THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, July 22, 2010


9


France Facing Malaise Over Football, Economy, Politics PARIS-France


by John J. Metzler Syndicated Columnist


is facing the summer dol- drums. A bit- ter aftertaste f r om t h e i r once vaunted soccer team which made a mockery of itself and an


embarrassment to the nation, the undertow of the economic reces- sion, and a new spate of political scandals of the ruling party go right up to Elysee Palace and President Nicolas Sarkozy. Even the annual Bastille Day military parade down the magnificent Champs Elysses avenue was marred by heavy rains. For a football obsessed nation


the World Cup soccer scandal was a particularly cruel cut. Les Bleus, the team which won the 1998 World Cup is but a dis- tant memory, now marinated in a boluibaise of scandal, poor performance on the field, and sleazy antics off the pitch. The team has been the grist of lurid headlines and the Minister of Sport called the squad a “moral disaster. “ The scandals of Les Bleus have


gone as far as hearing in in the National Assembly and a spate of finger pointing stories. Even the reserved Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the episode, “an appalling soap op- era.”


Many say this team is a group


of spoiled millionaires, acting like raucous teenagers, and pulling


UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT WASHINGTON -


by Oliver North Syndicated Columnist


While President Barack Obama golfs his way through the Gulf Coast’s oil- drenched envi- ronmental ca- lamity, another crisis is looming across the Po- tomac. Ameri- ca’s military, in


harm’s way in a two-front war, is about to get staggered by a double whammy below the belt. Unfortu- nately for those who wear our na- tion’s uniform, the commander in chief and his cronies in Congress are throwing the punches. The first blow will land in the


next two weeks unless Harry Reid’s Senate and Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives can get their acts together to pass a supplemental appropriations bill to fund combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In May, while proselytizing for homosexuals in our military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates gently reminded the congressional Armed Services committees that he needed the ap- propriation by Memorial Day. They ignored him. Last month, he went again and


told them the funds had to be ap- proved before the Independence


Day recess or the Pentagon would have to start doing “stupid things” -- such as shifting funds within the overall Defense Department budget just to keep the troops in the field supplied with beans, bul- lets and bandages. Once again, Congress -- taking its cue from Obama’s virtual silence on the matter -- did nothing. On July 13, Gates went up to Capitol Hill again, urging the so- lons to break the deadlock before the House recesses for “campaign season” at the end of the month. The defense secretary warned that without action by then, he will have to start canceling contracts on everything from weapons and equipment repairs to ammunition and fuel purchases in order to pay the troops. Not exactly what a soldier, sailor, airman, guardsman or Marine needs to hear in the middle of Afghanistan’s “fighting season.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch


McConnell, R-Ky., describes the situation as “a true emergency.” Yet despite dire predictions of higher unemployment as defense suppliers shed employees when contracts for munitions and equip- ment are delayed, there doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency at the Obama White House. Perhaps that’s because this is just the first See NORTH on 17


the flag, the name, and the honor of France into the mud. The coach Raymond Domenech has called his team “imbeciles,” and tea= members more than return the rhetorical favor to the coach. All this has left a bitter taste in


what should have been a scandal free start of summer. Economically France is doing


much better. Despite the deep shocks of the Greek debt crisis, and the undertow of debt facing most European governments and the USA, French industrial pro- duction has been expanding at a brisk rate of 8 percent over the past year. On the other hand, the national debt levels have steadily risen from 84% of the GDP this year and shall edge up to 87.5% in 2012. This is only slightly less than the current American debt levels and needless to say, a dan- gerous financial millstone. Interestingly on a more under- standable level and certainly ap- pealing to the French populace, Sarkozy’s government slashed the high value added tax on res- taurant prices. The TVA as it is called here


is about 19.6% cost built into every commercial transaction. This has been trimmed to 5.5% for restaurants which had the practical effect of creating more patrons and indeed an extra 22,000 jobs between July 2009 and March of this year Still political scandal, the grist


of politics has taken a toll. Presi- dent Nicholas Sarkozy’s govern- ment has been slipping in the opinion polls for months; the


center-right President’s ratings are hovering near 32 percent. Recently Sarkozy dismissed


a deputy minister of charging $14,000 of pricy cigars to the state. The aura of bling-bling what the French derisively call fast money, fast cars, and lax po- litical rules, has oft been thrown at President Sarkozy and many of his political confidents. The weekly magazine Le Point


headlined, “Scandals; Politics, Football, Business...the Awards of French indecency. “ This cer- tainly creates a growing political populism. The current crisis du jour al-


legedly concerns illegal campaign payments to Nicolas Sarkozy before the 2007 Presidential elec- tion. According to allegations, the heiress of the L’Oreal cos- metics fortune, Madame Liliane Bettencourt had given Sarkozy $190,000 in illegal cash dona- tions. While a blizzard of allega- tions have been blowing around the usually restrained Paris press for weeks, some of the original stories have changed prompt- ing the daily Le Figaro to say the charges have boomeranged. Hopefully so. One government Minister has denounced the charges as a “po- litical cabal orchestrated by the Socialist Party.” This is not at all unlikely. President Sarkozy’s reputation


is taking serious political damage at a time when the government is pressing for needed and overdue economic reforms to trim the size


See METZLER on 47


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