Spotlight on France

As Napoleonic Wars go, the current French elections may appear to be quite tame and few will admit to blood being drawn. However, with the first round of the Presidential battle going to the leftist 'Socialist Tortoise' on the block, Sarkozy may have to present his 10 round shot gun if he thinks he is going to have any future say in the economic stabilization of the EU.

With Sarkozy, you get the enigmatic, outwardly arrogant and no-nonsense leader who has made some tough decisions during his tenure as President and rocked more than a few boats. Boats, to some, that should have been rocked, and to others, should have remained, 'smooth sailing.'

Hollande on the other hand, what you see is pretty much what you get. Bespectacled, slow and methodical. One feels sure he wouldn't be waging any major wars while sitting in the captain's chair. He has even vowed himself to be a consensus-builder, a "normal president'' rather than an over acheiver like Mr Sarkozy.

One wonders why hyperactivity and aggression wouldn't be what most voters would ask for in a President, but as they say, the people get in the end what they deserve.

Sarkozy may be aloof and slightly arrogant and could be compared with what is known in the UK as a, 'little posh' (Which seems to almost be a crime in the UK these days) with local socialists like 'Red Ed' Miliband wanting to do away with Grammar Schools altogether and using his power over the unions to 'Strike till they're beat' tactics against his co-alition opposition and perhaps eventually make the word 'elocution' as just as dirty a word as the English 'Posh.'

But spirited Sarkozy is made of sterner stuff and his charismatic personality and poise of purpose with regards to the survival of the EU and the reluctance to suffer 'Fools and Terrorists' lightly, have already bought the open support of David Cameron and Angela Merkel. Particularly the German Chancellor who was relying on Sarkozy and France to pull the EU economy out of the murk.
 
If 'The Tortoise' (The French Nickname for the extreme left wing socialist, Hollande) gets into power and tries to implement his slow and unbending extremist brand of change, France will sink into the economic mire quicker than a water-logged Frog with Polio.

With the French Presidential elections soon approaching, all sides have taken the recent events to their hearts and tried to sway the masses, with voting pens poised, gathering believers into the fold with such spuring rhetoric like "toughness on crime and immigration" to a
''war on these fundamentalist political religious groups who are killing our children''.

Rightly or wrongly, election campaigns are fought and won on that basic of all desire - security. And, politicians know how to play the game. After all, theres is a desire to survive, and at all costs. So, when there is a horrendous, yet politically viable and beneficial happening to seize upon, however grotesque - a politician will be, 'in like Flynn' grabbing the reins with both hands and holding on tight.

French President, Nicolas Sarkozy played his part to perfection, however, in all fairness, reflective anguish is not terribly hard to portray when terror and murderous mayhem is on your doorstep and the incomparable deaths of innocent children in their school playground is displayed as evidence to a hellish killing spree.

So, a country now must weigh up the on going problems related to economic joblessness and everyday hardships, to potential terrorist attacks occurring on a more frequent basis. The latter, a greater life and death situation. Sarkozy grabbed the moment well and showed the French people that his strong, resolute and determined leadership is what is required when things go pearshaped. Bringing the people together during times of great loss and sadness that affects everyone. He said, ''A murderer sought to put France on its knees, he was neutralised.'' Cool, calm and reflective he made his point well uniting the country in grief.

negotiators while he was holed up in his home, that he "wanted to die with weapons in his hands." Whether the young man, not yet into the prime of his life, had seen too many cowboy movies or truly believed in his convictions, the question now on everyone's lips is, why did it all have to come to this.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and of course the very same thing could and was said after the last pylon fell and as all the dust settled after the tragic 9/11 disaster. Intelligence can only do so much. Fortunately or unfortunately authorities just can't incarcerate people they suspect will commit a future crime, even if all the hall marks are there and when they are blatantly on show. However, people like Merah who visit certain countries and take an interest in websites that promote hatred and radical views, usually are on a suspect list and will almost certainly be surveyed, but in Mohammed Merah's case, perhaps not conscientiously enough.

