Pave: Bad News Is Good News

Le jour 449 de Sarko

Same story, different headlines.

AIR FRANCE-KLM PROFIT DROPS 59% ON OIL BILL

LONDON August 5, 2008 (MarketWatch) - Air France-KLM on Tuesday reported a 59% profit decline for its fiscal first quarter, as fuel surcharges weren't nearly enough to counter a sky-high fuel bill.

The last of the major European airlines to report earnings, Air France-KLM said its profit fell to 168 million euros (USD $260 million) from 415 million euros.

Revenue rose 6% to 6.29 billion euros after a passenger traffic rise of 3.7%.

Analysts, on average, were looking for a profit of 145 million euros on revenue of 6.27 billion euros.

In the glum story AF-KLM betters both revenue and profit expectations by almost 16%.

AIR FRANCE PROFIT BEATS FORECASTS

August 6, 2008 (The Age) - Air France-KLM Group, Europe's largest airline, reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates as the carrier sold more business-class tickets and protected itself from record fuel costs with hedging contracts.

... Net income for the three months through June 30 dropped 60% to 168 million euros (USD $260 million), or 54 cents a share, compared with the 152 million-euro median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

But in the bright story AF-KLM only beats the forecast average by 10.5%, or a 52% fall-off from the glum news report.

Imagine the numbers had AF-KLM serviced all passenger classes.

PFFT (What is this?): Less profit, better results 2½ | Rayonnement français 2½

Pave: Life In France, VI

Le jour 447 de Sarko

Paysans lighten the burdens of wedlock by making a gift of them to the neighbors.

RACY GOINGS-ON IN LA FRANCE PROFONDE
The Wife-Swapping Club Comes To Rural Normandy

August 4, 2008 (Independent) - The nearest town to our house in Normandy is a sad place which has never fully recovered from the summer of 1944. ... The population is ageing and glum. Excitement is hard to find.

A few days ago work began on renovating a long-closed shop on the town's main square. Would this be yet another estate agent selling houses without roofs to the British? Or something more interesting? A hand-written red and white sign appeared in the window. The sign read:

Ici bientôt, Club Echangiste.

Opening here soon, Wife Swapping Club.

Clubs Echangistes are an accepted part of the entertainment industry in France. Paris has more than 60 of them. That, however, is the wicked big city. An officially proclaimed, rural wife-swapping club – next to the notary's office – seemed too good to be true. On closer inspection, the red-and -white sign in the tiny shop-front added the following details.

On peut apporter son mari, son chien, son âne, sa belle-mère.

A separate sign read:

Fully booked until 20 August.

Was this meant to be a satire on the submerged, sexual oddities of rural life? I asked the man painting the inside of the shop. He shrugged. "It's meant to be funny, I think," he said.

Yesterday, a new sign had appeared next to the other ones.

By popular demand, we will open on Sunday. After Mass.

More life as eeked out in France here, here, here, here, and here.

PFFT (What is this?): Rural dullsville 2½ | Hymenaios weeps 5 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Socialist Paradise In Decline: Vacation

Le jour 446 de Sarko

Le but de la politique que je propose n'est pas de maintenir stable le pouvoir d'achat, il est de l'augmenter. Le but, ce n'est pas la stagnation, c'est le progrès. Le but, ce n'est pas le minimum, mais le maximum.

[The goal of the policies that I am proposing is not to keep purchasing power stable, it is to increase it. The goal is not stagnation, it is progress. The goal is not the minimum, but the maximum.]

Sarko,
then aspiring candidat du pouvoir d’achat,
now Président de la République and pocket reformer
Ensemble (Paris: XO Editions, 2007)

NEARLY HALF FRENCH WILL NOT TAKE SUMMER HOLIDAY

July 31, 2008 (RFI) - Nearly half of all French people have decided to forego the most hallowed of Gallic traditions this year: August holidays. Some 42 per cent of the population say they will not take a summer holiday and blame a lower standard of living for not heading for the mountains and beaches, according to a study commissioned by the French Communist Party's paper l'Humanité.

Pardon, allow us a caveat. It is in the interests of the French Communist Party (Parti communiste français, PCF) to find such a finding. The Communists who continually run for the presidency and lose, have participated in only one Ve Republic government (the first-term Mitterand cabinet). A spent force (and this and here), the Communists have no record of social accomplishments, so the next best thing is to rob accomplished political parties of accomplishments. It is also in the PCF's interests that the rhetoric of the sorry lot of the French worker never be lessened, otherwise why elect the Communists? What hope the revolution?

That said, this is a survey of intentions, not a record of events. It is likely that many of the no-vacation responses are complaints and, come August, these respondents will be off to the beach or campground leaving their cares behind them.*

Polls show that declining purchasing power [and here] has become the principal concern for most French people, taking over from employment in Autumn 2007, and adding to the decline in popularity of President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose main election slogan was "Work more to earn more".

Restaurants and cafés have felt the penny-pinching by French consumers according to the UMIH, the national restaurant union, reporting that clientele numbers fell 20 to 30 per cent in July alone.

Hotels have reported a better showing, but vacationers are trying to bargain for hotel rooms at the lowest possible price, president Yannick Fassaert of the tourist association Gites en France told L'Humanité.

"Lowest possible price"? [Pause.] How radical. How unsporting. Where is yesterday's "economic patriotism"?

In fact, more than a quarter of all French save money to go on vacation, according to the study. And 56 per cent who are hitting the road are staying closer to home, due to rising petrol prices.

... The Communist Party takes a particular interest in the question because the right to paid vacations in France was granted by the country's first-ever left-wing government, the 1936 Popular Front which the party supported.**

A reach-back to 1936 is indicative of the bold retrospective thinking found among today's French Communists.

------------------------------------
* Cares such as Mamie et Papy. See also here, here, here, and here.

** And pointedly did not participate in (soutien sans participation) as association would sully Communist principles and compromise the forever-over-the-horizon revolution. Association might also lead to collegial sentimentalism, making any accompanying post-revolutionary score-settling awkward.

PFFT (What is this?): Bonnes vacances ! 1½ | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Who To Believe? France Or Those Lying Jews? IX Redux

Le jour 444 de Sarko

Non, la France n'est pas un pays antisémite. ... La France n'accepte pas l'antisémitisme ; elle le combat. Mais elle n'accepte pas non plus les accusations qui touchent à son honneur.

[No, France is not an anti-Semitic country. ... France does not accept anti-semitism; she fights it. But neither does she accept charges that wound her honor.]

Ex-Jack,
then-president of anti-Semite-free France,
explaining how France while battling
French anti-Semitism morning, noon, and night,
cannot, as a point of honor, acknowledge
claims of anti-Semiticsm in France
PALAIS DE L'ÉLYSÉE February 13, 2004
(Élysée/Yedioth Aharonoth)

In June of this year a lone Jewish teenager, identified by his kippa, was brutally beaten by a Parisian gang of 15 to 20 "youths" and left in a coma. What was plain was that the victim was a Jew and, from eye witnesses, the attackers were Maghrébins (North Africans). The tough call for the French media was how to report this savage attack without giving offense or not too much offense or the least offense possible to the Maghrébin community. Ever resourceful in new approaches to the facts the French press conjured up "intercommunitarian strife", a sort of Jewish-Maghrebi West Side Story minus the catchy tunes or dance numbers or the nice Natalie Wood-Richard Beymer love interest.

Now the story was Rudy Haddad, a Jewish gang member with a police record, is caught alone on the turf of a rival Maghrebi gang. Mayhem ensues. [Heads nod knowingly.]

There was only one small fail-point in this everyone's-to-blame fairy tale. [Pause.]

No complementary Jewish gang.

Nidra Poller, perhaps the most intelligent and trusted reporter in France (and here), provides a believable exposition.

HATE

PARIS July 31, 2008 (WSJ) - The brutal mob beating of a Jewish teenager in full view of witnesses at the end of a summer afternoon marks an ominous development in the hate crimes that have plagued France since the fall of 2000.

... As if to camouflage the horror of a brazen aggression, French media framed 17-year-old Rudy Haddad's beating in an incongruous narrative of turf battles between Jewish gangs and African and Maghrebi gangs. Confused accounts of the June 21 fights that ended with the attack against Rudy -- portrayed as a tough guy with a police record -- curiously recall the "cycle of violence" treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict, where Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli efforts to prevent them are judged as morally equivalent. In Rudy's case, officials and reporters contravened the customary self-imposed gag rule and immediately pinned an ethno-religious label on the "youths" who, according to witnesses, bashed Rudy's skull, broke his ribs, jumped up and down on his inert body with all their might shouting "dirty Jew," and left him in a coma. But every account ended with a line about "intercommunitarian strife" that placed half the blame on the victim. The exact nature of these Jewish gangs was left in the dark...

