News

Paris Olympics failure is a blow for Chirac


By Timothy Heritage

PARIS (Reuters) - Paris's defeat by London in the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games was a bitter blow for French President Jacques Chirac that was all the more painful because he lost out again to his rival Tony Blair.

Chirac badly needed a victory to lift his political fortunes after a French "No" vote on the European constitution that left him sorely wounded and a furore over comments attributed to him criticising British food.

The prime minister not only emerged as the winner in what was billed as another showdown with Chirac following a row at a European Union summit last month, but he did so with the flair normally attributed to the French.

"Tony Blair acted brilliantly. He has a dynamism which makes him win all his bets, win all the gambles he takes and win all the challenges he sets himself," said Pierre Durand, an Olympic gold medallist in equestrianism for France in 1988.

"They have the luck to have a prime minister who is young, emblematic, charismatic, deliberately looking to the future and at odds with 'Old Europe'. You can feel it on every level."

How galling such comments must be to Chirac, who failed in his own gamble of going to Singapore at the last minute to lobby members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

How unfortunate for Chirac that his flight from Singapore took him only as far as Scotland where the 52-year-old Blair will be his host at an eight-nation summit -- and the cooking will be British.

Newspaper Liberation said Chirac cracked jokes to Russian and German leaders about bad British food on Sunday. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that," it cited him as saying.

CHIRAC OFFERS CONGRATULATIONS

"I am of course, like all French people, disappointed by this decision," Chirac told reporters on arrival in Scotland, where he said he would have the chance to pass on "warm and personal congratulations" to Blair and Queen Elizabeth.

Chirac, 72, had hoped that securing the Olympics would have lifted the sagging confidence of French voters and given a boost to the sluggish economy by creating jobs and generating revenues for tourism, construction and the service sector in general.

Critics speak of a "fin de regne" (end of reign) after Chirac's 10 years as president. His hopes of winning or even running in the next presidential election in 2007 are now slim.

Chirac's popularity has dropped since French voters rejected the EU's constitution on May 29 -- partly out of discontent with his policies -- and he suffered a new blow late last month when a row with Blair meant the EU did not agree a long-term budget.

Chirac labelled Blair's stance "pathetic" at the EU summit after Blair said he would make concessions on Britain's budget rebate from the EU only if the bloc agreed to a wider review of spending, including the hefty subsidies French farmers receive.

The two men also took opposing positions over the U.S.-led Iraq war, in which Blair was U.S. President George W. Bush's staunchest ally while Chirac led resistance to the invasion.

Chirac has little to encourage him on the economic front because growth is slow and the unemployment rate is at a five-year high of 10.2 percent. Opinion polls show many French centre-right voters would also prefer Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to be the conservatives' presidential candidate in 2007.

"What is certain is that there is a feeling of a France that doubts itself, and this vote will accentuate it," said political analyst Pascal Boniface.

"Bizarrely, one would not ask questions about a British decline if Paris had won and London were second."

London primed for quick start on 2012 Games


LONDON (Reuters) - Organisers of London's victorious bid to host the 2012 Olympics woke up somewhat dazed and bleary-eyed on Thursday to the news they had to start work immediately to produce a successful Games.

London edged fierce rivals and favourites Paris by 54 votes to 50 in Wednesday's vote in Singapore, leaving the British organisers stunned, delirious and not quite sure how they had done it.

The French team were disconsolate.

But the London officials were immediately brought down to earth with advice from the Athens organisers who staged the most expensive Games in 2004.

"Prepare early," Greek Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw led the praise for the work of bid leader Sebastian Coe and said the government would do all it could to make a London Games the best ever.

"Lord Coe has taken the inspiration and energy which made him one of the world's greatest ever athletes and channelled it into building a powerful bid for London," he told the House of Commons on Wednesday.

"His performance here, as it was on the track, has been phenomenal.

"Today we can celebrate. From tomorrow we will start to make the Olympic vision come true."

Paris had been the favourites throughout the bidding process and its officials were left stunned when International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced the result in a globally televised ceremony from Singapore.

TASK AHEAD

Madrid, New York and Moscow were ruled out at earlier stages of the voting.

But immediately the size of the task ahead and the challenges became apparent.

In a press conference minutes after the announcement, one journalist asked an ecstatic Prime Minister whether this would mean increasing taxes for the public and the Evening Standard newspaper listed a string of promises the organisers must stick to.

If the preparations are to run smoothly, Coe and his team will have to keep the notoriously fickle press on side.

"There can be none of the delays and brinkmanship about construction which blighted the Athens Games last year nor anything resembling the cock-ups that bedevilled the new Wembley," the Standard said, in reference to delays incurred over the national soccer stadium.

Greece effectively wasted three years of preparations and was forced to foot a bill of more than 9.0 billion euros (6.13 billion pounds), more than twice the initial estimate, mainly because of the delays.

London mayor Ken Livingstone and the government have agreed a public funding package of up to 2.375 billion pounds to cover everything from new facilities to Olympic transport.

Part of that would come from up to 1.5 billion pounds worth of lottery receipts. Increases in council taxes that will cost the average household about 20 pounds a year will also help fund the Games.

Straw said the government would introduce a bill to outline their Olympic plans before parliament breaks for the summer recess on July 21 and said major contracts for work in the East End would be concluded in the next few weeks.

The London bid centres on a run-down area in the east of the city, the Lower Lea Valley, where the Olympic village will be built. The organisers' passionate plea to use the Games to help regenerate the area may have played a significant part in clinching the result.

Some building work has already begun on the site and Steve Cram, a former European and world champion, told Reuters the organisers were prepared to start full-time preparations immediately.

"I don't think any time will be wasted at all," he said in an interview. "With a view to what happened in Athens, nobody wants that situation to arise."

Kate Holton

LONDON WON

The Death of France ? Sad news after the riots all over the country....

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20504

What do you think about this ?

Riots in France again?

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article343467.ece

I'm sure Padme will be interested !
Did you see them Mars in California ?

Queen Mary 2 Meets Predecessor in Calif. By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer

LONG BEACH, Calif. - With horn blasts heard for miles, the Queen Mary 2 paid tribute Thursday to its historic predecessor as it made its first visit to the West Coast.

The QM2 sounded its horn three times and the old Queen Mary responded in a ceremony in Long Beach harbor, where the 1934 vessel has served as a tourist attraction for nearly 40 years.

"I love the sound she makes," said Cynthia Chapman, 69, of Kent, England. "It's really awe-inspiring."

The world's largest ocean liner entered the harbor surrounded by sailboats and yachts. Thousands of people lined the channel walkway and swarmed the decks of the old liner as its 21st century successor arrived.

The QM2 arrived a day earlier at the neighboring Port of Los Angeles. It was to depart later on a cruise to Mexico with about 2,500 guests.

Both Queen Marys were built by the Cunard Line, originally based in Britain but now located in Santa Clarita, Calif., and owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp.

The first Queen Mary was launched in 1934 and when it sailed in 1936 was considered the last word in elegance for trans-Atlantic crossings. The Art Deco masterpiece ferried the likes of Bob Hope and the Duke of Windsor. The ship was sold to Long Beach in 1967, and is now a hotel and museum, which have had financial troubles.

The QM2 was launched in 2004, and is as tall as a 23-story building and 1,132 feet long. While it still makes Atlantic crossings, most destinations are in the Pacific and Caribbean.

It will lose its ranking as the world's largest passenger ship in May, when Royal Caribbean International christens the Freedom of the Seas.


The Queen Mary 2, the world's largest ocean liner, top right, moves near its historic namesake the Queen Mary, docked below, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006, at the Long Beach Harbor, in Long Beach, Calif. The QM2 and the Queen Mary

It's beautiful to see that
Thank You

Yes, I saw in the News!

I've been on the Queen Mary about 10 years ago.I was a kid! They have a restuarant on it! And you can tour it. Now to see Both! WOW!
Beautiful!!

Mars you're too lucky

I dont know about that! I just happen to live by The Queen Mary!

But when can I see Amelie Play here!! Then I will be LUCKY!!

F.Y.I=

It's Mardi Gras!!! Tuesday in New Orleans!! The 1st one after Hurrican Katrina!
They will be showing it on T.V! First time in a long time!
But We all Americans are proud we can Have MARDI GRAS!!!And not miss this year because of the hurrican YEAH!!!!

