organization:french government

  • U.S. pressing France to postpone UN resolution on Palestine
    United States and several other countries – including some Arab states – say move would only disrupt negotiations with Iran and efforts to win support for nuclear deal in Congress.
    By Barak Ravid | Apr. 29, 2015 | Haaretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.654215

    The United States and several other countries – including Arab states – have asked the French government over the past two weeks to postpone its initiative for a United Nations Security Council draft resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue – at least until after the June 30 deadline for reaching a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran.

    Senior U.S. officials and European diplomats told Haaretz that the message was also relayed to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, as well as to French diplomats at the UN headquarters in New York and to officials in Washington and in other capitals. Foreign Policy was the first to report on Wednesday on the American messages to France.

    According to the American and European diplomats, the messages relayed to the French stressed that the Obama administration – as well as other powers – are currently focused on reaching a comprehensive agreements with Iran. Taking action on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, they said, would only distract from and disrupt this goal.

    A senior American official said that the administration is also worried that such a move by France would harm efforts to win the support for the Iran deal from Democratic congressmen and senators. He added that Israeli opposition to negotiations with Iran is already hindering the efforts to win support in Congress, therefore there is no need for a Security Council showdown over another issue which Israel views as harmful to its interests.

    French diplomats met in the past two weeks with representatives of various Arab states and presented a first draft of a resolution they wish to submit to the UN Security Council on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The diplomats were surprised by the position taken by some Arab states; their representatives requested that the move be postponed, on the grounds that the timing is not appropriate.

    French Foreign Minister Fabius implicitly hinted at American reservations from the move in an interview last week with the Financial Times. “We need to agree on timing with [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry,” he said. “There are other issues to deal with. One negotiation should not hurt another, but at the same time, there’s always a lot going on, so the risk is we never find time.”

    A few weeks ago, France announced it was interested in renewing the initiative to advance a resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue at the UN Security Council. The French already tried to advance the move a few months ago, but it failed due to a Palestinian refusal to accept the proposal drafted in Paris.

    The Palestinians pushed through a much more extreme proposal, but did not succeed in winning nine out of 15 Security Council member votes needed. Because of this, the U.S. did not have to use its veto power.

    According to the French initiative, the draft UN proposal would include principles for resolving the conflict, such as establishing the borders of the Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with land swaps, making Jerusalem the capital of both Israel and Palestine, setting a timeline for ending the occupation and holding an international peace conference.

  • Overview of FDN & La Quadrature's challenge against Website Blocking
    http://hroy.eu/posts/overviewChallengeAgainstWebsiteBlocking

    This month, French Data Network and La Quadrature du Net filed a lawsuit to the Conseil d’État, one of the supreme courts, against the French government on website blocking.

    Who?

    French Data Network, the Fédération FDN and La Quadrature du Net. This is the same team working against Data Retention.

    How?

    Right after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, the French government issued a décret enabling a section of the police to request that Internet access providers block access to a secret list of websites.

    This décret is an application of two laws:

    the 2011 LOPPSI law which had a provision about website blocking in order to fight against child pornography the 2013 “Cazeneuve law” against terrorism which created a new article in the French penal code about “incitement to terrorism” or terrorism apology. (...)

  • Starting against Data Retention in France
    http://hroy.eu/posts/startingAgainstDataRetention

    If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t blogged lately, or why I haven’t replied to your email yet, it’s because I have been quite busy so far for this new year.

    Besides starting at a law firm in Paris for 6 month (the last internship required by the Bar school, at last!) I also joined French Data Network, La Quadrature du Net and the Federation of Do-It-Yourself Internet access/service providers in a lawsuit against the French government on Data Retention.

    This is just the beginning, but I’m quite thrilled about it already.

    If you read French, Benjamin Bayart will give you a good idea of what it’s about on FDN’s blog.

    /me, now catching up on email of the (...)

  • France Announces An Ambitious New Data Strategy
    http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/17/france-announces-a-new-ambitious-data-strategy

    At a larger scale, this nomination is very significant for the French Government. For years, its digital strategy was mostly about finding the best way to communicate through the Internet. But when it came to creating new policies, computers couldn’t help them.

    Also announced today, the Government is modernizing and unifying its digital platform between all its ministries and services — it’s never too late. The CDO team will work closely with the DISIC to design this platform — it should be a multi-year project.