To reaffirm the good reputation of his district, Socialist Mayor Roger Madec organized a "fraternal gathering" in front of the City Hall on July 3. Reporters were greeted by a press attaché who hastened to inform them that this was not a "purely" anti-Semitic attack -- the Jewish gangs, you know.

With the exception of Richard Prasquier, the president of the Jewish umbrella organization CRIF [Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France] who asked what is being done about the hatred that fired the unspeakable violence against a 17-year-old simply because he is Jewish, the other speakers sang the praises of good neighborly diversity and warned the media not to pin anti-this and anti-that labels on the "regrettable incident." None of these other speakers thought to address Mr. Prasquier's question.

... In France, where racial, religious, national or ethnic breakdown of population statistics is forbidden, and where applying such labels to criminals is taboo, the term "youth" is used to hide the identity of thugs, even when their identity is visible in TV footage. The taboo was exceptionally lifted in Rudy's case to sustain the narrative of intercommunitarian strife. The fortuitous discovery -- or invention -- of Jewish gangs imposed a corresponding African and Maghrebi label.

Since tough laws and improved police work have not put a stop to the harassment of Jews, some young Jewish men are trying to defend themselves. Much was made of Rudy's "police record." In fact, his "record" consisted of an attempt to defend a friend who'd been knocked to the ground by a group of Muslims who came to break up a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in honor of kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Rudy fought them off with his motorcycle helmet, which became in legal terms an "arm by destination."

... The Rudy Haddad story leaped back onto the front pages on July 10 with the arrest of seven "youths" who turned out to be in their mid- to late 20s. Two have been arraigned and jailed: an African, identified as Sekou M., and a North African, Foued O. The latter, who is a career air force corporal, is accused of bashing Rudy's head with a crutch. Another African, Boubacar C., suspected of involvement in the machete attack, has been charged and released while awaiting trial. The implication of husky, mature men in the attacks that raged that day and culminated in the savage beating of a Jewish teen further undermines the narrative of mere squabbles among youngsters.

And here is a telling anecdote about the rule of law in the very heart of France:

A woman told me she witnessed another violent fight near the City Hall [in Paris's 19th arrondissement] in midafternoon. Fearing someone would get killed -- the (African and Maghrebi) assailants were beating their victims with iron bars -- she asked the policemen on duty to intervene. One of them shrugged and said, "They should all go home."

Worth the full read.

PFFT (What is this?): Everyone go home 5 | Rayonnement français 0 (There is no lower rating)

Pave: Une nation qui rayonne dans le monde VI

Le jour 443 de Sarko

La population est inquiète et ne croit plus aux chiffres officiels.

[The local population is worried and no longer believes official figures.]

André-Yves Becq,
deputy mayor of Bollène,
describing local confidence
in official versions of events
17 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

EVACUATION AT FRENCH NUCLEAR PLANT

July 29, 2008 (TPA) - An engineer has said 127 people were evacuated from a French nuclear site after what he called a minor incident that triggered an alarm.

Engineer Jean Girardi said 45 of those workers have been taken to the hospital after the incident at the Tricastin nuclear complex near the city of Avignon in southern France.

Mr Girardi said the alarm was apparently set off by a minor leak of radioactive particles. He also said tests found "extremely weak traces of radioactivity" on two people.

The French electric company EDF said Tuesday's incident had no impact on employees' health.

It has declined further comment.

Or maybe it was nothing at all. No leak. No radioactivity. A false alarm.

100 EMPLOYEES OF FRENCH NUCLEAR SITE EVACUATED

GRENOBLE July 29, 2008 (BW/AP) - About 100 employees were evacuated from a nuclear site in southern France on Tuesday after an alarm went off accidentally, the power plant said. ... Stephanie Biabaut, a spokeswoman for the plant near the city of Avignon, said the alarm went off accidentally Tuesday, and medical tests showed that personnel were not contaminated.

... French electric company EDF, which runs the plant, declined to explain Girardi's comments [See above.] but insisted the case was merely a false alarm.

You see, officially it was a false alarm. Officially nothing has happened. [Pause.] Officially nothing to worry about, M. Becq.

NEW EDF SPOKESMAN: QUOI-MOI, INQUIET ?
M. Girardi Is No Longer Available For Comments
[Photo source (background): obouton]

PFFT (What is this?): Quoi-moi, inquiet ? 4½ | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: French Poodle

Le jour 442 de Sarko

MR. OBAMA NOVELTY UNDERPANTS
Special French Deluxe Edition Features
Confidence-Building Eiffel Tower Imprint

Without so much as a "merci beaucoup" Mr. Obama breezed in-and-out of France transforming a once haughty and hostile nation into a kennel of yapping, adoring poodles ready to vote him into office -- unless, of course, he were to run in France. [Abrupt needle scratch.] Relax, mes amis. Not to worry about any Mr. Obamas emerging in France. Relax.

And the most yapping of the adoring French, the chief of state himself, Sarko.

SARKOZY TO OBAMA: JE T’AIME
July 25, 2008 (ABC News)

Yap.

NICOLAS SARKOZY LOUE "L'AVENTURE DE BARACK OBAMA"
[NICOLAS SARKOZY PRAISES "ADVENTURE OF BARACK OBAMA"]
26 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

Yap.

NICOLAS SARKOZY : « OBAMA ? C'EST MON COPAIN »
[SARKO: "OBAMA? HE'S MY BUDDY"]
26 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

Yap.

SARKOZY GUSHES OVER OBAMA, KINDRED SPIRIT

July 26, 2008 (Chicago Sun Times) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy gushed over Barack Obama on Friday when the two appeared together at the Elysee Palace, coming close, it seemed, to making an endorsement. Sarko:

But, obviously, one is interested in a candidate who's looking towards the future, rather than the past, and that's something that -- a concern that I share.

... And you have to know that here in Europe, here in France, we're watching with great interest what you're doing.

... Not everyone here is called Sarkozy, you know. And I'm aware of the fact that not everyone is called Obama in the United States of America. And that's a sense of -- gives us a sense of America of adventure. And Barack Obama's adventure is an adventure that rings true in the hearts and mind of the French and of Europeans.

In March, rival John McCain visited with Sarkozy at the palace, but the French leader did not give him the honor of a joint appearance.

Not too long ago such effusions were construed as "poodling".

M. Sarkozy n'est pas un européen convaincu, comme nous tous, qui défend les intérêts de la France. Il est avant tout un pro-américaniste, il est un zélateur de Bush...quelqu'un qui se fixe comme programme d'être le futur caniche du président des Etats-Unis.

[Mr. Sarkozy is not a confirmed European, like the rest of us, who defends the interests of France. He is foremost a pro-americanist, a Bush zealot...somebody who sets an agenda to be the future poodle of the president of the United States.]

Laurent Fabius,
député PS de Seine-Maritime (4ème),
former PM, présidentiable wash-out,
and "Top Ten" politician (No.6)
September 16, 2006 (Le Monde)

Ah, but now even Socialists want a Mr. Obama moment.

Should Mr. McCain win, then this sort of thing will again be denounced as poodling.

(A more outrageous but less cited example of French poodling here.)

Although it would seriously wound European sensibilities to say so, their endorsements mean little or nothing to the American electorate. Unless there is a war on (e.g., 2004), presidential elections do not much turn on foreign policy. They turn on domestic issues. Selfish Americans.

PFFT (What is this?): Kiss-up gamble 3¾ | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: The Beholden Forget III

Le jour 441 de Sarko

PORN FILM MADE AT FIRST WORLD WAR MEMORIAL
Pornography Has Become The Latest Threat To Graves And Memorials
On The First World War Battlefields Of Northern France.

PARIS July 29, 2008 (Telegraph) - While common acts of desecration have in the past included vandalism and graffiti, indecent photographs and videos are increasingly being shot around the magnificent structures built during the post-war years to remember the fallen.

The latest incident saw a French couple given a four-month suspended prison sentence for making a pornographic video at the Vimy Ridge memorial near Arras.

After being found guilty of exhibitionism, they were fined £400 each and ordered to pay a

symbolic one euro (80 pence)

in damages to Canada, which lost 60,000 men in the Great War.

At Vimy Ridge 3,598 Canadians were killed and 10,602 wounded. [A quick calculation.]

80 pence x French SYMBOLIC multiplier = Ample compensation to Canada. And a little something left over for British desecrations.

Naturally, France pockets the £800 in fines for the bother of dispensing her justice.

VIMY RIDGE MEMORIAL
Added Attraction

Despite the courageous deeds and sacrifice honoured by the Vimy Memorial, the couple are believed to have stripped naked and performed sex acts beside the soaring stone structure.

They then posted the video on a website, invited people to pay to watch it.

Their punishment came just six months after another couple were fined for taking nude photographs of themselves in the same place.

... Police who investigated the case said similar incidents were regularly reported at other memorial and military graveyards.

