Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:41:46 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Michel Gurfinkiel :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Michel+Gurfinkiel istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/sarkozy-to-extend-prime-job-to-known-anti-american/54407/ Mon, 14 May 2007 00:00:00 EST PARIS — President-elect Sarkozy, who was elected on a pro-American and pro-Israel platform, is considering offering an important job in the new conservative government to a former socialist foreign minister known for his anti-American and anti-Israel opinions. Mr. Sarkozy succeeds President Chirac on Thursday and is likely to appoint as prime minister François Fillon, 53, a former minister of education and social affairs. It will be Mr. Fillon's task to set up a new government, but Mr. Sarkozy... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/sarkozys-next-hurdle-buyers-remorse/53978/ Tue, 8 May 2007 00:00:00 EST PARIS — The upcoming parliamentary elections are the next test for France's conservative, pro-American president-elect, Nicolas Sarkozy. Under the constitution of the Fifth Republic, tailored back in 1958 for General Charles de Gaulle, the French president can wield considerable power if he has the backing of the National Assembly. If he does not, he must pick the leader of the Assembly's largest party as prime minister. Overnight, he turns into a lame duck. In 1986 and 1993, this happened to... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/how-france-will-engage-america/53592/ Wed, 2 May 2007 00:00:00 EST PARIS — Next Sunday, the French will elect their president. Strangely, foreign policy has been largely absent, so far, from the campaign. Insiders say this will be the case again tonight, when 20 million viewers will watch Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal engage in their only debate on television. Both sides have agreed that most voters are chiefly interested in domestic issues: unemployment, rising public debt, immigration, and law and order. But other factors come into play. Many foreign... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/tale-of-torture-and-murder-horrifies-the-whole/27948/ Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST The brutal abduction and murder in Paris of a young Jewish man by a gang of African immigrants called the Barbarians has shocked the whole of France, which once again has been obliged to face its anti-Semitic past. The murder of a 23-year-old cell-phone salesman, Ilan Halimi, took place over three weeks, during which he was tortured while his captors tried to extract a ransom from his family. Halimi was lured to his death by a woman he had met in his telephone store. They met up late on the... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/frances-le-pen-to-strike-a-deal-with-muslims/27822/ Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST It looks like a political oxymoron, but Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front is poised to strike an alliance with France's large immigrant Muslim community. A generation after France's right-wing party began its surge with a tough anti-immigration campaign tinged with both racism and anti-Semitism, three factors are coming into play that could spell a strategic realignment. These factors, which are still little grasped outside political circles in France but will have an enormous impact, include... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/france-is-facing-moment-of-truth-villepin-declares/22724/ Wed, 9 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST The French government formally has resorted to a 1955 state of emergency law - issued during the colonial war in Algeria - in a bid to check the ethnic riots that are rocking the country, with Prime Minister Villepin declaring that the embattled nation is facing a "moment of truth." Rioters thumbed their noses at the drastic emergency measures late last night as they looted and burned two superstores in Arras, set fire to the Nice-Matin newspaper office in Grasses, and paralyzed Lyon's subway... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/france-facing-horrendous-balance-sheet/22671/ Tue, 8 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST PARIS - A curfew was set up yesterday at Le Raincy, a neighborhood in the eastern suburbs of Paris. The order was issued by the local conservative mayor, Eric Raoult. The prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, made clear on television that similar measures might soon be enforced on a broader scale. "Restoring public safety is our top priority," he said. After 11 days and nights of rioting, the country was coming close to a civil war. A map published in the afternoon by Le Monde showed that... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/frances-political-calculus-on-turkey-israel/7086/ Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Nicolas Sarkozy, the former finance minister of France, and - since last November - the leader of UMP, the French conservative party, is distancing himself quietly but rather quickly from the conservative president, Jacques Chirac. One issue is Turkey. Mr. Chirac is extending qualified support to Turkey's membership in the European Union. Mr. Sarkozy would rather keep that country out. Another issue is Israel. Mr. Chirac is known to be siding with the Arab camp and the Palestinian Arabs (he... MICHEL GURFINKIEL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/french-ban-of-anti-semitic-tv-station-shows/6664/ Wed, 22 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST Al-Manar, the Lebanese radical Muslim TV station, is now banned in France. On December 13,the Council of State, the country's highest legal authority, determined that its programs violated French antiracist laws and regulations, and asked Eutelsat, the Paris based satellite company in charge of Al-Manar's broadcasting to France and Europe, to stop broadcasting the channel within 48 hours. Giulio Berretta, Eutelsat's CEO, complied in less than 24 hours. Al-Manar, which means "The Lighthouse," is...