    Finally, the Government will invest $160 million (€125 million) to innovate in the public sector when it makes sense. In other words, the government will work with private companies (and preferably young innovative companies) to improve the infrastructure that powers the public sector.

    Où l’on apprend non sans joie mais dans l’ignorance totale de ses critères, que la France « is now the fourth country in the United Nations e-government survey » :
    http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2014

    Analyse de @sabineblanc : http://www.lagazettedescommunes.com/269734/leldorado-de-la-politique-publique-juste-et-rationnelle

    #open_data #open_gov

  • ‘U.S. monopoly over Internet must go’ - The Hindu
    http://www.thehindu.com

    Most of Pouzin’s career has been devoted to the design and implementation of computer systems, most notably the CYCLADES computer network.

    Interview with Louis Pouzin, a pioneer of the Internet and recipient of the Chevalier of Légion d’Honneur, the highest civilian decoration of the French government

    Louis Pouzin is recognised for his contributions to the protocols that make up the fundamental architecture of the Internet. Most of his career has been devoted to the design and implementation of computer systems, most notably the CYCLADES computer network and its datagram-based packet-switching network, a model later adopted by the Internet as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP). Apart from the Chevalier of Légion d’Honneur, Mr. Pouzin, 83, was the lone Frenchman among American awardees of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, given to the inventors of Internet technology in its inaugural year, 2013.

    Ahead of the ninth annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from September 2-5 in Istanbul, Mr. Pouzin shared his concerns regarding the monopoly enjoyed by the U.S. government and American corporations over the Internet and the need for democratising what is essentially a global commons. Excerpts from an interview, over Skype, with Vidya Venkat.

    What are the key concerns you would be discussing at the IGF ?

    As of today, the Internet is controlled predominantly by the U.S. Their technological and military concerns heavily influence Internet governance policy. Unfortunately, the Brazil Netmundial convened in April, 2014, with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), following objections raised by [Brazilian] President Dilma Rousseff to the National Security Agency (NSA) spying on her government, only handed us a non-binding agreement on surveillance and privacy-related concerns. So the demand for an Internet bill of rights is growing loud. This will have to lay out what Internet can and cannot do. Key government actors must sign the agreement making it binding on them. The main issue pertaining to technological dominance and thereby control of the network itself has to be challenged and a bill of rights must aim to address these concerns.

    What is the way forward if the U.S. dominance has to be challenged?

    Today, China and Russia are capable of challenging U.S. dominance. Despite being a strong commercial power, China has not deployed Internet technology across the world. The Chinese have good infrastructure but they use U.S. Domain Naming System, which is a basic component of the functioning of the Internet. One good thing is because they use the Chinese language for domain registration, it limits access to outsiders in some way.

    India too is a big country. It helps that it is not an authoritarian country and has many languages. It should make the most of its regional languages, but with regard to technology itself, India has to tread more carefully in developing independent capabilities in this area.

    As far as European countries are concerned, they are mostly allies of the U.S. and may not have a strong inclination to develop independent capabilities in this area. Africa again has potential; it can establish its own independent Internet network which will be patronised by its burgeoning middle classes.

    So you are saying that countries should have their own independent Internet networks rather than be part of one mega global network ?

    Developing independent networks will take time, but to address the issue of dominance in the immediate future we must first address the monopoly enjoyed by ICANN, which functions more or less as a proxy of the U.S. government. The ICANN Domain Naming System (DNS) is operated by VeriSign, a U.S. government contractor. Thus, traffic is monitored by the NSA, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) can seize user sites or domains anywhere in the world if they are hosted by U.S. companies or subsidiaries.
    ICANN needs to have an independent oversight body. The process for creating a new body could be primed by a coalition of states and other organisations placing one or several calls for proposals. Evaluation, shortlist, and hopefully selection, would follow. If a selection for the independent body could be worked out by September 2015, it would be well in time for the contract termination of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) with the U.S. government.

    The most crucial question is should governments allow citizens to end up as guinea pigs for global internet corporations ?

