The French-American Foundation Weekly Brief

FRANCE

The New York Daily News described the last stages of the Tour de France as Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour winner, took third place. ESPN provided a retrospective of its favorite moments from this year’s competition. The New York Times said that some Frenchmen are “seeing red” because a French rider hasn’t won the tour since 1985.

President Nicolas Sarkozy spent the night in a French military hospital after collapsing while jogging, according to the Associated Press, and Le Monde reported that he was prescribed no further treatment. Libération analyzed the debate over the personal health of the French president, which essentially remains a state secret in France, and Le Figaro asked whether it is time to be more transparent on the issue of the president’s health.

Reuters reported that there is an internal political struggle in France over a policy that would introduce a carbon tax in 2010 to help fight global climate change.

The online journal Politis analyzed the question of the collection of ethnic statistics in France, asking whether it will become a tool to fight discrimination or a method of “ethnicizing” society.

UNITED STATES

Le Figaro called the legislative battle over the reform of the U.S. health care system a “moment of truth” that could define Barack Obama’s presidency. Der Spiegel asked whether the plan would be Obama’s “legacy” or his “Waterloo.”

The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited a command post in Southern Iraq where U.S. troops are serving mainly as advisers to Iraqi forces. At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Anthony Cordesman assessed the continuing war effort in Afghanistan and concluded that the war can be won with quick and decisive action on the part of the allies.

Libération said that in light of the recent kerfuffle over the arrest of eminent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., questions of racial justice in the United States are “far from being answered.”

Europe1 outlined possible measures that could be taken by the U.S. government to combat obesity, especially among the nation’s children.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

According to Forbes, unemployment in France fell for the first time in a year, dropping by 18,600 from the previous month. At Project Syndicate, Nouriel Roubini argued that persistent joblessness will remain a threat to economic recovery and that unemployment in advanced economies will remain above 10 percent.

A new EU-commissioned survey noted that one in three Europeans is “very concerned” about losing their job, and even more are worried that their spouse or children will find themselves out of work.

Reuters reported that France will increase the pressure on banks to clamp down on “irresponsible” trading activities at the upcoming G20 summit.

Bloomberg noted that low-cost airline RyanAir is nabbing customers from full-service carriers like Air France as the worst recession in half a century prompts air travelers to seek better deals. Middle East Online noted that France and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement on the sale of three Airbus military refueling planes to the Saudi air force.

In the Washington Post, Edward Cody reported that Chinese investors are buying up historic vineyards in France’s Bordeaux region, leading some wine producers to declare that “China is the future.”

INTERNATIONAL

According to Le Nouvel Observateur, the French Foreign Ministry has created a position to study the role of religion in international politics, which will be led by Joseph Maïla, former head of the Institut catholique de Paris.

The BBC examined the 100th anniversary of the first flight across the English Channel, made by French pilot Louis Bleriot, calling it “one of the defining moments in aviation history.”
 
Rue89 analyzed Switzerland’s relationship to Europe amid the continuing economic crisis, noting that the country must find a “new economic model” in a post-crisis world. An analysis in Internationale Politik contended that for all of Europe “the process of European integration has long ceased to be a matter of choice.”
 
Foreign Policy magazine explained how the conflict between “functionalists” and “strategists” shapes U.S.-China policy. Meanwhile, Le Monde noted that Chinese leadership is “in no hurry” to receive Prime Minister François Fillon at the end of August — evidence that relations between the two countries remain chilly.

The views expressed in the preceding press coverage are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the French-American Foundation nor its directors, officers, employees or representatives.
 
Please direct comments or suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected].