France
July 2, 2023 — John Hinderaker

Scott wrote here about the riots that have paralyzed France for five days. Reuters reports that thousands of rioters have been arrested, rioters have burned 2,000 vehicles, 200 police officers have been injured, and more than 700 businesses have been looted, ransacked or burned to the ground. All of this was triggered by the death of a 17-year-old named Nahel Merzouk who was shot by a police officer following a
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July 2, 2023 — Scott Johnson

Riots have convulsed France over the past five nights. The New York Times reports, for example, in a story published in the past two hours “France Arrests Hundreds More in Fifth Night of Unrest.” President Macron scrapped an official trip to Germany in light of the riots, though not before he made it to the Elton John concert in Paris. The occasion this time around is the fatal shooting of
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April 10, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer

Following six hours of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to a Politico reporter and two French journalists aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One this weekend. He discussed his concept of “strategic autonomy for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a third superpower.” Specifically, Macron said Europe’s “greatest risk” is getting “caught up in crises that are not ours,” such as a potential conflict
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March 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker

If you haven’t been following the news from France, that country is being roiled by President Macron’s attempt to reform the pension system. The current age of eligibility for government pensions is 62, the lowest in Europe, and Macron wants to raise it to 64. This London Times article is as good a place as any to catch up with what is happening: An increasingly violent and radical protest movement
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January 2, 2023 — John Hinderaker

A controversy has erupted in France over the renovation of a statue of novelist Victor Hugo that portrays him as a black man. The New York Times, always quick to jump on any racial angle, is on the case. And Steve Sailer has an excellent post that pulls it all together. First, the controversy, as described by the Times: The statue of Victor Hugo has loomed outside the city hall
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August 9, 2022 — John Hinderaker

This is from today’s Telegraph: In the end, it could be even worse than had been feared. Today saw the release of a new forecast for the energy price cap – and it does not make for comfortable reading. Experts predict that the figure will hit more than £4,200 in January [$5,082 for a single month]. In a new dire outlook for households, Cornwall Insight said bills are set to
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April 25, 2022 — Scott Johnson

Chief Biden White House daycare minder Ron Klain tactfully observes — “just FYI” — that President Macron’s win over Marine LePen in France’s presidential election yesterday came with Macron’s bargain basement approval rating. He leaves us to make of it what we will. Just fyi, President Biden’s bargain basement approval rating — 40 percent in the Morning Consult poll (of adults) to which Klain links, 33 percent in the Quinnipiac
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April 23, 2022 — Steven Hayward

When the sun comes up in France a few hours from now, the polls will open for the runoff election between President Emanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. All of the pre-election surveys show Macron with a comfortable 10-point lead over Le Pen, but if the election comes out this way it will be a major narrowing from the last election in 2017, which Macron won over Le Pen by
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April 8, 2022 — Steven Hayward

I’ve finally figured out why Democrats are so monomaniacal about imposing ever stricter federal price controls on prescription drugs. It’s because they are freebasing Xanax these days in large quantities to treat their high anxiety over their steadily eroding political prospects. (Also, it helps explain President Biden. One of the side effects of Xanax is “dysarthria”—slurred or slow speech. And now you know.) Following the victory of the wrong person
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January 24, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff

As a Russian invasion of Ukraine becomes more and more likely, major European nations behave more and more in character. Britain, in its finest Churchill-Thatcher tradition, is stepping up to the plate. It just delivered anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. Germany, reverting to its traditional approach of accommodating Russian aggression to further its interests, reportedly refused Britain permission to transport the anti-tank weapons through German airspace. Germany denies doing so, but
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January 18, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff

Eric Zemmour, the right-wing pundit, author, and candidate for president of France, has been found guilty of inciting racial hatred. He was fined $11,400 for the offense and faces imprisonment if doesn’t pay. According to the Washington Post, during a 2020 debate Zemmour described unaccompanied child migrants to France as “thieves,” “killers,” and “rapists.” Apparently, he forgot, or saw no need, to drop the Donald Trump footnote that “some, I
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January 3, 2022 — Steven Hayward

To say “opinion is divided about Eric Zemmour,” the right-wing candidate for president of France, is an understatement, and we have heard from a number of sensible observers of French politics that Zemmour might not be the best idea. Certainly the mainstream media is as panicked about him as they are about Trump. Some conservative critics say he a lightweight, a poser, the equivalent of Bill O’Reilly, and running chiefly to
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December 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker

We have written here and here about Eric Zemmour’s candidacy for the presidency of France. Zemmour is a French patriot who is concerned about mass immigration from the third world. This makes him a virtual Satan in the eyes of the New York Times; the second linked post discusses a Times attack on Zemmour. Yesterday the Times printed another assault on Zemmour. The headline delivers, in the eyes of Times
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December 5, 2021 — John Hinderaker

Steve wrote here about the speech that French nationalist Eric Zemmour delivered to announce his candidacy for the French presidency. The post includes a translation of Zemmour’s speech, which has electrified Frenchmen. Some of them, anyway. So of course Zemmour must be denounced by right (i.e., left) thinkers. Yesterday the New York Times warned its readers against Zemmour. Mr. Zemmour, the far-right polemicist who this week announced his run for
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November 30, 2021 — Steven Hayward

Yesterday in our “Picks” section we linked to Christopher Caldwell’s terrific CRB essay “France on the Verge of Civil War,” which was a deep dive into the rise of Eric Zemmour on the French political scene. The controversial Zemmour has rocked to the top of the early polls ahead of the presidential election scheduled for next spring, leaping ahead of Marine Le Pen, the previous outsider candidate from the right.
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October 6, 2021 — Scott Johnson

I think John Kerry committed a classic Kinsley gaffe in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV. Seeking to reassure the French audience about President Biden’s intentions in light of the new AUKUS submarine deal, Kerry explained that Biden “literally had not been aware of what had transpired.” That is an explanation that might be more broadly applied to much of what Biden himself says and does. John Kerry admits in
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September 20, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Every nation’s diplomacy is closely tied to its business interests. But for the French, as anyone who follows the Middle East knows, this approach is a fetish. If France’s claim to be the world’s foremost diplomats has any foundation, this is it. Any nation would be upset that the U.S. swooped in to sell submarines to Australia, overriding a deal France had in the works for years with the Aussies.
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