[Hat tip: Hervé]

PFFT (What is this?): Hallowed ground 0 (There is no lower rating) | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Air France, à votre service III

Le jour 440 de Sarko

Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre

[Making the sky the best place on Earth]

Current Air France company theme

And if you are a person with special needs, not to worry. Air France is ready to catapult you into the blue with attentive care. Below is Air France policy found on the the Air France Web site:

PASSENGERS WITH REDUCED MOBILITY
Saphir:* For A Smooth And Comfortable Trip!

[* Air France special needs customer service program.]

Is your mobility reduced as a result of a disability (whether motor-based, visual, hearing or mental), your age or an illness? With Saphir, Air France offers you a wide range of services tailored to your needs.

These services are available across the whole Air France network when you travel on flights operated by Air France.

From the moment you set off to the moment you arrive,
Air France makes your journey smoother!

All cabin crew have received disability awareness training.

They will be notified about your special needs and know exactly what your assistance requirements are.

They will go out of their way to ensure that your flight is as comfortable and pleasant as possible.

And here is how all that awareness training and attentive care policy translates into customer service.

AIR FRANCE AVOIDS DISABLED PASSENGERS

July 27, 2008 (asap.co.uk) - A well-known magazine, Emerging Horizons, has accused Air France for not making arrangements to suit disabled passengers. In its summer issue the magazine called Air France Germ of the Year in its research on travel industry. It was based on personal experience of one of its editors who is paraplegic. The magazine found that Air France was not doing enough to care for people with disabilities to have a seamless travel experience. The carrier was simply ignoring the requirements of people with less mobility and at times, even refused to allow such passengers on its flights.

In one incident, a senior captain of Air France refused to accommodate a disabled passenger on the flight. The passenger Michelle Daly, who is a French government adviser, had booked an Air France flight from Paris to London. She was travelling to London to attend a conference on disabilities. However, when the captain came to know that the lady could not walk by herself, he asked her to leave the plane. According to him, she posed a risk to safety and health of other passengers.

Fortunately, British Airways were willing to accommodate her on its flight to London later in the afternoon that day.

Air France argued that the captain’s decision was correct, as their aircraft was not equipped to handle disabled passengers.

More posts on the seamless Air France travel experience here, here, here, here and here. And if you are a passenger "with a high body mass", see here and here.

PFFT (What is this?): Walk before you fly 4 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Zsu Zsu

Le jour 439 de Sarko

Enough of Mr. Obama. For now. (Don't worry. More later.)

At this year's Burning Man an art installation will pay homage to Zsu Zsu, the Crybaby Drama Queen, an epitome for the French bad girlfriend. She disdains her boyfriends, she disdains the project, she disdains Burning Man. If you should meet her, she already disdains you.

Zsu Zsu will hide in a pink heart-shaped trailer that rests on its side. The trailer is fitted with a mechanical hand that accepts "geefts" for Zsu Zsu. Outside is a replica of the Eiffel Tower, rechristened the Spiteful Tower, which acts as a mood thermometer for Zsu Zsu. In back is a storage tank that supplies the trailer with French air with its rich mix of French particulate matter and, we imagine, the signature smell that is Paris.

ZSU ZSU INSTALLATION SKETCH
A Little Monument To French Contempt In The Nevada Desert

Zsu Zsu refuses visitors, though occasionally she opens the trailer door to spit on an unlucky few. When not admiring herself, she calls out complaints and insults to passers-by. By the end of the week everyone will have had enough of Zsu Zsu and her trailer and its associated properties will be burned to the ground.

PFFT (What is this?): Conceptual bad girlfriend 2½ | Rayonnement français 0

Never Mind IV Redux

Le jour 438 de Sarko

It is just too much fun.

OBAMA SUPERSTAR

OP-ED 25 juillet 2008 (Figaro) - Mission accomplie. Barack Obama retourne aux États-Unis en ayant réussi sa sortie dans le vaste monde. Réputé inexpérimenté parce qu'il n'a que trois ans de mandat de sénateur derrière lui, le candidat démocrate a montré qu'il n'avait aucun complexe à avoir sur la scène internationale.

[Mission accomplished. Barack Obama heads back to the United States having made a success of his outing in the great big world. Considered inexperienced because he has only three years in the Senate behind him, the democratic candidate showed that he had no hang-ups on the international stage.]

IN FRANCE, OBAMA HAS THE LOOK OF A PRESIDENT
July 25, 2008 (Fox)

FRANCE SHOWS OBAMA APPROVAL
As Candidate Tries To Win U.S. Hearts,
French Leader Says That Nation Finds Him 'Very Attractive'
PARIS July 26, 2008 (Chicago Tribune)

OBAMA RISKS PRAISE FROM FRANCE
PARIS July 26, 2008 (LAT)

Oh. Never mind.

FRENCH GOING WILD FOR SENATOR KERRY
IN ELECTION FEVER
‘A Certain Elegance’ Is Seen

PARIS March 15, 2004 (NYSun) - If November’s presidential election were being held here, there’s no doubt that Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and Democratic candidate, would win by a landslide. Constance Borde, head of the France chapter of Democrats Abroad:

People are going crazy. My phone is ringing from morning to night because everybody wants to know about Kerry. I’m even getting calls from French people asking if they can contribute to the campaign, and of course I have to tell them no.This is something I’ve never seen happening.

THE WORLD BACKS KERRY

October 15, 2004 (Guardian) - Millions of Americans are scratching their heads over how to vote on November 2 after the last of the three televised presidential debates left George Bush and John Kerry neck and neck over jobs, education, health care and taxes, with little mention of Iraq or 9/11. But the rest of the world, according to a poll we and several other newspapers publish today, has already made up its mind, backing the Democratic challenger by a margin of two to one.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

October 27, 2004 (Guardian) - The French distaste for the Bush administration is evident in all the polls. A recent survey showed that Kerry would win as much as 82% of the French vote, while George Bush would secure a mere 16%. Around 70% of French people say that their opinion of America has deteriorated over the past three years, 75% of the population say that they have a poor opinion of Bush, and 77% say that they believe the US-led campaign in Iraq was a mistake.

...BUT THE WORLD BACKS KERRY

PARIS October 30, 2004 (Times Online) - If it were left to the voters of the world, John Kerry would stroll into the White House, leaving President Bush buried deep in a landslide. With few exceptions, from Europe to Asia, Africa to Latin America, people want an end to probably the most globally unpopular presidency on record.

3 NOVEMBRE 2004, LE JOUR D'APRÈS
Dopey Americans Miss An Enlightened World's Big Cue

PFFT (What is this?): Putting Euro-Obamania in perspective 4 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: You Don't Say?

Le jour 438 de Sarko

OBAMA : « L'AMÉRICAIN MOYEN
AIME ÉNORMÉMENT LES FRANÇAIS »
[OBAMA: AVERAGE AMERICAN
ENORMOUSLY FOND OF THE FRENCH]
25 juillet 2008 (20minutes)

[Blinding insight. Lugubrious pause.]

Oh. [More lugubrity.]

Well, that explains why our movie deal fell through.

PFFT (What is this?): Last to know 4⅞ | Rayonnement français 2½

Pave: Never Mind IV

Le jour 437 de Sarko

OBAMA HEADS FOR FRANCE AFTER MAJOR BERLIN RALLY

BERLIN July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Public opinion polls in France mirror those elsewhere in Europe to show Obama is by far the candidate most people would like to see succeed President George W. Bush in the November elections.

Oh. Never mind.

POLL SHOWS FRENCH STAUNCHLY BEHIND KERRY

PARIS October 28, 2004 (AFP) - More than two out of three French would vote for John Kerry and only one in 10 for George W Bush in the US presidential election if they had the chance, according to an opinion poll published Thursday.

Take heart, Europa, Mr. Obama will be available for your elections after November 4. Vote all you want.

What is not apparent to self-fascinated Europa is that its phony self-congratulating Obamania (and here) is not a ringing endorsement to Americans. Americans will vote Mr. Obama up or down depending on the strength of his appeal to Americans. It is a long shot that any foreign endorsements will win him votes and more likely some will cost him votes.

UNDERWHELMING FRENCH SUPPORT
Americans Amused By "Teeny Basket", Flat Placket

Ah, thanks, but no thanks.

PFFT (What is this?): Europa wants American star power 3½ | Europa wants American leadership ⅛ | Rayonnement français ½

Pave: Une nation qui rayonne dans le monde V

Le jour 436 de Sarko

La population est inquiète et ne croit plus aux chiffres officiels.

[The local population is worried and no longer believes official figures.]

André-Yves Becq,
deputy mayor of Bollène,
describing local confidence
in the government's nuclear oversight
17 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

I don't want people to feel that we are hiding anything from them.

Jean-Louis Borloo,
ministre d’Etat, ministre de l’Ecologie,
de l’Energie, du Développement durable
et de l’Aménagement du territoire,
checking on things, better late than never
July 19, 2008 (Telegraph)

July is nuclear screw-ups month in France.