    Breaking that monopoly does not require any agreement with the U.S. government, because it is certainly contrary to the World Trade Organization’s principles. In other words, multiple roots [DNS Top Level Domains (TLD)] are not only technically feasible; they have been introduced in the Internet back in 1995, even before ICANN was created. This avenue is open to entrepreneurs and institutions for innovative services tailored to user needs, specially those users unable to afford the extravagant fees raked in by ICANN. The deployment of independent roots creates competition and contributes to reining in devious practices in the domain name market.
    The U.S. government is adamant on controlling the ICANN DNS. Thus, copies (mirrors) should be made available in other countries out of reach from the FBI. A German organisation Open Root Server Network is, at present, operating such a service. To make use of it, users have to modify the DNS addresses in their Internet access device. That is all, usage is free.

    But would this process not result in the fragmentation of the Internet ?

    Fragmentation of the Internet is not such a bad thing as it is often made out to be. The bone of contention here is the DNS monopoly. On August 28, nearly 12 millions Internet users subscribing to Time Warner’s cable broadband lost connectivity due to a sudden outage in one day. In a world of fragmented Internet networks, such mass outages become potentially impossible. The need of the hour is to work out of the current trap to use a more interoperable system.
    In this context, a usual scarecrow brandished by the U.S. government is fragmentation, or Balkanisation, of the Internet. All monopolies resort to similar arguments whenever their turf is threatened by a looming competition. Furthermore, the proprietary naming and unstable service definitions specific to the likes of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and more, have already divided the Internet in as many closed and incompatible internets of captive users.

    Recently, the Indian External Affairs Minister had objected to U.S. spying on the Bharatiya Janata Party. Can governments like India use a forum like IGF to raise concerns relating to surveillance ?

    Even if governments do attend IGF, they do not come with a mandate. A major problem with the Internet governance space today is that they are under the dominance of corporate lobbies. So it is a bit hard to say what could be achieved by government participation in the IGF. This is a problem of the IGF : it has no budget or secretary general, it is designed to have no influence and to maintain the status quo. That is why you have a parallel Internet Ungovernance Forum which is not allying with the existing structure and putting forth all the issues they want to change. Indian citizens could participate in this forum to raise privacy and surveillance-related concerns.

    Do you feel Internet governance is still a very alien subject for most governments and people to engage with ?

    Unfortunately, the phrase “Internet governance” is too abstract for most people and governments to be interested in. The most crucial question is what kind of society do you want to live in? Should governments allow citizens to end up as guinea pigs for global Internet corporations? The revelations by NSA contractor Edward Snowden have proved beyond doubt that user data held by Internet companies today are subject to pervasive surveillance. Conducting these intrusive activities by controlling the core infrastructure of the Internet without obtaining the consent of citizen users is a big concern and should be debated in public. Therefore, debates about Internet governance are no longer alien; they involve all of us who are part of the network.❞

  • US Chamber of Commerce voices concern over potential BNP fine | FT 11 June 2014 By Hugh Carnegy via @observatoiremultinat
    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/89fc1986-f171-11e3-9fb0-00144feabdc0.html

    The US Chamber of Commerce, the powerful American business lobby, has voiced concern about the potential scale of a fine on French bank #BNP Paribas by US regulators, echoing anxious demands by the French government for moderation.

    Speaking in Paris, Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs for the USCC, said the Chamber might “weigh in” on the issue if BNP was hit by “excessive” penalties for breaking US sanctions on doing business with Iran, Sudan and Cuba.

    “We worry about actions by government and other entities that could undermine the business environment and create uncertainty,” Mr Brilliant told the Financial Times. “We do not want to see a chilling impact on investment into the US.”

    His comments reflect the USCC’s longstanding concerns about the effects of regulation and litigation on business. Yet they also hint at concern that the BNP case could damage the prospects of a new transatlantic trade deal for which the USCC has been one of the most devoted advocates.

    #GMT cc @rl @sh

    Cf. @mdiplo http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/carnet/2014-06-11-crispations-gmt

  • France’s Gung-Ho Policy in Syria | Fair Observer°
    http://www.fairobserver.com/article/frances-gung-ho-policy-syria-73513

    By bypassing both principles of democracy and legality, France deeply damaged its credibility. In sum, the way the French government has managed the Syrian crisis has only succeeded in deepening its marginalization on the international scene.

