France

By Dave Keating | Euractiv.com | – – Angela Merkel wants all countries in the group except the US to sign up to a strong statement supporting the Paris Agreement but Saudi Arabia and others may resist. Germany’s hopes to get unequivocal backing for the Paris climate agreement from the G20 in Hamburg are running […]

European Union

Can Total’s Gas deal in Iran vindicate the Nuclear Deal?

contributors

By Meysam Tayebipour | (The Conversation) | – – Nine years ago, when sanctions were imposed on Iran by the international community, Total was the last Western energy company to suspend its activity there. Now, following the lifting of nuclear sanctions on Iran in January 2016, Total is the first Western company to return to […]

France

Gunmen Shoot at Mosque-goers in France, Injure 8, including Child

contributors

TeleSur | – – Avignon police are now searching for the suspects who fled the scene. In the southeastern city of Avignon in France’s Provence region, two hooded men pulled up to the Arrahma mosque and opened fire on the crowd. The incident left eight people injured, including a 7-year-old girl, La Provence newspaper reported. […]

France

Another “Unbalanced” White Terrorist targets Muslims at Mosque Near Paris

contributors

TeleSur | – – Although the official investigation clearly said the attack was “deliberate,” the mainstream French media failed to report it. A man in a 4×4 car intentionally tried to run over worshippers coming out of a mosque in a southeastern suburb of Paris earlier this week according to police in the French capital, […]

Donald Trump

Green France: Macron bans Fracking and welcomes US renewables Scientists fleeing Trump

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The French government wants to steal increasingly unemployed US green energy scientists, who are being systematically defunded by the Trump administration. After Trump pulled out of the Paris accords, Macron addressed US professionals: “To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision […]

China

Is China Now the Adult in the Room? Xi and Macron Consult

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump preferred the Neofascist Marine Le Pen as president of France, who wanted to pull out of NATO and the European Union. Trump’s own Environmental Protection Agency advisers are resigned because of his attack on the science of climate change. Trump is mulling pulling out […]

Featured

What will new French President Macron do about Syria & ISIL?

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Now that Emmanuel Macron is president of France, it is worthwhile asking what sort of foreign policy he would be likely to pursue. The French presidential system is more centralized than the American. I once did some consulting at the Quai D’Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry, […]

Featured

It was ISIL, not Hackers, who Hijacked French Election

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – That hackers, most likely Russia-linked, were trying to throw the French election to Marine Le Pen this weekend by releasing thousands of emails from her opponent Emmanuel Macron, probably struck too late to achieve their goal. They were counting on the rule that candidates may not […]

Far Right

As Russians Hack, France decides if it Hates Foreigners

contributors

Richard Fogarty | (The Conversation) | – – On April 24, the day after her second-place finish in the first round of the French presidential elections, Marine Le Pen thundered against her opponent, Emmanuel Macron, declaring, “Nothing in Monsieur Macron’s plan, nor anything in his behavior indicates the least evidence of love for France.” (Update […]