back to politics...

first, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kochner has apprarently sent in his letter of resignation, as it was recently published in a French magazine. not cool, because I think he is one of the best french politicans and humanitarian activists, but alas such is politics. Further, as we have been seeing in the US, letters of resignation are ubiquitous; larry summers, rahm emmanuel, and now James Jones. yikes. In not following American politics as much as I should be, so I cant describe all the particulars, except that the midterms are going to be rough for the democrats. Plus on the front page of todays Le Monde, the main article was entitled Economie; la strategie de Barack Obama tres critiquee, no need to translate. Apparently 95000 jobs lost in september, and a consistent unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. Bad news for Barack malheursement.

second, concerning the hot topic of retirement age reform, the senate voted yesterday in favor of the refor,, changing the offical age of retirement from 60 to 62, though the actual age of eligible retirement can be old as 65 or 67, depending on your years of working, type of work, etc. Thus, the french are doing what they do best, STRIKING. Yep, another one begins this Tuesday, and its nation wide. And it includes all public transportation. thus if you are planning on flying, taking a train, etc; around France, think again. The last major strike like this lasted a couple weeks, so it could be awhile. Lucky for me, In taking a train back to laval, as I am in paris for the weekend, tomorrow oct 10th, just before the strike begins on Tuesday.

Third, concerning issues of xenophobia, there has been an abnormally high rate of hate crimes in strasbourg, a city which symbolizes the internationalism of Europe, in eastern France, near Germany. Also on this same note, France was publicy denounced by the UN, Washington, the Vatican, and mostly harshly by the Spanish president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, for Sarkozys statements and actions concerning the Roma in France.

In short, as some people here have decribed it, if Sarkozy continues this way, he will not be reelected. Then again, the socialist nominee is hardly set in stone; will it be segolene royale again? doubtful. I put my money on Francois Hollande or Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the current IMF president, but only time will tell.

a bientot!