    France’s strategy toward Syria has also negatively impacted Europe. Hollande’s assertive policy has exemplified the existing dissensions between European partners. On the question of arming the rebels, Germany, Sweden and Austria had always been very cautious and disapproved of French — and British — rushed statements about the need to help the insurgency fight back against the Assad regime. Likewise, the Germans and Italians were very critical of France’s military activism. The Italians feared the French warmongers would threaten the security of European troops in Lebanon.

    While France has justified its policy regarding the need to protect the Syrian population, one must not forget that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ultimately, the Syrian people have been the very first victim of France’s ineffective strategy in their country.

    (Rien de transcendant, hein, mais pour la documentation, on ne sait jamais.)

  • American compares his #cancer treatment experience in #France and #USA
    and realizes he lives in the third world:
    http://blogs.reuters.com/anya-schiffrin/2014/02/12/the-french-way-of-cancer-treatment

    "I found people assumed [my dad] was getting VIP treatment or had a fancy private plan. Not at all. He had the plain vanilla French government healthcare.

    I had read many articles about the French healthcare system during the long public debate over Obamacare. But I still I hadn’t understood fully, until I read this interview in the New York Times, that the French system is basically like an expanded Medicaid. Pretty much everyone has insurance and the French get better primary care and more choice of doctors than we do. It also turns out, as has been much commented on, that despite all this great treatment, the French spend far less on healthcare than Americans.

    In 2011, France’s expenditure on health per capita was $4,086, compared to $8,608 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization. Spending as a percentage of gross domestic product was 11.6 percent in France while in the United States it was a far higher 17.9 percent"

    #insurance #healthcare #health

  • L’autre #surveillance (et #répression), celle des #dissidents par les #multinationales, à l’aide de sociétés de surveillance privées, mais aussi des services de renseignement des États.

    The war on democracy
    How corporations and spy agencies use « security » to defend profiteering and crush activism
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/nov/28/war-on-democracy-corporations-spy-profit-activism

    ... Greenpeace offices in France and Europe were hacked and spied on by French private intelligence firms at the behest of Électricité de France, the world’s largest operator of nuclear power plants, 85% owned by the French government.

    Oil companies Shell and BP had also reportedly hired Hackluyt, a private investigative firm with “close links” to MI6, to infiltrate Greenpeace by planting an agent who “posed as a left -wing sympathiser and film maker.” His mission was to “betray plans of Greenpeace’s activities against oil giants,” including gathering “information about the movements of the motor vessel Greenpeace in the north Atlantic.”

    Reviewing emails released by #Wikileaks from the Texas-based private intelligence firm #Stratfor, the report shows how the firm reportedly “conducted espionage against human rights, animal rights and environmental groups, on behalf of companies such as Coca-Cola.” In one case, the emails suggest that Stratfor investigated People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at Coca-Cola’s request, and had access to a classified FBI investigation on PETA.

    The report uncovers compelling evidence that much corporate espionage is facilitated by government agencies, particularly the FBI. The CCP report examines a September 2010 document from the Office of the Inspector General in the US Justice Department, which reviewed FBI investigations between 2001 and 2006. It concluded that:

    “... the factual basis of opening some of the investigations of individuals affiliated with the groups was factually weak... In some cases, we also found that the FBI extended the duration of investigations involving advocacy groups or their members without adequate basis…. In some cases, the FBI classified some of its investigations relating to nonviolent civil disobedience under its ’Acts of Terrorism’ classification .”

    For instance, on an FBI investigation of Greenpeace, the Justice Department found that:

    “... the FBI articulated little or no basis for suspecting a violation of any federal criminal statute... the FBI’s opening EC [electronic communication] did not articulate any basis to suspect that they were planning any federal crimes….We also found that the FBI kept this investigation open for over 3 years, long past the corporate shareholder meetings that the subjects were supposedly planning to disrupt... We concluded that the investigation was kept open ’beyond the point at which its underlying justification no longer existed,’ which was inconsistent with the FBI’s Manual of Investigative and Operational Guidelines (MIOG).

  • Incoherent P5+1 Hinder Iran Nuclear Talks Progress - Iran’s View | Iran’s View
    http://www.iransview.com/incoherent-p51-hinder-iran-nuclear-talks-progress/1430

    French negotiators are said to take the strictest position in the talks against Iran, witnesses of the talks have said, and their bald statements have repeatedly derailed the progress of the talks.

