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Monday, 17 September 2007 |
Bernard Kouchner’s gaffe could cancel the success of his solidarity visit and the renewal of the former cordial Franco-Iraqi relations.
The recent trip
by French Foreign
Minister Bernard
Kouchner to the Iraqi capital
is the first visit by a French
politician since the Anglo-
American invasion in March
2003. However, no sooner
was the French doctor back in
Paris than he was forced
apologise to the Iraqi
government for calling for the
replacement of Iraq’s Prime
Minister Al-Maliki.
In an embarrassing
interview with Christopher
Dickey in ‘Newsweek’, he
said: “Yes. I just had
Condoleezza on the phone 10
or 15 minutes ago, and I told
her, ‘Listen, he’s got to be
replaced.’”
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Monday, 17 September 2007 |
The US may want an American nominee while Russia puts up a highly capable Czech candidate.
Things are not going
perfectly for French
Socialist Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, the European
nominee for President of the
International Monetary Fund.
The arrangement until
now has been that a United
States citizen gets to be
President of the World Bank
and a European is appointed
Director of the IMF. It is all
part of a wider Euro-US
spoils system in the world of
international organisations.
The vacancy for the
World Bank came up
unexpectedly when its
president, Bush’s former
minister and Iraq-invasion
enthusiast Paul Wolfowitz,
was forced to resign after he
was found to have organised a
huge pay rise for his
employee girlfriend.
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Monday, 17 September 2007 |
EU deciders seem content to pass through the new mini-treaty with minimum fuss but some measures are being contested by the French Left.
The new British PM
Gordon Brown and
Nicolas Sarkozy have agreed
that since we are now dealing
with a tiny weenie minitreaty
for the Union’s
constitution, no referendum
is necessary in either country.
This implies that the
suggested mini-version has
far fewer changes than its illfated
big brother. True, most
of the new stuff is the same
apart from flags and anthems.
The most obvious difference
is that it avoids mentioning
what has already been agreed
in previous treaties. This
recital of largely unnoticed
agreements by the French
government, most made years
before, was what worried
many French voters in the
original treaty.
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Monday, 17 September 2007 |
For months, the United States and the European Union have
been repeating that independence for the UN-controlled
Serbian province of Kosovo was inevitable and had to be in
accordance with the plan drawn up by former Finnish Prime
Minister Marti Atishaari. Above all, they have been saying
there could be no delay. There was no alternative and the
Russian demand that the wishes of Serbia be taken into account
was dismissed as mere obstructionism.
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Monday, 17 September 2007 |
The EU is finally taking seriously the problem of inferior
goods imported from China. Toymaker Mattel recently recalled
18.2 million Chinese-made toys worldwide, citing worries
about paint containing lead and small magnets that can come
loose. Mattel’s Fisher-Price unit recalled 1.5 million toys, also
due to lead in the paint. The head of the company supplying the
items committed suicide. The European Union has issued a
warning about Chinese toothpastes, body creams and hair dyes.
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