (allegedly)
showing up drunk at the G8 (
Mefi),
walking out from 60 minutes, and
almost getting in a fight with angry fishermen (
translation), French President Sarkozy, while visiting the Paris International Agricultural Show, snaps at a man who refused to shake his hand "
Casse-toi pauvre con".
But what exactly
does this
mean in
English? He hasn't (yet) slapped a kid,
unlike his presidential rival Bayrou, but he's still not in the same league as De Gaulle, who answered to a heckler shouting "Mort aux cons!" ("Death to the idiots!") the sublime "
Vaste programme, en effet" ("Tall order, indeed").
posted by elgilito
on Feb 25, 2008 -
57 comments
Joblessness is a major motivating force of these riots, which is why the politicians and the press turn endlessly around the question of job creation in the banlieues. [...] An injection of vigorous enterprise, a big deregulating kick, and racial discrimination would evaporate in the tremendous, creative release of market forces. No race riots in an untrammelled market economy: that’s what Sarkozy really means. It’s an ingenious, high-pressure sales pitch for the ‘Anglo-Saxon model’ – indeed, it’s bordering on blackmail.
Jeremy Harding in the
London Review of Books goes among the arsonists in Paris and offers some insights on the economic factors and political consequences of the riots.
posted by funambulist
on Dec 3, 2005 -
6 comments
Newsfilter: Rioting continues in the suburbs of Paris. In
Clichy-Sous-Bois, a predominantly (80%) North African muslim banlieu of about 28,000 people,
night battles have been raging (video) between youths and the police after two muslim youths died by electrocution while they thought the police were chasing them, a charge the police denies. That was 5 nights ago. Since then, 27 people have been arrested, 3 convicted, numerous cars destroyed and property damaged, and 23 police officers wounded in street battles involving "up to several hundred" participants. The
muslim community now accuses the police of firing tear gas into a mosque, and things look far from calming down. These tensions are hardly confined to Paris, however -
In Lyon, 800 cars have been burned in "low level" violence this year; Across France,
9,000 police cars have been "stoned" this year, and 20-40 cars are destroyed a night (!!!), according to Interior Minister
Nicolas Sarkozy. I knew that relations between "the French" and the "
Beurs" were somewhat less than pleasant, but am I the only one that was unaware that
France has been in a state of low-level but direct civil and religious war for the last few years?
posted by loquax
on Nov 1, 2005 -
80 comments