    A member of the Iranian negotiating team told IransView that during Almaty I and II talks which took place in February and April 2013 in Kazakhstan, French Foreign Ministry Director-General for Political and Security Affairs Jacques Audibert, who served as the French top negotiator then, prompted Saeed Jalili to warn of leaving the talk session.

    “While Jalili was elaborating on a PowerPoint slideshow provided by the Iranian team, Audibert undiplomatically reactioned to a slide titled as ‘Common grounds of Iran – P5+1 cooperation’ and said they had not come to cooperate with Iran to reach a deal, but to stop Iran’s nuclear program,” the diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “In response, Jalili said he would leave the room if the group is seeking to fight in the talks.”

    The diplomat further added that Ashton and other members of the P5+1 group tried to stop Audibert from making such statements during the next rounds of talks.

    Observers in Tehran say that France take a stark position towards Iran while the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei has invited French officials to cooperate with Iran several times.

    “I would like […] to point out that officials of the French government have been openly hostile towards the Iranian nation over the past few years and this is not a clever move by French government officials,” said Ayatollah Khamenei during a speech on March 21, 2013.

    “A wise politician should never have the motivation to turn a neutral country into an enemy. We have never had problems with France and the French government, neither in the past nor in the present era. However, since the time of Sarkozy, the French government has adopted a policy of opposing the Iranian nation and unfortunately the current French government is pursuing the same policy. In our opinion, this is a wrong move. It is ill-advised and unwise.”

    Il semble que Mr Fabius soit seul à vouloir faire capoter les négociations avec l’Iran.

  • France and casualties in the Syrian CW attack
    http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2013/10/france-and-casualties-in-syrian-cw.html

    So the French government gave an official estimate of dead in its official report on the chemical attack in Ghutah. But in his speech last week, the French foreign minister — presumably for extra effect — cited the estimate by the US government which no other government agreed to, and which the US government itself in briefings at the US Congress admitted that it was not true.

  • Stalinist daily l’Humanité defends French government in Cahuzac scandal - World Socialist Web Site

    Je référence ce texte surtout pour le titre qui m’a bien fait marrer.

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/11/huma-a11.html

    Stalinist daily l’Humanité defends French government in Cahuzac scandal
    By Olivier Laurent
    11 April 2013

    In its April 3 editorial, the French Stalinist daily paper l’Humanité tried to use the confession by ex-budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac that he had held an undeclared bank account in Switzerland for 20 years, to defend the Socialist Party (PS) government and the bourgeois republic as a whole.

    #cahuzac #france #évasion-fiscale

  • 30 ans : le plus vieux prisonnier politique dans une prison européenne
    @GeorgesABDALLA

    Georges Abdallah : Three Decades of Birthdays in French Prison

    | Al Akhbar English

    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/georges-abdallah-three-decades-birthdays-french-prison

    The Abdallah family no longer believes the promises of the French government, which has repeatedly postponed Georges’ release. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)
    By: Bassam Alkantar

    Yesterday, Lebanese prisoner Georges Abdallah turned 62 inside the French Lannemezan Prison, but there was no birthday cake or celebration. Abdallah, the longest serving political prisoner in a European prison, spent the day on a hunger strike in solidarity with Basque prisoners protesting the death of Xabier Lopez Peña on Saturday.

    On 24 October 2012, Abdallah marked his 30th year in prison. A high-ranking Lebanese diplomatic source told Al-Akhbar that Lebanese President Michel Suleiman was promised by his French counterpart François Hollande that Abdallah “would be released soon.”

  • Will EDF become the Barbra Streisand of climate protest?
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/25/edf-west-burton-streisand-effect

    Last week the operator of the power station – EDF, largely owned by the French government – announced that it is suing these people, and four others, for £5m. It must know that, if it wins, the protesters have no hope of paying. It must know that they would lose everything they own, now and for the rest of their lives. For these and other reasons, EDF’s action looks to me like a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation – a SLAPP around the ear of democracy.

  • If Only Georges Abdallah’s Freedom were Contagious | Al Akhbar English
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/if-only-georges-abdallah%E2%80%99s-freedom-were-contagious

    The French government decided to submit to US and Israeli pressure and extended the imprisonment of Georges Abdallah.

    The French today are imposing additional conditions to releasing Georges, in addition to just buying time. They want to do it secretly, so that their dirty work will not see the light of day.

