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The "barbarians" exist? The diagonal of rogue

By Hubert Vedrine
Le Figaro, 19/09/2008

Former foreign minister questioned the notion of "barbaric", often used to describe certain players in conflicts around the world and whose Tzvetan essayist Todorov believes it is alien to European culture.

Tzvetan Todorov would like the French, Europeans, Westerners continue to feed this famous "clash of civilizations" they claim to reject, release it, and see beyond. He puts all his talent is great, his conviction that feels every page, its philosophical culture that is never heavy, to exorcise this "fear" of "barbarians" (1) that has invaded the United States, and hence the entire West because of, or under the pretext of Sept. 11. It led to Manichaeism and simplistic mixtures of the "war against terror" Do Muslims see that through Islam, reducing Islam to Islamism and Islamist terrorism, to consider only the responses in strength to refrain from any analysis and policy response. Meanwhile, the American analyst Fareed Zakaria, in his book The Post-American World, was surprised to see the most powerful country in the world live in fear of everything and the others.

Todorov beautiful game with any player in good faith, to dismantle the historical use of the fantasy word "barbarians" - there is always someone barbaric - to explain that "collective identities" were certainly a heart, but they always was moving and never stopped to exchange and learn from each other, that the War of the Worlds, which appears inevitable, can be avoided, especially if it is known, regarding the relationship incandescent Islam / West "navigate the shoals."

For him, the idea of Europe - he mentions with accents inspired near Jorge Semprun, Bronislaw Geremek until his death, and Elie Barnavi until recently - contains the antidote to all these dichotomies dangerous. It is based on the acceptance of plurality, not as a historical legacy that handicapping is resigned to assume, but as a principle future policy and an asset.

We can be seduced by such an approach nevertheless requires both questions about America and Europe. This design is the exact opposite, absolute, ideology and politics of the Bush Administration for eight years, whose influence on Western public opinion, including French, has finally been enormous. Todorov wrote him, Countdown, "you can not erase centuries of history (...) in which the current" land of fear "(the West) have dominated the current" land of resentment "(the Arab -Muslims). "

In his eyes, "the prerequisite is that the Western elites continue to consider himself an incarnation of law, virtue and universal (...) and put himself above the law and judgments of others." But that is their consubstantial! "The right of military intervention, he insists, is likely to perceive the ideals defended by the West - liberty, equality, secularism, human rights - as a convenient camouflage of their will to power, and therefore, to discredit them. "Instead, he recommends," that the Muslim population countries (Arab) can turn his attention to the internal causes of its setbacks, we must remove the most conspicuous external causes - those that the West is responsible. " And cite Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan.

Although realistic Republicans and Democrats are trying to rethink U.S. foreign policy after the fiascos of the Bush Administration, will they go to such a challenge to the U.S. prior to the time when the emerging world challenges Western Rome? This would require at least one Baker-Hamilton for the whole region back to say how the realities and deal with all the "barbarians." As

European response, Todorov has the courage to admit: even thought as a strength, diversity is not enough. The idealism that is to project the situation of Europe on the rest of the world is "inadequate." Europe must become a "quiet power". It can not exclude in principle the use of armed force. Todorov is more realistic than those who dream of a Europe merely its "soft power" (his standards, his aide, its conditionalities, his speeches) and radiate through his example that democracy and its social model. It remains to convince the Europeans. Perhaps the summer of 2008 he will descillé the eyes of many in the real world, far more to establish an "international community"?

(1) Tzvetan Todorov, "Fear of Barbarians", Robert Laffont.