FIFTEEN FRENCH WORKERS EXPOSED
TO LOW-LEVEL NUCLEAR RADIATION

PARIS July 21, 2008 (Xinhua) - Fifteen French workers were slightly exposed to nuclear radiation at Saint-Alban nuclear station in Iser province, but their health was unaffected, local media reported Monday.

A manager with France's national power company said regular medical checks found traces of radiation materials in the workers' bodies after they carried out routine repair and maintenance tasks at the nuclear station on July 18.

The manager said they were immediately sent to a hospital for further checks, which showed their organs, luckily, were not affected.

Luckily.

The nuclear station reported the incident to the country's nuclear safety bureau, which examined the scene of the incident, but did not list it as a nuclear radiation incident as it was not very severe.

Luckily.

100 EMPLOYEES AT FRENCH NUCLEAR SITE CONTAMINATED

PARIS July 23, 2008 (BW) - Radioactive particles spewed from a pipe at a French nuclear reactor on Wednesday, slightly contaminating 100 employees, a spokeswoman for the national electric company said.

It was the fourth incident at a French nuclear site in recent weeks and the second in five days.

Caroline Muller, a spokeswoman for Electricite de France, said 100 EDF employees were "slightly contaminated" by radioactive particles that escaped from the pipe at a reactor complex in Tricastin, in southern France. Ms. Muller:

What concerns us is less the level of the people contaminated than the number of people contaminated.

Ahhh...huh? It seems to us it is precisely the level of radiation where the concern begins. If the contamination is so piddling as to be of no concern, than what matter the number of contaminated employees?

The incident came a day after authorities lifted a ban on fishing and water sports in two rivers that was imposed July 8 after liquid containing unenriched uranium leaked from a broken underground pipe at a site run by nuclear giant Areva at the huge Tricastin complex, near the city of Avignon.

The truly amazing thing, the wonderful thing about French nuclear power is all that energy is produced but fugitive particle decay never poses a danger to the environment or the locals or the staff. [A sudden idea.] Why not just bottle the contaminant, slap a fancy label on it, and sell it? It's that safe.

L’EAU ENRICHIE EN URANIUM
Darn Good, Pretty Safe

65% of French think nuclear energy poses a risk.

Europeans and Nuclear Safety,
Eurobarometer Report (February 2007), p. 21

Yes, and now we know why.

More posts on radiant France here, here, here, and here.

PFFT (What is this?): Rayonnement français (radiation) 3½ | Rayonnement français (glory) 0

Pave: Spin: Face Change

Le jour 435 de Sarko

We do not believe in a once Golden Age of journalism. An age where reporting confined itself to findings and the established facts. No, reportage has always come with an agenda. This agenda often goes by the name, spin. And one typically first encounters spin in the headline.*

Mind the headline.

CHANGING FACES IN FRENCH WORKPLACE

PARIS July 21, 2008 (BBC) - A major grievance during the riots three years ago was the discrimination young people of Arab and African origin said they faced in getting jobs.

But now the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy says things have improved - and French companies are hiring more people from deprived neighbourhoods like Saint-Denis, especially young graduates.

"There's a real dynamic which has begun on the issue of hiring young people from poor areas or from ethnic minorities," says the Minister for Urban Affairs, Fadela Amara, who herself grew up in a mainly immigrant suburb:

There's a real campaign to promote diversity. Large companies have discovered that young people from these areas offer genuine potential. And this isn't philanthropy, it's just good business. They know that those who have degrees have had to work very hard to get them, twice as hard as those who don't live in neighbourhoods where there are problems, so they're extremely competitive on the job market.

But when I put this to people in Saint-Denis market, they say little has changed as far as they can see [and here and here].

... And activists campaigning for equal opportunities say there has not been a breakthrough.

"You can't really measure any progress yet because we're still at the very beginning," said Carole da Silva,** head of an organisation which helps minority graduates find jobs.

... In Evry, south of Paris, I met Fatou Fall, a management assistant in a communications company. She manages the company's budget and considers herself fortunate to have a good job which she enjoys doing. But she says getting it was not easy - and when she was looking for a job, she says she sometimes faced blatant discrimination. Ms. Fall:

Once I applied for a job in a travel agency and the manager was very pleased with me. He wanted to hire me, but when the owner - his father - learned that I was Senegalese, he decided that he didn't want me - and the manager told me that it was because his father was older and he didn't get on well with foreigners.

But Ms Fall agrees that there has been progress under the Sarkozy government and she praises the work of the Urban Affairs Minister, Ms Amara.

... But if that is happening, it is not obvious to the people in Saint-Denis. One young black man told me:

France is racist and hypocritical. Perhaps things are getting better in the UK, but not here.

Hhhmmm, the reporter has found exactly one changed face in the French workplace with much of the non-government commentary belying the happy headline. This story was lifted whole and re-edited by IslamOnline.net. Here is its headline:

FRANCE'S JOB DISCRIMINATION STILL RIFE
July 21, 2008 (IslamOnline.net)

[Pause.] Yes, well, for our money the Muslim press seems to have gotten the headline right.

------------------------------------
* Other examples of spun headline here, here (item No.2), here, here, and here.

Carole Da Silva is the Founder and Director of the « AFIP », (Association pour Favoriser l’Insertion professionnelle). The objective of the association is to help young graduates with « visible » ethnic difference to find a job. Afip has a method including knowledge of the enterprise needs, coaching, and various training courses. A member of the High Council for Integration, Carole also takes part in the EYEO steering committee.

PFFT (What is this?): Spinning discrimination 3½ | Rayonnement français ½

Pave: How Poor Are The French Poor?

Le jour 434 de Sarko

For ye have the poor with you always...

Mark 14:7 (KJV)

The Christ -- no slouch on behalf of the poor -- pronounced this simple truth. Yet socialist governments believe they can wand wave the poor away with some combination of state controls, state assistance, propaganda, and/or criminalizing poverty. But the poor persist. Why?

Marxists, fascists, and socialists would all have you believe that the reason there are the poor is because there are the rich. This is why millionaire socialists publicly pretend to detest the rich. [Pause.] But this is a political lie for the political enrichment of Marxists, fascists, and socialists.

Poverty, when it is not circumstantial, is the product of choice. [We pause to assist the swooning liberal.] Not that many people consciously choose poverty, but bad choice and poor judgment -- more probably a number of bad choices and poor judgments -- put people on the losing end of the economy.

The varieties of Marxism try to even out the economy by limiting individual choice to only those choices that serve the party which serves the state which serves the party which serves itself. In the end only the party prospers. Western socialism tries to smooth out the economy by redistributing the gains of productive individuals to less productive and nonproductive individuals.* Eventually the socialist state becomes an eleemosynary state and goes bankrupt. The state distributes more than it can skim and still keep productive individuals producing. It becomes more profitable to be nonproductive than to be productive.

NUMBER OF POOR PEOPLE REACHES 7.9 MLN IN FRANCE IN 2006
PARIS July 19, 2008 (Xinhua)

GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR IN FRANCE WIDENS

PARIS July 21, 2008 (AHN) - A study [Les niveaux de vie en 2006] made by the National Institute for Statistics and Economics Studies [Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, INSEE] in France showed that the gap between the rich and the country's poor is growing wider.

... According to data collated by the NISES [sic, INSEE], the number of French people living below the poverty line reached 7.9 million or at least 13.2 of the total population [as of 2006].** This segment of French society has a per capita monthly disposable income of less than $1,390 [€872.426].

The study showed that France's rich earn 3.41 times as much compared to the country's poor in 2006.

This is sloppy and wrong. The INSEE report uses disposable income -- gross income minus tax on that income -- as the point of comparison, not earnings or gross income. Since the French poor earn very little -- some 42% of their income derives from social transfers -- and the rich earn a great deal more before punitive French taxes, the earnings multiple would be considerably more than the disposable income multiple. As the numbers below attest the rich have 3.41x more disposable income than the poor.

The same study adds that the per capita annual disposable incomes of the rich comprised of 10 percent of the country's population average at least $52,440 [€32,913] in 2006 compared to only $15,357 [€9,638] of the poorest 10 percent of the population.

The higher and lower deciles are separated by $37,083 (€23,287). When we consider the gap between our own modest position and say, Bill Gates or Steve Forbes, [We consider this.] well, the French gap does not seem an extravagant divide.

The report gives the average standard of living in France as €20,600 per annum. So the meaningul gap is here, between the middle and the lowest. That is a less dramatic €5,243 or 1.34x poor income. But comparing the richest to the poorest keeps the average citizen out of the picture so as not to get him wondering why after his grueling 35-hour work week he is only 34% better off than the destitute of France.