Whether the slayings of three Jewish schoolchildren, a Rabbi and three French soldiers was totally pre-meditated or random, the fact that Mohammed Merah filmed the horrendous events claiming to have posted the videos online, reeks of looking for kudos from a higher militant source. The al Qaeda linked group Jund al Khilafah, which has claimed responsibility for attacks in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, said it was behind the shootings in France.

Merah, a French citizen of Algerian descent, who had made several visits to Afghanistan, had bragged about being trained by al Qaeda. His arsenal of weapons highlighted the massive war he hoped to undertake. Mercifully, he was stopped in his tracks.

One could very easily say after Sunday's illustrious Academy Award presentation in Hollywood, that silence is certainly golden.

Taking home the bulk of the juicy goodies was the heart-warming French silent movie "The Artist" which took home five Oscar's including Best Picture, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin - the first Oscar ever awarded to a French actor.

Sunday's ceremony was the culmination event of a steady stream of award presentations. With 'The Artist' winning several major precursor guild and critics awards, such as the Directors Guide, Producers Guide and the Critics Choice, not to mention Golden Globe and Bafta awards. It seemed, therefore, the only thing missing to give it that final touch was the opening of that golden envelope. And so, the history books will show.

Even though the 'petite' film noir was up againgst a band wagon of mighty hitters in the form of Hugo, The Help, Descendants and of course Steven Spielberg's marvelous War Horse, in most people's eyes there was nothing quite like going back in time to where it all started. Black and white and before 'talkies' galvanised us all.

It took the French contingent to hold us all in the palms of their creative artistic hands. Will there be a resurgence of art deco buildings in Hollywood? Regardless, they us frogs have all managed to do it yet again. In almost perfect English the acceptance speeches saluted everyone with warmth, generosity, grace, style and with sheer joie de vivre in their hearts. Just like The Artist itself.

France's President. Attending a university faculty like Cambridge to give a speech seems to possibly reek of hypocrisy and self denial right in the face of this august higher-learning institution. From anti-violence groups to many female students attending the university, their frustrations at seeing the trivialisation of what Strauss-Kahn has been charged with and yet, seemingly escaped from, smells odorous and a little more than slightly, two faced. With massive dust clouds of sordid, pariah like nuances still hanging over him like the worst scents to emanate out of a sewer, this is not the time or the prestigious venue for him to give lectures.

The obnoxious realisation to many who care regarding his invitation by the Cambridge  Student Union in the first place, is that this usually able body seem to have dismissed all the lurid allegations and substantial claims which have been made, even as far as pushing Strauss-Kahn's alleged recent diversions into disreputable underworld activities well into the background thus, in effect, giving him a 'clean bill of health.' Reading between any curved lines, it appears to wipe this rather cloudy slate clean of any seedy incidents whatsoever.

A clear case of saying; If you are white and powerful, the climate is still such that you can commit felony and mayhem to your heart's content and we will not only give you a gold medal at the end of the day, but you can continue, unscathed and untethered. To many Cambridge students, something smells in Paris and it isn't the Seine.

woman Claire Seguin, ran up to the podium with her kilogram bag of flour and made her delivery before anyone could stop her. She was grabbed by guards who carried her off the stage and she is currently being held in police custody.

It is still uncertain as to what Seguin hoped to achieve by her deliberate and planned attack, however, while she was being carried away she managed to shout into a TV crew's camera that she was a victim of an unspecified injustice and that the Socialists were trying to kill her. She directed them to her blog.

A spokeswoman for Hollande, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has told French television channel BFM that the incident appeared to be isolated and committed by a woman who, at worst, was unstable. She did reiterate however, that as with all political candidates, Hollande's security would be gradually increased as the campaign progressed.

The French election which will be held in two rounds in April and May has the German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving her support to the current President, Nicolas Sarkozy. Whatever the result, it looks like it will take more than a bag of flour to call Francois Hollande's attempts a whitewash.