I'm celebrating tonight!!! With all the food and beeds and Mask's!!

Then we do Tuesday again at work! and after work!!

About Mardi gras in New Orleans :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060228/ap_on_re_us/mardi_gras

Thank You Veronique

For the link!

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!!! To Everyone!! Be Happy!!!!

A manifesto against the new totalitarianism, Islamism
Thanks to Agora.

MANIFESTO:
Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

Presentations:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, from somilian origin, is member of Dutch parliement, member of the liberal party VVD. Writter of the film Submission which caused the assasination of Theo Van Gogh by an islamist in november 2004, she lives under police protection.

Chahla Chafiq
Chahla Chafiq, writer from iranian origin, exiled in France is a novelist and an essayist. She’s the author of "Le nouvel homme islamiste , la prison politique en Iran " (2002). She also wrote novels such as "Chemins et brouillard" (2005).

Caroline Fourest
Essayist, editor in chief of Prochoix (a review who defend liberties against dogmatic and integrist ideologies), author of several reference books on « laicité » and fanatism : Tirs Croisés : la laïcité à l’épreuve des intégrismes juif, chrétien et musulman (with Fiammetta Venner), Frère Tariq : discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, et la Tentation obscurantiste (Grasset, 2005). She receieved the National prize of laicité in 2005.

Bernard-Henri Lévy
French philosoph, born in Algeria, engaged against all the XXth century « ism » (Fascism, antisemitism, totalitarism, terrorism), he is the author of La Barbarie à visage humain, L’Idéologie française, La Pureté dangereuse, and more recently American Vertigo.

Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji is a Fellow at Yale University and the internationally best-selling author of "The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith" (en francais: "Musulmane Mais Libre"). She speaks out for free expression based on the Koran itself. Née en Ouganda, elle a fui ce pays avec sa famille musulmane d’origine indienne à l’âge de quatre ans et vit maintenant au Canada, où ses émissions et ses livres connaissent un énorme succès.

Mehdi Mozaffari
Mehdi Mozaffari, professor from iranian origin and exiled in Denmark, is the author of several articles and books on islam and islamism such as : Authority in Islam: From Muhammad to Khomeini, Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy and Glaobalization and Civilizations.

Maryam Namazie
Writer, TV International English producer; Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran’s International Relations; and 2005 winner of the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year award.

Taslima Nasreen
Taslima Nasreen is born in Bangladesh. Doctor, her positions defending women and minorities brought her in trouble with a comittee of integrist called « Destroy Taslima » and to be persecuted as « apostate »

Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie is the author of nine novels, including Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses and, most recently, Shalimar the Clown. He has received many literary awards, including the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, Germany’s Author of the Year Award, the European Union’s Aristeion Prize, the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature, the Premio Mantova, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. He is a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres, an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at M.I.T., and the president of PEN American Center. His books have been translated into over 40 languages.

Philippe Val
Director of publication of Charlie Hebdo (Leftwing french newspaper who have republished the cartoons on the prophet Muhammad by solidarity with the danish citizens targeted by islamists).

Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq , author notably of Why I am Not a Muslim ; Leaving Islam : Apostates Speak Out ; and The Origins of the Koran , is at present Research Fellow at a New York Institute conducting philological and historical research into the Origins of Islam and its Holy Book.

Antoine Sfeir
Born in Lebanon, christian, Antoine Sfeir choosed french nationality to live in an universalist and « laïc » (real secular) country. He is the director of Les cahiers de l’Orient and has published several reference books on islamism such as Les réseaux d’Allah (2001) et Liberté, égalité, Islam : la République face au communautarisme (2005).

France :The strikes and demonstrations aren't about justice. They're about shameless selfishness.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/66123.htm

Thank you Reno for the Link!! Interesting!! I've been trying to understand the protest's and all!! So Thank You!

More nonsense from the anti-CPE crowd

Numbness. From 28th march 's demonstration. Some pictures from La belle France ...




Pre-emptive war against free-market terrorism????????????


Let's refuse shortage, hence let's destroy the economy


Communist revival - Really communist - Together for a real communist [party] in France


Right to laziness

Sesame street for adults only ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-medium-t.html