Compared to the per capita purchasing power parity of emerging economic giant China ($5,300), the French poor's $15,357 per annum is 2.89x.*** Compared to India it is just shy of 6x ($2,700). Mexico, 1.2x ($12,800). South Africa, 1.57x ($9,800). Venezula, 1.25x ($12,200). Ironically, it is exactly 3.41x the exemplar socialist paradise, Cuba ($4,500). These are not comparisons with other countries' poor. These are comparison's of France's poor to the average citizen of these states. You may be poor in France, but you'd be living large in Kenya (9x!, $1,700)

The ratio of the per capital disposable annual incomes of the rich to the poor stood at 3.41:1 in 2006. In 2004 the ratio was 3.41:1 and in 2005, it was 3.37:1.

Whoa! [We whoa.]

The gap hasn't widen at all. It has simply reverted to its 2004 multiple. The report itself considers the change from 2005 to 2006 as insignificant (p.3).

De 2005 à 2006, l’évolution du taux de pauvreté (+ 0,1 point) ne peut pas être considérée comme significative.

So here we have a "widening gap" headline that wilts atop its story.

We are not hard-hearted. We do not envy the poor their lot, nor do we wish it on them. We wish everyone all the necessities that make life livable, all the little amenities that make it pleasant. We only ask that rich-poor reporting be confined to the findings and spare us the tricked out drama.

The missing headline here is, POOR LIVING NICELY IN FRANCE, THANK YOU.

------------------------------------
* The redistribution of wealth across society is, of course, not that different from what the Christ advocated, except that He made it an act of individual conscience not an act of state.

*** All per capita PPP numbers are 2007 estimates.

PFFT (What is this?): Poor report 3½ | Rayonnement français 1½

Pave: Scamming The French American Dream

Le jour 433 de Sarko

Mes chers compatriotes, il faut croire en la France.

[My dear compatriots, it is necessary to believe in France.]

Then-Jack, Now Ex-Jack,
then-Président de la République,
trying to resuscitate Tinkerbell France
PALAIS DE L'ÉLYSÉE, Paris 31 décembre 2005 (Élysée)

We were sent this curious story yesterday:

FRENCH COUPLE CHARGED WITH IMMIGRATION FRAUD IN LA

LOS ANGELES July 4, 2008 (Mercury News/AP) - Deborah Sion, 25, was arrested in Van Nuys Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after being charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and transfer of false identification documents. Also charged in the case is her husband Isaac Peres, 27, who is in custody in France, where he is facing charges in an unrelated fraud scheme.

According to court documents, the couple posted ads on the Internet offering jobs for French workers at restaurants in the Los Angeles area and casinos in Las Vegas. Sion told interested applicants she could help them get legal immigration status through a green card lottery program and that application for the program cost between 1500 to 2700 Euros (or $2,358 to $4,244), depending on additional services such as travel and housing assistance she could sell to the victims.

The U.S. government does not charge a fee to apply to the Diversity Lottery Program, [U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom] Mrozek said.

... Several victims discovered the fraud when they were stopped at U.S. airports and told they couldn't enter the country, or when they went to the American consulate in Paris and were told the cards were fake. Philippe Larrieu, the French consul general in Los Angeles, said Sion and Peres stole from more than 100 victims.

Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of ICE's Los Angeles office:

Sadly, the people who fell victim to this scheme genuinely believed the defendants had ties to the United States government and were selling legitimate 'green cards'. Our nation's immigration benefits are not for sale.

Sion and Peres each face up to 57 years in prison if convicted.

[Hat tip: Carine]

We are shocked! Shocked!

[A long pause as we allow several successive waves of shock to ripple off. We consider a cigarette, but realize we do not smoke.]

Perhaps our disbelief is your disbelief. Perhaps our questions are your questions. How could such a scheme come about? Where would magouilleurs find the Frenchies who would leave France, Paradise itself, to moil in the trenches of "dark America"? How could such a scheme ever reach the proportions detailed in the report? Why would Frenchies emigrate to America for a better life when they already experience life as-good-as-it-will-ever-be in France, in Paradise?

Here, here, here, here, here, here, and here -- these are partial answers. But emigrate to America? Has France been brought so low? Shocking!

PFFT (What is this?): Shocking ½ | Scamming the American dream 4½ | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Barbie féministe

Le jour 432 de Sarko

Bon anniversaire, la République !

All this week Pave celebrates the French Republic's birthday.

What better occasion than la Fête Nationale to decry the sham equality of the Republic?

These actions, written into the “Charter of Equality Between Men and Women,” resulted in France‘s acquiring effective means in the last few years to improve the place of women in public life, professional life and private life.

The law on the equal access of men and women to elective office provides for parity in the executives of municipal and regional councils, and stiffer financial penalties for political parties that fail to comply with the legal requirements in terms of parity. It also requires a general councilor and a substitute of different gender to be elected in the upcoming local elections in the cantons. In this way, it opens up our local assemblies to “real parity.” With this law, a pool of women will be formed, leading to their full involvement in political life.

This law completes and strengthens our measures for parity in politics.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix,
then-Chargé d’Affaires to the UN,
bragging to the UN on French affirmative action
for achieving gender equality in France
PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY AND
THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
NEW YORK March 7, 2007 (franceonu.org)

Ah, but where in France is M. Lacroix's completed parity?

DES FÉMINISTES COLLENT DES BARBES
AUX STATUES DE LA PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE
[FEMINISTS PASTE BEARDS TO STATUES
IN LA PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE]

PARIS 13 juillet 2008 (MSN/AFP) - Des militantes du groupe d'action féministe, "La Barbe", qui dénonce la suprématie masculine aux postes dirigeants, ont affublé dimanche les trois grandes statues de pierre de la place de la République à Paris de grandes barbes colorées.

Les trois militantes de ce collectif revendiquant une centaine d'adhérentes à Paris et Toulouse, ont escaladé le piédestal de la statue de la République, promettant de revenir chaque année tant que la France n'aura pas eu une femme présidente de la République, selon Marie de Cenival, fondatrice du groupe.

"Le 14 juillet, c'est la célébration de la prise de la Bastille, mais également de la déclaration des droits de l'Homme, qui sont aussi des droits des femmes", a-t-elle ajouté, en rendant hommage à Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), "première féministe".

EQUALITY PRANKING
Advancing Equality With Stunts
[Photo source: Jean Ayissi/AFP]

[The militant feminist action group, "The Beard*", which denounces male supremacy in positions of leadership, Sunday disguised the three large stone statues on the Place de la République in Paris with big colored beards.

The three activists claiming a hundred followers in Paris and Toulouse, climbed the pedestal of the statue of the Republic, promising to return each year as long as France has not had a woman president of the Republic, according to Marie de Cenival, founder of the group.

July 14 is the celebration of the storming of the Bastille, but equally of the rights of man, which are also the rights of women," she added, in paying homage to Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), "the first féminist".]

ADVOCATING FOR L'HÉGÉMONIE FÉMININE
Turnabout Is The Good Discrimination
[Photo source: Le Barbe]

It's no secret discrimination is rife in France. And women come in for their unfair share of it. In politics certainly the most qualified candidates should be put forward, regardless of gender. But making gender a qualification -- the qualification, which is the start point of La Barbe's position -- well, male or female, that is sexual discrimination. Standing discrimination on its head may be affirmative action, but it is still discrimination. As such it debases the very principle of equality that it seeks to establish.

MODE D'ACTION
Strap This Over Your Ears And Feel The Man Power!
(Fake Fur, Phony Beard, Sham Equality)
[Photo source: Le Barbe]

Those who politick with their genitals, stand to lose with their genitals.

------------------------------------
* As an interjection or exclamation in French "la barbe" has the additional meanings of "What a bother!", "Nuisance!", "Enough!" [Hat tip: Hervé G.]

PFFT (What is this?): A woman at all costs 2 | Rayonnement français ½

Pave: Défaillances dans la sécurisation

Le jour 431 de Sarko

28 KILOS D'EXPLOSIFS VOLÉS
SUR UN SITE DE LA SÉCURITÉ CIVILE
[28 KILOS OF EXPLOSIVES STOLEN
FROM CIVILIAN SECURITY SITE]
18 juillet 2008 (20minutes)

Heavy-handed security is the rule in France. And it has, to date, spared France. All of which makes this lapse all the more curious.

LARGE SEMTEX CACHE STOLEN IN FRANCE

July 19, 2008 (Telegraph) - The 28 kilograms [61.6 pounds] of the explosive were discovered to be missing yesterday along with an unknown quantity of detonators, but the Interior Ministry said they could have been taken more than a week ago.

The Lyon depot is situated in a disused 19th century castle at Corbas near Lyon and is used by a civil defence unit to store explosives needed for bomb disposal workers. [The Interior Ministry] said there had been "security failings" [défaillances dans la sécurisation de ce site] which gave the thieves their chance.

... The Semtex is now being searched for by French anti-terrorist police who fear it could be used to attack civilian targets. Semtex is favoured by terrorists because it is powerful, has no smell and is almost impossible to detect.