    They want the occasion of his welcome in Lebanon to be under the cover of night, at an unannounced time of their choosing. They want him to celebrate alone with his family, so that his victory over his terrorist jailers will pass unnoticed. The even want the pathetic Lebanese state to guarantee that Abdallah’s release will take place according to their wishes.

    More than that, the French are asking for all expressions of solidarity to end, such as dismantling the sit-in at the French embassy in Beirut.

  • France funding Syrian rebels in new push to oust Assad (The Guardian)
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/france-funding-syrian-rebels

    France has emerged as the most prominent backer of Syria’s armed opposition and is now directly funding rebel groups around Aleppo as part of a new push to oust the embattled Assad regime. Large sums of cash have been delivered by French government proxies across the Turkish border to rebel commanders in the past month, diplomatic sources have confirmed. The money has been used to buy weapons inside Syria and to fund armed operations against loyalist forces. (...) Source: The Guardian

  • French government adopts gay marriage
    The French cabinet has adopted today a bill for marriage equality which will be put to a parliamentary vote early next year
    07 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
    French cabinet adopts gay marriage, it will be put to a parliamentary vote early next year

    France’s Socialist government adopted today (7 November) a draft bill to authorise gay marriage and adoption despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and others.

    ‘This is an important step towards the equality of rights,’ said Minister of Family Affairs Dominique Bertinnoti to AFP.

    The French president Francois Hollande, made the issue a key part of his electoral platform, stating it was an advance ‘for all of society’.

    Bertinnoti rejected criticism from religious and conservative groups that the move would ‘destroy’ the family, saying: ‘On the contrary it is a legal protection’.

    The bill, will be introduced for a vote in early 2013 in the parliament, has attracted strong critique from religious and conservative groups without fully addressing the demands of France’s LGBT community.

    The text of the bill stipulates: ‘marriage is contracted by two persons of different sex or same-sex’, the bill also grants the right for adoption for gay couples.

    The text of the draft bill also stipulates the use of the words ‘parent/s’ replacing the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’.

    However, as previously noted by LGBT rights groups, the bill does not provide medically assisted procreation (MAP) for lesbian couples and would be ‘addressed’ by the government in a ‘future family law’, which was not specified.

    In other words, France will continue to prevent lesbian couples from using artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization to conceive. This in contrast to heterosexual couples who have access to assisted reproduction as long as they can prove they’ve been together for two years.

    French lesbian couples who manage to have babies together will therefore not be allowed to list both parents’ names on their children’s birth certificates

    The French prime-minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, suggested that the text might evolve during the parliamentary hearings, scheduled to begin late January.

    With more than a month’s delay, the French government objective is to pass the law before the end of the first half of 2013.

    Members of the ruling Socialist party stated that amendments will be filed to address MAP, and other issues such as the legal status of a step-parent.

    These amendments would partially meet the criticism levelled at the French government made by, Inter-LGBT, the main French LGBT rights group.

    LGBT rights groups have previously pointed out that MAP had been promised by François Holland during his election campaign.

    LGBT rights groups are planning to hold a protest for MAP this evening in Paris.

  • French Embassy Warning Map: Throwback to the Good Old Mandate Days!

    http://mideastwire.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/french-embassy-warning-map-throwback-to-the-good-old-mandate-

    The Mideastwire Blog

    One of the most striking things about this map by the French embassy is that is almost mirrors what the French government (supposedly) tried to counsel the Lebanese Maronites on almost a hundred years ago: take your state in MT Lebanon. One version of this story is that the Maronites resisted and convinced the French authorities to include the heavily muslim areas that became greater lebanon, now seen in red…. What to make of that?!

    #cartographie #perception #manipulation #liban #proche-orient

    • certes, mais on pourrait aussi souligner la médiocrité sémiologique de cette carte, ses erreurs comme la sous-estimation manifeste de l’extension de la banlieue sud... bref, à l’heure des drones et capteurs satellitaires, l’intelligence française semble bien en défaut...

  • Russian arms dealer targeted over #Syria

    Russian arms dealer targeted over Syria
    Published: June 11, 2012 at 11:51 AM
    PARIS, June 11 (UPI) — Human Rights Watch objected to a French arms expo featuring a Russian military company thought to be a major supplier to Syrian government forces.