These two political comrades, at financial war within a rather unstable and insecure union, are indeed stubborn and determined, if nothing else. One wonders, if the leaders of those European countries who find themselves in such grave financial jeopardy had but an ounce of their fervent tenacity and unshakable resolve, there possibly would not be a European monetary problem at all.

The power pair in Berlin, are leading the way for everyone else to follow. Both Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel reiterated that boosting European growth was a priority, urging Greece to restructure its debt before it could receive any new bailout funds. A condition they are bound to stick to.

In October, the Eurozone agreed to a second handout for Greece that involves the country’s private creditors accepting a 50 percent reduction in the value of their holdings of Greek debt. Both Merkel and Sarkozy said that while they both wish for Greece to stay in the Eurozone, Greece must first clean up their house before any more payments would be forthcoming.

Anyone could be forgiven for thinking that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were bosom buddies. Coming to grips with a financial crisis that could potentially ruin all their dreams for a prosperous, united Europe and therefore, given them both very little breathing space and room for manoeuvring past each other's hip bone.

This last Euro summit crisis talks, where, by hammering home a plan
of attack together with the hope of forging ahead for a tighter European fiscal union, got downright mean and dirty and ended with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron using his powers of veto to secure - in his words - 'Britain's Future.' Many are saying he was right. Right for Britain, but possibly not right for the rest of Europe.

There have been leaders for action during this crisis and there have indeed been followers. Angela Merkel has certainly proved to be one of those leaders, in fact, possibly the main voice for a pro-active response to the Eurozone crumbling. However, rising from the cloud of euphoric self-pride in one's own ability to sway the masses into voting in, 'any kind of deal' - just for the sake of the, 'BIGGER PICTURE.' Could there not still be a message looming that this is really just a rather pathetic 'band-aid' solution, to a terminal problem, when major surgery is what the 'Dear Doctor' is really desperately ordering?

They held their crisis talks in the un-godly hours of the morning, a tactic used in police stations and prison camps to make prisoners and hostages bend, bow and keel over. Breaking their will and making them surrender and weakening their resolve. David Cameron, stood

Chirac was accused of using public money to create 28 phantom jobs for his conservative political party friends between 1992 and 1995 during a period of time when he was mayor of Paris. However, the Paris prosecutors' office said that they were unable to find any evidence to support the claims and therefore had ended their preliminary inquiry.

Lawyer Robert Bourgi, a long-time unofficial pointman between France's Elysee palace and regimes in former African colonies, in September made a raft of allegations claiming former African heads of state gave unaccountable bags of cash to fund presidential campaigns in France.

Bourgi claimed as much as 20 million dollars was given to Chirac and his then prime minister Dominique de Villepin, who is planning to run for president in next year's elections.

Bourgi also accused the former head of the far-right National Front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen of accepting cash for his 1988 presidential bid.

All three leaders have denied these claims and have said they will file defamation complaints against Bourgi.

Chirac has not been able to attend the trial that began in early September and ends on Friday after being judged too forgetful and unwell to answer questions. After a decade of legal argument, both sides now argue that he did not intend to commit any crime.

In court earlier this week, prosecutors gave a spirited two-and-a-half-hour defense of Chirac and nine co-defendants, repeating a request for dismissal first made in 2009 by the head prosecutor for Paris, who was appointed by Chirac.

"The elements aren't there to define intention, which is material for a legal infraction, that's why I am calling for the discharge of the 10 defendants," prosecutor Michel Maes told the court.

Chirac's case marked the first time since World War Two that a former French head of state has been tried in court on criminal charges. While the Chirac case is fading into history, corruption allegations continue to dog French politicians.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was a minister under Chirac, has also been accused of excessively cozy ties with the super-rich. He has denied allegations published in the daily Liberation that he was handed cash by L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 election campaign.

French anti-corruption group Anticor argued in the Chirac trial that the alleged phantom jobs were just a small example of a system of corruption involving hundreds of beneficiaries intended to boost Chirac's political power as mayor.

Anticor cited the example of a wife of an elected party official who was paid to provide "cultural advice" of which no trace remains and who never set foot in the town hall.