"The investigation has to find out how they could have been stolen," a police source said.

How? [Pause.] Here is a clue.

MISSING EXPLOSIVES SITE
HAD NO PROTECTION: POLICE CHIEF

PARIS July 19, 2008 (AFP) — The stockage of 28 kilos (62 pounds) of Semtex along with detonators at Corbas, near Lyon in southeast France, "was not usual, and certainly not authorised," Xavier de Fuerst [the regional official in charge of security] said.

He told AFP the site, a former fort, had been sold by the defence ministry to the interior ministry in 2005.

"At the time it was protected by cameras but now there are only the shells. Work was planned in 2009 to put back the cameras and strengthen the entrances."

De Fuerst said the fort was ideal for storing explosives, as there was no threat to local people, but staff had "lowered their guard through overconfidence."

While the presence of the explosives would only have been known to the dozen or so personnel using the site, "ill-intentioned people could have observed their comings and goings" and deduced what was there.

"The explosives had probably been there since the beginning of 2008. The commander of the centre had anticipated the fact that he would have official authorisation by the end of 2009, but the security measures were not in place," de Fuerst said.

He said neither the local authorities nor the police had been aware that the explosives were there.

Thierry Butin, the mayor of Corbas:

I am extremely surprised and angry that from one day to the next you can store products as dangerous as this, without any protection.

How could this theft have happened? Hhmmm. The total absence of security might explain it. [Pause.] Just a guess.

PFFT (What is this?): It's a mystery how these things happen 0 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Une nation qui rayonne dans le monde IV

Le jour 431 de Sarko

ANOTHER NUCLEAR LEAK IN FRANCE

PARIS July 18, 2008 (IHT) - Uranium-bearing liquid has leaked from a broken underground pipe at a nuclear plant in southeastern France, the national nuclear safety authority said Friday. It was the second leak discovered at a French site this month.

The Nuclear Safety Authority said experts were trying to determine how much leaked uranium was present at the plant, which is owned by the electricity company Areva.

Areva, which is owned by the French government, is at the forefront of President Nicolas Sarkozy's effort to sell home-grown nuclear energy technology to the rest of the world.*

... An Areva spokesman, Charles Hufnagel, said the leak of lightly enriched uranium did not spread outside the site in Romans-sur-Isère and had "absolutely no impact on the environment." He said the factory hoped the problem would be classified as Level 1, the most minor of seven possible.

« IL N'Y A PAS DU TOUT D'IMPACT SUR L'ENVIRONNEMENT »
Quoi ?

Thank God! Another leak at a French nuclear facility with "absolutely no impact on the environment". How reliable is French containment at its nuclear plants? Apparently impeccable. Leaks can go years before discovery, yet still have "absolutely no impact on the environment".

The Nuclear Safety Authority said the pipe was believed to have ruptured several years ago. It added that the pipe "was not in line with the applicable regulations, which require shock resistance ability sufficient to avoid rupture."

------------------------------------
* The latest Eurobarometer Report (February 2007), "Europeans and Nuclear Safety", finds that 53% of citizens of the EU25 consider nuclear power a risk to their persons and families (p.23). More disturbing, in France -- with the most nuclear power plants in Europe, 58 -- that number kicks up to 65% of French who think nuclear energy poses a risk (p.21).

PFFT (What is this?): Pas de soucis 0 | Trust the French government 0 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Never Mind III

Le jour 431 de Sarko

This one almost got away.

Comme la France le pressentait et le redoutait, la guerre en Iraq a précipité des bouleversements qui n'ont pas fini de dérouler leurs effets. ... Elle a offert au terrorisme un nouveau champ d'expansion.

[As France sensed and feared, the war in Iraq has triggered upheavals whose effects have not yet ceased to unfold. ... It has given terrorism a new field into which to expand.]

Then-Jack, Now Ex-Jack,
then-Président de la République,
worrying aloud about a free Iraq being a terrorist incubator
Allocution lors de la présentation des vœux
du corps diplomatique
PARIS 5 janvier 2007 (Palais de l'Élysée)

Oh. Never mind.

FEARS OF IRAQ BECOMING A TERRORIST INCUBATOR
SEEM OVERBLOWN, FRENCH SAY
PARIS April 8, 2008 (NYT)

PFFT (What is this?): Never mind 3 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Never Mind II

Le jour 430 de Sarko

Le rejet irlandais du traité de Lisbonne conduit le Gouvernement à aborder la Présidence française avec "modestie et rigueur".

[The Irish rejection of the treaty of Lisbon leads the Government to approach the French Presidency [of the EU] with " modesty and rigueur".]

Jean-Pierre Jouyet,
secrétaire d’Etat aux Affaires européennes,
characterizing the upcoming French presidency of the EU
19 juin 2008 (Gouvernement de la France)

FRANCE HAS 'AMBITION OF BEING MODEST', SAYS KOUCHNER

July16, 2008 (EurActiv.com) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he is putting himself entirely at the disposal of the European Parliament during the French EU Presidency and pledged to listen to the opinion of the House. ... Speaking to the Foreign Affairs Committee* on 15 July, Kouchner made "modesty" a key word of his speech.**

"The French Presidency has the ambition of being modest," he said, humorously recognising that "modesty and listening are probably not part of our reputation".

Oh. Never mind.

NICOLAS SARKOZY IS ACCUSED
OF BLACKMAIL OVER EU TREATY
June 22, 2008 (Telegraph)

PETER MANDELSON: I WON'T BE BULLIED
BY NICOLAS SARKOZY OVER WORLD TRADE DEAL***
BRUSSELS July 8, 2008 (Telegraph)

AFFAIRE PETRELLA : LE PRÉSIDENT ITALIEN
AGACÉ PAR LA DEMANDE DE SARKOZY
[PETRELLA AFFAIR:† ITALIAN PRESIDENT
IRRITATED BY SARKOZY REQUEST]
9 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

LES PROPOS DE SARKOZY FÂCHENT À DUBLIN
[SARKOZY REMARKS ANGER DUBLIN]
16 juillet 2008 (Libre Belgique/AFP)

[Hat tip: Janina]

------------------------------------
* The foreign office, with some experience of French modesty, has discreetly edited out M. Kouchner's bon mot from the official communiqué.

† Marina Petrella was a bossling of the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades, BR), a Marxist-Lenist terrorist group active in the 70s and 80s that sought to reduce Italy to revolutionary chaos. The better world of the BR had no clear plan other than kidnapping and ransoming or killing. Revolutionary excitement soon exhausted the BR and most were caught or fled. France became a welcoming refuge when leftist (former pétainiste) President Mitterand granted asylum to Italian terrorists who renounced violence. With the revolution going poorly, Sig.a Petrella upped sticks to France. France has since agreed to her extradition. Sarko has asked the Italian government to grant clemency.

We will post more fully on l'Affaire Petrella soon.

PFFT (What is this?): Off to a modest start 3 | Never mind 4 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Une nation qui rayonne dans le monde III

Le jour 429 de Sarko

A little follow-on.

We're not talking about dishwater here. This is a dangerous radioactive material.

Ben Ayliffe,
head of nuclear campaigns at Greenpeace,
making an alarming distinction
(infra)

I don't want people to feel that we are hiding anything from them.

Jean-Louis Borloo,
ministre d’Etat, ministre de l’Ecologie,
de l’Energie, du Développement durable
et de l’Aménagement du territoire,
reassuring the French that nothing is hid --
in less time then it takes to pronounce his title
(infra)

La population est inquiète et ne croit plus aux chiffres officiels.

[The local population is worried and no longer believes official figures.]

André-Yves Becq,
deputy mayor of Bollène,
revealing that the locals are not team players
17 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

BONJOUR ATOMIQUE !
Oh! Don't Mind Us. Just Checking The Dosimeter. Omigod!
[Blinky is a cartoon mutant fish and not a French national;
The Simpsons™ & © 2008. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.]

FRANCE ORDERS TESTS
ON ALL NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS AFTER LEAK
Fears Over France's Nuclear Reactors Have Been Raised
As The Government Orders Ground Water Tests At Its 58 Power Stations,
After A Uranium Leak At One Polluted Local Water Supplies.

PARIS July 17, 2008 (Telegraph) - The safety lapse at a plant in Provence run by French nuclear giant Areva has raised questions over President Nicolas Sarkozy's drive to roll out reactors around the world – in Britain but also in states with less stringent safety norms.

... Residents in Bollène in the Vaucluse, southern France – a top tourist area – have been told not to drink water or eat fish from nearby rivers, after 74kg of liquid uranium was spilled on July 7 at the Tricastin nuclear plant. Swimming and water sports were also banned along with irrigating crops with the contaminated water, which reached two rivers [scil., the Gaffière and the Lauzon].

... It has been declared all vegetables and crops irrigated just after the leak fit for consumption, but residents around Bollène, where the power station is located, said they feared for their health.