    The Eurosatory arms show gets under way in France this week, featuring more than 1,000 exhibitors from 70 countries.

    Human Rights Watch said it objected to the participation of Russian arms supplier Rosoboronexport at the event.

    Jean-Marie Fardeau, French director for Human Rights Watch, said it’s duplicitous for the French government to both condemn the Syrian government for the ongoing bloodshed and host one of Syria’s largest arms suppliers.

    http://m.upi.com/m/story/UPI-99441339429863

    “It’s not acceptable to do business as usual with a company arming a government engaged in atrocities against its people,” he said in a statement.

    The rights organization says that providing weapons to Syria while the government there is suspected of committing crimes against humanity may by a violation of international law.

    U.N. officials last week said they suspected Syria had committed atrocities against its people during a series of massacres the government in Damascus blames on terrorists.

    Russia and China are among the leading critics of formal action against Syria at the U.N. Security Council.

    British Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News he would continue to pressure Russian officials to get in line behind the peace plan brokered by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

    “Every other solution of any kind to the Syrian crisis involves a lot more deaths,” he said.

  • Russian arms dealer targeted over #Syria

    Russian arms dealer targeted over Syria
    Published: June 11, 2012 at 11:51 AM
    PARIS, June 11 (UPI) — Human Rights Watch objected to a French arms expo featuring a Russian military company thought to be a major supplier to Syrian government forces.

    The Eurosatory arms show gets under way in France this week, featuring more than 1,000 exhibitors from 70 countries.

    Human Rights Watch said it objected to the participation of Russian arms supplier Rosoboronexport at the event.

    Jean-Marie Fardeau, French director for Human Rights Watch, said it’s duplicitous for the French government to both condemn the Syrian government for the ongoing bloodshed and host one of Syria’s largest arms suppliers.

    http://m.upi.com/m/story/UPI-99441339429863

    “It’s not acceptable to do business as usual with a company arming a government engaged in atrocities against its people,” he said in a statement.

    The rights organization says that providing weapons to Syria while the government there is suspected of committing crimes against humanity may by a violation of international law.

    U.N. officials last week said they suspected Syria had committed atrocities against its people during a series of massacres the government in Damascus blames on terrorists.

    Russia and China are among the leading critics of formal action against Syria at the U.N. Security Council.

    British Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News he would continue to pressure Russian officials to get in line behind the peace plan brokered by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

    “Every other solution of any kind to the Syrian crisis involves a lot more deaths,” he said.

    • Les #financiers au coin du bois
      Le mercredi 11 avril 2012
      http://la-bas.org/spip.php?page=article&id_article=2764

      http://media.la-bas.org/mp3/120411/120411.mp3

      S’il est élu Monsieur Hollande n’ira sans doute pas au #Fouquet’s, mais le Fouquet’s viendra à lui. Pas pour rire mais pour lui donner sa feuille de route : le Pacte Budgétaire, c’est à dire « la rigueur », la flexibilité du marché du travail, le refinancement des retraites, le dégraissage dans la fonction publique, la « modération » des salaires etc.

      Tout ça au nom de la Crise et de la dette publique. Certes, Monsieur Hollande a dit qu’il renégocierait ce traité. Certes, certes... mais quelques uns ont des doutes. Ils sont dans notre émission d’aujourd’hui qui commence avec un prédicateur du #Marché, un vrai !

      Reportage de François Ruffin.
      Programmation musicale :

      – Ava Carrère : « Valse triste »
      – Yvon Etienne : « L’actionnaire »
      – ZEP : « Pas de baratin »

    • Le plan de bataille des financiers (souvenirs)
      http://www.lesmutins.org/Le-plan-de-bataille-des-financiers.html
      https://vimeo.com/40577072

      Avant l’élections présidentielles, Nicolas Doisy, chief economist à Chevreux (#Crédit_Agricole), nous avait fait part du plan de bataille des financiers en cas de victoire de #François_Hollande aux #présidentielles... Vous vous souvenez ?

      Un sujet de François Ruffin, réalisé par Olivier Azam - Les Mutins de Pangée - Avril 2012 - Avec Fakir et la-bas.org.

      la traduction en Français du Texte de N. Doizy sur Fakir
      Le plan de bataille des marchés (traduction)
      http://www.fakirpresse.info/Le-plan-de-bataille-des-marches.html

      C’est une note de neuf pages, en anglais, rédigée par le « premier broker indépendant en actions européennes ». Dans ce document, que l’on retrouve dans l’intégralité sur le site de Reporterre, on découvre « le plan de bataille des #marchés » si François Hollande l’emportait. En voici une traduction...