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The return of Afghanistan to the French public testimony under the limits of freedom of the press that limits the operation of information out about this theater. The war in the fourth dimension - cognitive - is a delicate operation. Related fields of knowledge and information, it is for warring peoples. Theorizing during the past twenty years, on both sides of the Atlantic, has not granted on the latter concept. If Americans and Europeans agree on a definition offensive, aimed at the domination of the theater of information (full spectrum dominance), opinions differ as to size-up to its defensive nature. Policy proclaim war against terrorism as a universal phenomenon, but the military continues to regard every conflict in their uniqueness. Naturally, the truth lies in between. United States and Great Britain, the reality of the terrorist threat has been found in the most unspeakable horror, legitimizing the same time ... the fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In France, and to a lesser extent in other European countries like Spain and Italy, the sense of illegitimacy of the intervention against Iraq has led to place it under a cone of silence operations in Afghanistan .
The relativity of the sphere of consensus on military matters in Europe explains the differences. But it also reflects a weakness of the information operation in Afghanistan. The techniques used by Western troops to win local people largely been learned by the Taliban, as shown by their increased operational since the spring. In particular, they learned the virtues of the "strategic corporal", a term referring to the implications of decision making at the tactical level on strategic policy. They have successfully applied on local populations, and they enjoy the high level of illiteracy, which limits the scope of the psychological operations of ISAF, but also use the hostile environment. Thus they have developed their own transaction information, playing on two areas: local communities to detach Local Karzai government, and internationally, to undermine the strength of the antiterrorist coalition. In particular, they understood that the high short-term tactical posted by ISAF revealed a desire to reassure European governments by posting a performance of the military operation in a communication on combatants killed. By their access to international media, the Taliban are able to achieve the same communication. And parade in Paris-Match is the proof.
What attitude to take in the future? To get the public support in such mission, it is important that the international communities and national Ministers had full knowledge, they understand its goals and objectives. This transparency can have a positive effect on international and local support and ultimately help create realistic expectations and perceptions. In Afghanistan, expectations were high and some uncertainty regarding the mandate of ISAF are perceived, especially on anti-drug operations. This confusion has been used by the Taliban to undermine the mission, using too much transparency in which operations are conducted. NATO ponders two important lessons. First, key military tasks and need support must be formulated in clear terms, so that different interpretations may not appear in the area of operation or in the countries contributing troops. Second, effective communication strategies to inform people is extremely important.

Why Not Wax After Shower

Economy simplistic?

We do not heat excuses to explain how we arrive at such simplistic thinking on a complex subject. Maybe a seasoned economist will be there to provide lighting, in which case we will gladly open our columns? Let's start ...

Assume first that the current overheating of the economy has nothing to do with a cyclical crisis, but actually good with an excess of speculation. Everyone has in mind the U.S. subprime crisis. Some developers have gone bankrupt, as well as smaller banks found themselves unable to pay their clients. This certainly explains the American situation, but not soaring global crisis. Indebted yesterday, the United States remain today, there is nothing new under the sun. Yet this is between the "bubble" as it calls it since it exploded around the new technologies of communication and information in 2000.

Oil and raw materials Food has become the investment declines all official and private financial institutions since the subprime. If the U.S. is safer, the old economic rule states to find alternative markets to invest ... And prices are so low that it will be good for African farmers ... This way, it is also good for companies that international food to compensate for a reduction in consumption of fruits and vegetables, rather than settle their products, increase their prices largely to safeguard their margins. Instead of systematically attacking the profits of Total, why our thinkers Eco will not look on that side?

This behavior is entirely consistent with the economic logic of time focusing on the shareholder. In a world based on consumption, however, brings a major contradiction. Indeed, the effects of rising oil and food prices will affect the brunt of consumer households that are supposed to absorb the production to 20% annual margin desired by shareholders. This is not India or China that they are waiting, it is in the Triad (North America, Western Europe and Japan)! However, in the absence of wage increase, that is to say injection power Buying by economic actors, that is to say the only businesses and the state-boss (in times of crisis, households hoard waiting for better days and reduce consumption to the basics: eat) how people could they cope?

Rising oil prices mean a surge in gasoline prices, the commodity prices that induces plant for consumption. Moving frantically is a phenomenon linked to our consumer society, but eating is a vital need. Yet it is the behavior of everyone who is affected differently Although according to the financial positions of each. But times are tough for everyone, rich and poor Americans, Europeans or Chinese. All are housed in the same boat, speculation is a global phenomenon.

Dropping household induces a reduction in their consumption of goods accessories, underpinning yet twenty years the growth of our economies. Declining sales produces reductions in personnel, relocations to countries with lower production shots (at the same time we export our pollution - but are decidedly ecologists?), Closures of industrial plants and trade, unemployment is rising ... Stagflation lurks: ie a slowing economy combined with inflation that continues to grow. All economic actors in doubt better days and brighter future (communism had it good, he did not had negatively affected)!

After Japan, the United States recently entered into a recession ... Europe is in the process of recognizing shyly. The economic model was not good. Policies have given up since the fall of the Berlin Wall their power to regulate the economy, believing that the "invisible hand" can restore the balance. But it is well known that competition time is never pure and perfect. So why would it be different for the natural regulation of the market? Ideologies have shown their limits, unbridled capitalism too. It should not be a genius to know that. But the greed of money has always avoided thinking too much. It may be that Al Qaeda and its bazaar thinkers have sought to make ourselves understood. The lack of reflection in action leads to fight eternally chimeras, without prejudging the effects that this will happen. Sancho Panza had already figured in the early seventeenth century. Britney Spears does not know who is Sancho Panza ...