... [André-Yves Becq, the deputy mayor of Bollène] said Socatri [operator of the site and a subsidiary of Areva] inspectors "suspiciously" told one family that dangerously high levels of contamination in its water supply were due to a "dirty measurement instrument".

[L'attitude de la Socatri, qui a fait des prélèvements de nuit et a tenté d'expliquer une teneur en uranium de 64 microgrammes d'uranium par litre d'eau, chez un particulier, par une souillure des instruments de mesure, nous a paru suspecte.]

PFFT (What is this?): Pas de soucis 0 | Trust the French government 0 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: The Holiday Car-be-cue

Le jour 428 de Sarko

Bon anniversaire, la République !

All this week Pave celebrates the French Republic's birthday.

The French car-be-cue is a popular Republican recreation during the fête nationale française (and here) -- or any holiday really (and here and this and here and this).

VANDALISM AS PATRIOTISM
Bleu, Brûlé, Rouge

FETE NATIONALE - SOIREE DU 13 JUILLET :
297 VEHICULES BRULES
[NATIONAL CELEBRATION - NIGHT OF JULY 13:
297 VEHICALS TORCHED]

14 juillet 2008 (LCI) - La soirée du 13 juillet, marquée par plusieurs bals à l'occasion de la fête nationale, a été assez calme à Paris mais plus agitée en Ile-de-France, avec notamment des incendies de voitures et d'un gymnase dans le Val d'Oise. Dans toute la France, 297 véhicules ont été incendiés et 121 personnes ont été interpellées, selon un bilan communiqué par le ministère de l'Intérieur.

[The evening of July 13, characterized by many balls on the occasion of the national holiday, was rather calm in Paris but more restless in Ile-de-France, notably with car torchings and arson of a gymnasium in the Val d'Oise. In the whole of France, 297 vehicles were torched and 121 persons arrested, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry.]

295 VEHICULES BRULES ET 98 INTERPELLATIONS
DANS LA NUIT DU 14 AU 15 JUILLET
[295 VEHICLES TORCHED AND 98 ARRESTS
FOR THE NIGHT OF JULY 14 TO 15]
15 juillet 2008 (Le Monde/AFP)

PFFT (What is this?): A culture thing 3 | A psyche thing 3 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Subject To Change VIII

Le jour 428 de Sarko

Like the weather, if you don't like government policy in France just wait a news cycle for something different.

Posted by Damian at January 11, 2008 01:30 PM

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

Friday's French position.

FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY
SAYS EITHER LISBON OR NICE

July 11, 2008 (Enjoy France) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has advised the European Parliament that the EU should stop wasting time on further discussions regarding the Lisbon Treaty.

In a speech he made to MEPs in Strasbourg, President Sarkozy said:

There will not be any new treaty. It's either Lisbon, or it's Nice.

Today's French position.*

FRANCE EYES TREATY CHANGES
FOR IRISH RE-VOTE: SARKOZY AIDE

PARIS July 16, 2008 (EUbusiness) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy could ask Ireland to hold a second referendum on the EU reform treaty but with some minor changes to the charter, [Henri Guaino,] a key adviser said Wednesday.

One of the solutions would be indeed to eventually ask the Irish to re-vote, but probably not on a text that would be exactly the same.

We'll see.

The Irish didn't vote down the treaty on minor points so minor changes will not likely have them vote it up. And were minor changes substantive enough to satisfy Irish objections then ratifications of the earlier version would be void. The latter is not a serious impediment as the parliaments of member states appear ready to ratify anything that will lessen the burdens of native governance.

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* Earlier opposite flip-flop here.

PFFT (What is this?): We'll see 1 | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: A Brief History Of The Republic

Le jour 427 de Sarko

Bon anniversaire, la République !

All this week Pave celebrates the French Republic's birthday. All of them. Unlike boring America with its single start point, its single constitution, and its continuous form of government, France is a much more complicated story.

France herself predates the first of the French republics by some 949 years, her discrete establishment dates from the Treaty of Verdun on August 8 (or 11), 843. The First Republic -- at the time simply République française, so keen the gush of optimism -- was declared on September 12, 1792 coincident with deposing the current monarch, Louis XVI. (The September date is the proper birthday of French republicanism, but it lacks the nervous excitement of the earlier storming of the Bastille.*)

A constitution was cobbled up a year later, ratified, then suspended before it took effect. The First Republic had three separate constituted governments: the National Convention (1792–95), responsible for the Reign of Terror; the Directory (1795–99), responsible for bankrupting France while pillaging Europe; and the Consulate (1799–1804), a trial-run dictatorship responsible for trashing the Republic. The first two governments were overthrown by force, while the third simply slipped into a popular tyranny.

After a short-lived empire (1804-1814, with a brief 100-day encore in 1815), whose imperial diastole was followed by a ruinous systole, the House of Bourbon was restored to the throne by the continental powers arrayed against France (1814-1830). It was overthrown in the July Revolution and replaced by the July Monarchy (1830-1848) of the House of Orleans, an impractical constitutional monarchy. This too was overthrown by another French revolution and the Second Republic proclaimed (1848-1852). This was overthrown in short order by the Coup d'État du 2 décembre 1851 and the establishment of the Second Empire (1852-1870) the following year. The empire came to an abrupt and humiliating end at Sedan** with the capture of the emperor and his army by Prussia.

Time to trade down to a parliamentary monarchy again. The government and the citizenry were willing but the settled-on pretender to the throne, the Comte de Chambord, queered the deal by insisting on replacing the revolutionary drapeau tricolore with the traditional drapeau blanc of the monarchy of yore. He was refused and he refused in turn. Remarkably, on this petty sticking point, the French monarchy evaporated. Piff. What misrule, mobbing, bloodletting, mock justice, deceits, and chaos had failed to expunge with finality, the drapeau tricolore now killed off forever.

LE DRAPEAU TRICOLORE (L) ET LE DRAPEAU BLANC (R)
Drapeau Blanc Reintroduced For A Brief Period In 1940

The raucous Third Republic (1870-1940) is the longest-lived of all the French republics. Although an elected president was head of state, the executive government was constituted by the President of the Council (scil., prime minister), who depended on majority support in the quarreling Assemblée nationale. The Republic banged around from crisis to crisis with 87 successor governments, or roughly 1¼ governements per year. Following defeat in the French 6-week condensed version of WWII, the Third Republic finally fell in 1940.

Then, as the French tell it, the whole of real France (scil., la France libre) upped sticks to Britain leaving a phony France behind (scil., Vichy France), run by imposters who in every respect were identical to their French originals. Except they were imposters. Not French at all but Nazi constructs -- all this figured out some 20 years before deconstructionism. Ironically Vichy France (1940-1944) was a constitutionally established dictatorship (by Constitutional Act No.2 of 07.11.40 and regularized by Constitutional Act No.7 0f 01.27.41), making la France libre, with no elected representation, a rebel government.

LA FRANCISQUE (L), LE DRAPEAU DE VICHY
ET LA CROIX DE LORRAINE (R), LE DRAPEAU DE LA FRANCE LIBRE
Bad French State, Good French Rebel Government

With the liberation of France and consequent dissolution of Vichy France, the good French on the French Committee of National Liberation (Comité français de la Libération nationale, CFLN) declared themselves the unelected provisional French government (Gouvernement provisoire de la République française, GPRF; 1944-1946). With real French people back in charge of France, everyone thought it would be nice to once again elect a real French government. In no time a new constitution was produced establishing the Fourth Republic (1946-1958). But the Fourth Republic was much like warmed over Third Republic, fractuous and dithering with 15 successor governments, again, an average of 1¼ governements per year.

In 1958, to preserve French rule of Algeria, the French army staged a putsch and threatened to physically remove the sitting government unless Charles de Gaulle was put in charge. The government caved and M. de Gaulle was installed as the last President of the Council of the Fourth Republic, havinig stipulated his ascent on the commission of a new constitution. But the French, always game for another republic, overwhelmingly approved M. de Gaulle's Fifth Republic (1958-present).***

Which is where France is today.

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* The Bastille was a symbol of suffocating regal oppression -- though big on symbol and short on oppression. The storming netted only seven prisoners, four proper felons, two lunatics, and an aristocrat: Jean de la Corrége; Jean Bèchade; Bernard Laroche; Jean-Antoine Pujade; DeWhitt; Tavernier; and the Count of Solages, charged with incest.

*** When it became known that the de Gaulle government had entered talks with the Algerian rebels, the army staged a second putsch in 1961. But M. de Gaulle was made of sterner stuff than the Fourth Republic and the coup failed and Algeria won its independence shortly after.

PFFT (What is this?): Getting it right 1½ | Rayonnement français ½

Pave: Dark Republic: Mlle. Royal

Le jour 426 de Sarko

Sextidi, 26ème Messidor, An CCXVI*

Bon anniversaire, la République !