    • France’s Hollande Casts Fate With Ex-Banker Macron
      http://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-hollande-casts-fate-with-ex-banker-macron-1425851639
      https://web.archive.org/web/20150317113328/http://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-hollande-casts-fate-with-ex-banker-macron-1425851639

      As the French president shifts away from tax-the-rich policies, Economy Minister Emmanuel #Macron vows to be ‘more confrontational’

      By Stacy Meichtry and
      William Horobin
      Updated March 8, 2015 6:13 p.m. ET

      French Economy Minister #Emmanuel_Macron got an earful in January from U.S. technology and retail executives as they lectured him in a meeting at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas about France’s inhospitable business reputation.

      [...]

      Mr. Macron juggled his work for Mr. Hollande’s campaign with his duties as an investment banker for Rothschild & Cie. Leveraging connections made through Mr. Attali, Mr. Macron helped arrange Nestlé SA’s $11.8 billion purchase of Pfizer Inc.’s baby-food business.

      The takeover made Mr. Macron wealthy and taught him how to curry favor in a risk-averse corporate culture. “You’re sort of a prostitute,” he says. “Seduction is the job.”

      Meanwhile, Mr. Hollande faced pressure in a tight election campaign to reassure his Socialist Party base. In January 2012, he delivered a barnstorming speech that warned of a “nameless, faceless” menace to France.

      “This enemy is the world of finance,” Mr. Hollande told a cheering crowd. Behind the scenes, he dispatched Mr. Macron to London to reassure investors that the presidential candidate wasn’t a hard-liner.

      The two men clashed when Mr. Hollande vowed to levy the 75% tax on salaries of more than one million euros. Mr. Macron fired off an email to Mr. Hollande, hoping to steer him to a softer stance: “This is Cuba without the sun!”

      After his election, lawmakers approved the tax, and Mr. Hollande stocked his cabinet with left-wing Socialist Party members. Arnaud Montebourg, who regarded government as a guardian against corporate takeovers by foreigners, was named France’s industry minister.

      But in a sign of Mr. Hollande’s determination to balance competing interests, the new president hired Mr. Macron as his deputy chief of staff and primary conduit to the business world.

      Under pressure from the European Union to balance public finances, Mr. Hollande announced €7.2 billion in additional taxes on companies and wealthy people—and then raised the tax bill by €20 billion.
      A business rebellion

      French business owners rebelled. They protested the plan publicly, and layoffs pushed France’s unemployment rate above 10%. Mr. Macron urged Mr. Hollande to change tack, and the president unveiled corporate tax credits of €20 billion in November 2012. Mr. Macron later convinced Mr. Hollande to double the tax breaks despite criticism from the left.

      Mr. Macron also confronted Mr. Montebourg over his attempt to engineer a merger between French engineering firm Alstom SA and German rival Siemens AG. Mr. Montebourg wanted to stop U.S.-based General Electric Co. from buying Alstom’s core turbine business.

      In a June 2013 meeting at the Élysée Palace, Mr. Macron told Mr. Montebourg, who had been promoted to economy minister: “You can block a marriage, but you cannot force a marriage.”

      Mr. Montebourg relented. The next day, the French government backed GE’s proposed $17 billion acquisition. A spokesman for Mr. Montebourg didn’t make him available to comment.

  • French government prepares to deploy security forces to break airport strike
    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec2011/fren-d22.shtml

    Yesterday, President Nicolas Sarkozy held a cabinet meeting to discuss the necessary measures to end the strike. According to government spokeswoman Valérie Pécresse, “the head of State told ministers to be extremely attentive to the development of this situation, and to take all the necessary and opportune measures given its evolution.” She did not give specifics, but it is widely suspected the state will use police to smash the strikes. Yesterday, Sarkozy’s special advisor Henri Guaino warned that, “starting today, and in particular tonight, it will no longer be possible for the State not to act in accordance with its responsibilities” in the airports. He added, “I do not see why it would be shocking to replace private security agents for a limited time with agents of the public forces.”