That is the problem of speculators today and tomorrow ... But it is also a geopolitical problem.

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Ten French soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Ten French soldiers of the NATO force in Afghanistan were killed Monday and Tuesday during an ambush by Taliban, some fifty kilometers east of the capital Kabul. Twenty-one soldiers were injured, their condition is "stabilized" by Department of Defense. In a statement, Nicolas Sarkozy speaks of "an ambush of extreme violence." French president announces that he will visit Afghanistan on Tuesday evening. "France has just been (...) It is hard hit is determined to continue the fight against terrorism, for democracy and freedom, "he says in a statement.

The victims, killed during a joint reconnaissance mission with the Afghan national army, belonged to the 8th Parachute Regiment of Marines (RPIMA) based in Castres (Tarn), the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment , based in Calvi (Haute-Corse), and the Chad Marching Regiment. The soldiers belonged to the French battalion to Regional Command Center (RCC-Kabul).

In its statement, the Head of State made tribute to the "courage of those men who have done their duty until the supreme sacrifice." "My thoughts go first to their families and their friends, to whom I extend, on behalf of the Nation, my condolences. I say my sympathy to the wounded and my support in this ordeal. I also share the pain of their comrades and, beyond all the French soldiers, "he added. The foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner and Defence Minister, Herve Morin, have also expressed their condolences. France is paying "a heavy price to defend freedom," said Francois Fillon.

Fighting impliquant des militaires français ont débuté lundi et se sont poursuivis tout au long de la nuit de lundi à mardi, avait précisé plus tôt une source proche de l'Élysée. Une source militaire en Afghanistan avait indiqué que des éléments français de la Force internationale d'assistance à la sécurité (Isaf) étaient engagés dans un «incident majeur» avec des insurgés talibans dans le district de Saroubi, mais n'avait pas communiqué de bilan des combats. Une information déjà évoquée par l'état-major français des armées la veille au soir.

Nicolas Sarkozy précise également que «d'importants moyens, aériens in particular, have been implemented with the support of allies to support and identify "the French military.

"This morning we ambushed Nato troops in the district Saroubi, using mines and rockets. We destroyed five vehicles and inflicted heavy casualties, "also said a spokesman for the Taliban. "NATO has responded with airstrikes in which five Taliban and 15 civilians were killed," he added. It was not possible to verify this information and assessments given by the Taliban are often exaggerated. The spokesman of the Ministry Afghan Defense said that 13 insurgents, including a Pakistani, were killed.

The deadliest since Bouake

This is the balance the deadliest for the French army since the bombing of Bouake in Cote d'Ivoire in November 2004. That day, nine French soldiers and an American civilian were killed and thirty wounded five other soldiers. This bombardment by aircraft of the Ivorian forces had led to a severe response and French riots against French expatriates.

These losses are the first since the increased presence French military in Afghanistan, currently around 3,000 men, announced by Nicolas Sarkozy at the NATO summit in Bucharest in April. Before the fighting, fourteen French soldiers were killed in accidents, operations or attacks since late 2001, according to the French General Staff. Some 176 foreign soldiers have died in Iraq since the beginning of the year, according to a statement from Agence France-Presse.

France is engaged since 2002 in the coalition that defeated the Taliban after the attacks of September 11, 2001. A coalition of on-site military NATO and American soldiers. A number

(0800 74 75 75) has been opened for families of military personnel in Afghanistan.

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The "war against terrorism" is useless

A focus group revealed that the military solution is ineffective against most terrorist groups. To beat al-Qaida, he advocated a new strategy based on intelligence and police, and changing vocabulary.

An autopsy of terrorism to find the strategy for defeating al-Qaida. It is in this statistical exercise that were delivered Seth G. Jones and Martin C. Libicki for RAND, the think-tank close to the U.S. Pentagon. In an attempt to understand the fate of terrorist groups, Researchers compiled data on 648 groups identified worldwide between 1968 and 2006.

They distinguished each group according to its staff, its goals, financial revenues, the political system of its territory placement, orientation (religious or political) and its goals. They then sifted through their fates. Of the 648 groups surveyed, 244 are still active, and 136 were fragmented or merged with other groups. Religious groups

toughest

And among those who actually discontinued the use of terrorism, the statistics speak for themselves. The "good news" is that only 27 groups (10%) stopped their activities after completing their goals, such as the Algerian FLN. 114 (43%) have laid down their weapons following a political agreement with the state. As for those who have actually been defeated, 107 (40%) were by means of policing and justice, being the main human intelligence, infiltrating cells, arrest of leaders and the development of anti-terrorism legislation . And only 20 groups were crushed on the battlefield by military means, or a percentage of 7%.