Today is Bastille Day or as the French believe, la Fête Nationale, or worse, emulating America, le quatorze juillet. The Republic today is a very different place than its origins, when petty score-settling, show trials, and entertaining public executions were done openly. Dark forces associated with the government have robbed the Republic of many of these entertainments. Only occasionally do we catch a glimpse of the old Republic in today's headlines.

Les policiers eux-mêmes ont trouvé très étrange.

[Even the police find it very curious.]

Ségo,
PS ex-présidentiel and
first-vagina-ever-within-six-points-of-the-Élysée™,
drawing the police into her theory of political intrique
10 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL SE SENT « SUIVIE OU ÉCOUTÉE »
[SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL SENSES SHE IS "FOLLOWED OR BUGGED"]
9 juillet 2008 (Figaro)

SEGOLÈNE ROYAL S'ESTIME VICTIME DU « CLAN SARKOZY »
[SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL FEELS HERSELF VICTIM OF "SARKOZY CLAN"]
10 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

LES SOCIALISTES SOUTIENNENT AVEC RÉSERVE
L'OFFENSIVE DE MME ROYAL
[SOCIALISTS CURB SUPPORT FOR ROYAL OFFENSIVE]
11 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)

J'ACCUSE !
SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL LINKS SARKOZY 'CLAN'
WITH BREAK-IN AT APARTMENT

PARIS July 10, 2008 (Independent) - A vitriolic political row has exploded in France after the defeated presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal, accused President Sarkozy's "clan" of being "linked" to a break-in at her flat.

... Mme Royal's apartment, in the quiet suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, just outside Paris, was broken into just under two weeks ago. Her flat was also burgled during her campaign to become the first woman president of France in the spring of last year. On both occasions, nothing appeared to have been stolen.

On France 2's nightly news programme on Tuesday night, Mme Royal said she believed that there was a "link" between the break-in on 27 June and her accusation the previous day that the President's wealthy friends were mounting a "take-over" of France. This followed a decision by M. Sarkozy to ban advertising from state-owned television – potentially increasing by €450m (£360m) annually the revenue of commercial television channels owned, or controlled, by his close friends. Mlle. Royal:

I am the only politician to denounce strongly the moves being made to undermine the state television services... There is a kidnapping going on, a robbery of the advertising revenue on France 2 and France 3 to enrich M. Sarkozy's friends.

A theory not inconsistent with Sarko's badly summed proposal.

Like all opposition figures in France, she has had difficulty maintaining a strong media presence in the face of the frenetic activity of the President and – more recently – his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. She is – as centre-right politicians joyously sought to prove yesterday – potentially vulnerable to accusations of attention-seeking.

M. Sarkozy's political allies queued up yesterday to dismiss the allegations as a symptom of "instability" or a need to draw attention. Prime Minister François Fillon:

Mme Royal is losing control [ « perdre le contrôle d'elle-même » ].

Chantal Brunel, spokeswoman for M. Sarkozy's centre-right party:

Mme Royal is trying to paint herself as a martyr, persecuted by shadowy [more exactly: "a sort of Fifth Column"] media-political forces. She has finally gone over the top.

[Que Madame ROYAL se crée un personnage de martyr, poursuivie par une sorte de Cinquième colonne médiatico-politique, voilà qui dépasse les bornes.]

And if a little paranoia makes headlines, if it buys the forgotten a little attention, well, [Introductory pause followed by feeble excitement.] here is the all-but-forgotten Laurent Fabius (and here, No.6) come for his headline.

AFFAIRE ROYAL : LAURENT FABIUS S’EST AUSSI SENTI ESPIONNÉ
[ROYAL AFFAIR: LAURENT FABIUS ALSO SENSES HIMSELF SPYED ON]
10 juillet 2008 (Agoravox/LCI)

Ah, Mlle. Ex-présidentiel, ah, M. Fabius, there is no Republic like votre propre République.

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* Today's date (or alternately, Quintidi, 25ème Messidor) had the revolutionary Republican calendar survived.

PFFT (What is this?): « De la bravitude à la bourditude ou la parano attitude » (Mdm. Brunel) 2½ | Paranoia strikes deep 2½ | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Service minimum

Le jour 426 de Sarko

Désormais, quand il y a une grève, personne ne s'en aperçoit.

[Now, when there is a strike, nobody even notices.]

Sarko,
Président de la République and pocket reformer,
self-congratulating the ranks of L'UMP
-- to thunderous applause --
on last August's "service minimum" legislation
24 juin 2008 (20minutes)

But the wags over at Le blog du Chì happened to notice.

GRÈVE ? QUELLE GRÈVE ?
The New Working France

PFFT (What is this?): Service minimum ½ | Quoi ? 3 | Rayonnement français ½

Pave: Carton Jaune ! : Siniristilippu

Le jour 425 de Sarko

L’opération « carton jaune » (Operation "Yellow Card") is a prevention program of penalty cards to encourage "a harmonious sharing of public space" in Paris. In an officiation reminiscent of soccer, yellow -- and the more serious red (also see here) -- cards are presented to motorists cyclists, and pedestrians for infractions that create road risks (infractions génératrices de risques routiers).

According to the "accidentologie" of Paris, last year there were 9,908 traffic victims, of which 34 were fatalities. For the first five months of this year there have been 3,786 victims, of which 18 were fatalities, an 8% decrease and a 27% increase, respectively.

Beginning this month, vigilant police search out low-grade malefactors and whistle them to stop. The police approach and smartly extend the right arm at a precise 90° to the body axis presenting the bright yellow card, obverse out and parallel to the ventral body plane. On the face of the card is printed in high-contrast black bold type: CARTON JAUNE ! For effect the card is held for several frozen seconds inches from the startled offender's nose. It is then handed over so the particular infraction printed on the reverse can be read. Throughout, as required by regulation, the police maintain an annoyed and damning look for pathetic lesser beings.

The card is a warning and no fines are involved. It is not clear to us if the police reclaim the card or if it is retained by the offender as a cautionary souvenir.

[Hat tip: Carine]

ATTENTION :
METTEZ-VOUS AU TRAVAIL ! ARRÊTEZ-VOUS DE FAIRE DES BÉTISES !
Pave's Variant Card For French Slacking And Survivable Stupidities

Anyway, this got us thinking. Why not have such a program for France in general? [We wait a moment for the idea to take hold.] So starting today when France slacks off or for minor stupidities, Pave will occasionally issue a carton jaune ! When she really screws up or for major stupidities, a carton rouge ! And when she renders some aspect of herself hopeless beyond belief (and here and here), a carton noir ! .

Today's yellow card is for screwing up the colors of the Finnish flag, the Siniristilippu (scil., Blue Cross Flag).

FRANCE MAKES BOTCH OF FINNISH FLAG IN BRUSSELS

July 9, 2008 (STT) -The French presidency of the EU has redesigned both the layout and the colour scheme of the Finnish flag at the EU council headquarters building in Brussels, Finnish business daily Kauppalehti reported Wednesday.

In one of the bands meant to represent EU member states' flags circling what has been dubbed by journalists "the giant beachball", hung in the ceiling of the Justus Lipsius building's foyer, the Finnish colours are reversed and the official sea blue of the Nordic cross replaced with a lighter shade.

Just how hard, we wonder, was it to get this completely ass-backwards?

CLOSE ENOUGH
Finnish Siniristilippu (L), French Toss-off (R)

[Finland's permanent representation to the EU] told the Finnish News Agency (STT) later on Wednesday that it had contacted France over the flag issue, adding the French presidency had said it would make an effort to correct the blunder.

Thanks, France. Any little thing that you can do to restore Finnish identity is appreciated.

The representation added the matter was "embarrassing" for France.

Yes, but not very, not too.

PFFT (What is this?): Foretaste of French EU presidency 3½ | Rayonnement français 0

Pave: Une nation qui rayonne dans le monde Redux

Le jour 424 de Sarko

More unintentional French rayonnant.

RIVER USE BANNED AFTER FRENCH URANIUM LEAK

PARIS July 10, 2008 (Guardian) - Residents in the Vaucluse, a popular southern French tourist destination, were banned yesterday from drinking well-water or swimming or fishing in two rivers after a uranium leak from one of France's nuclear power plants.

Nuclear officials yesterday revised down the amount of untreated liquid uranium that spilled from the Tricastin nuclear power centre in Bollene, saying it was limited to 75kg and ranked grade one on the one-to-seven scale of nuclear accidents. But the spillage of waste material containing uranium in the picturesque area of Provence, 30 miles from Avignon, which is currently hosting an arts festival, embarrassed the government.

Nicolas Sarkozy has prioritised exporting nuclear expertise worldwide [and here and this],* including to Britain. Nuclear power comprises 87% of France's electricity production, but yesterday anti-nuclear groups renewed their criticisms of the nuclear power policy.

Nuclear power is a tricky propositi