Angela Merkel and Francoise Hollande seem to have pulled it off – a peace deal to end the civil war in Ukraine. What no one is even asking is if there’s a chance it will hold. The shooting stops at 5 p.m. ET Saturday. Like all ceasefires the warring parties
Continue readingTag: Hollande
The Disaffected Lib: Are We Really Willing to Go To War over Ukraine?
Would you be okay if it was your kids in uniform going off to a shooting war with the Russians over Ukraine? The whole idea seems fantastic, ridiculous. We tend to dismiss it as unimaginable but giving it short shrift can be lethal. Earlier this week three words caught my
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The millionaire tax, American- and French style
(originally written Apr 19, 2012. Part of my Great Upload of 2013.) The American “millionaire tax” plan At the moment, Obama is facing stiff resistance from his proposal to tax all income above $1,000,000 per year at a rate of 30%. This, despite the support of one-time world’s-richest-man Warren Buffett,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Anglo-Franco-German ménage à trois: A Federal Europe or a confederation of Nation States?
The European Union A struggle for the future of Europe is being waged right now by the politicians of the EU. Most of the fighting is being done by the leaders of France, Germany and Britain (the Big Three of Europe), with the other medium sized states putting the boot
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Eurozone: The coming New Deal
Thank heavens for democracy! In a world taken to the brink of financial implosion because of lax regulations of financial institutions, incompetence of regulatory authorities, pure greed on the part of the stakeholders in our investment banking industries (banks, merchant banks, regulatory agencies, regulatory authorities, lawyers, auditors and the like)
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Sarkozy offers three debates: Sarko aide says Hollande ‘scared’
During his speech to a partisan crowd after his recent loss in the first stage of the French presidential race, Sarkozy put out a challenge. He offered Socialist challenger François Hollande three debates. The occasion in itself was a little odd. A casual viewer tuning in might have mistakenly thought
Continue readingPolygonic: La France Forte, or Why You Desperately Need Sarko Standing On the Beach
The French presidential campaign is kicking into high gear, and Nicolas Sarkozy has one key message for his ungrateful people: vote him back in, and he promises to spend his second term standing on the beach, like a magnificant granite Colossus, liquifying overseas demons with the sheer power of his
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