The report's purpose is to assess best practices for defeat al-Qaida and similar historical movements have been specially studied. Bad news: the faith-based groups are much more resistant than those with a political vocation. Since 1968, 62% of terrorist groups have ceased doing harm. Over the same period, the percentage drops to 32% if one counts only the religious groups.

The study excludes from the political solution to al-Qaeda, whose stated purpose is to overthrow the governments of North Africa, the Near and Middle East, the Muslim world to unite under one banner. The RAND Corporation estimates that the probability of success of al-Qaida is close to zero, but statistics show that chances of reaching a political agreement are even lower than the goals of a group are broad and ambitious.

As for the military solution to the current work, the study concludes that "there is no solution to terrorism on the battlefield." He added that brute force is often the "opposite effect" by fueling the hostility of the population, thus providing a reservoir of recruits for terrorists. The group noted an increase in actions of al-Qaida within broader and believes that the American strategy of "war against terror" has failed to weaken the terrorist. An army

present but unobtrusive

What strategy then? The study recommends a fight on two fronts. First, focus on solving policing against al-Qaida around the world, increasing the budgets of the CIA and FBI. Objective: To identify the key "nodes" of al-Qaida network, whether the decision points, communications and funding. It also means putting out of harm's way the heads of networks, with the rules imposed in a state of law. The report cites a member of the Coordination Unit of French counter-terrorism, which is part of a tactic cited as an example: to concentrate efforts on crime policies such as schedules of drug trafficking, easier to prove in court, to bring the suspects the "shadow" without waiting until they have committed an attack.

Then, the study does not advocate a total military withdrawal, especially for the special situation of Iraq, where al-Qaida is involved in an armed insurrection overall. History shows that military solution is more effective against large groups of insurgents terrorists (19%) as against terrorist groups in general (7%). In these areas, the military presence is "necessary" but The report stresses that it is not necessarily a U.S. presence. Local forces will have greater legitimacy and better understanding. It should therefore, according to this study that the United States confined their military role in Iraq to training or weapons.

The RAND Corporation suggests some ideological. For example, the group believes that the fatwas issued by the Council of Ulema in Afghanistan claiming that suicide bombers have neither virgin nor eternal life, were more effective than the tons of propaganda leaflets dropped by U.S. aircraft. Other symbolic change

but crucial: trade the "War on Terror" (war against terrorism), suggesting a purely military solution against the more traditional "counterterrorism" (terrorism). Similarly, it is no longer to get Bin Laden and others for warriors in a holy war but for common criminals.

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General Rondot says the hunt for Radovan Karadzic

Le Figaro, Malbrunot

Belgrade's refusal to grant access to its wiretapping was one of the main obstacles to the location of a war criminal.

Twice, General Philippe Rondot thought to hand over Radovan Karadzic. But each time, the criminal escaped war in extremis in French spymaster who hunted for ten years, alongside a small team set up by Carla Del Ponte, former prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal.

In 1999, while Karadzic is a refugee in Bosnia, one of his bodyguards returned by a team of French agents and CIA. But at the last moment, the man refuses to betray his leader. In January 2000, a telephone monitoring to locate Karadzic in the region of Trebinje. SFOR operation is then triggered, but when the French military arrived on site, the warlord is gone.

"When he saw that the pressure became too strong in Bosnia, Karadzic is spun to shelter elsewhere, "explains General Rondot. The Western intelligence services believe in Montenegro, Greece and even in Belarus, where the fugitive would have made a brief incursion. But Karadzic is hiding in Serbia finally where he has many supporters in the ultra-nationalist political circles, the security apparatus, as well as within the Church, especially in monasteries.

"In Serbia we butions on two problems to catch it, says General Rondot, former Prime Minister Kostunica, first, that does not give its green light, and an obstacle of a technical nature, with telephone interceptions, "essential to the work of detectives on the trail of Karadzic. Belgrade has always denied that other intelligence agencies use data collected from his plays.

"In Bosnia, we could patrol: the DGSE, the Directorate of Military Intelligence, but also our special forces have worked hard. In Serbia, our actions were reduced, "says Rondot. The French general is dependent on the goodwill of Serbia. "If the military intelligence cooperated well with us, however the BIA Civil Service himself was more reluctant, "he adds.

Karadzic was it covered by the BIA? An intriguing detail: about ten days ago, Rade Bulatovic left the direction of civilian intelligence. He refused to cover the arrest of Karadzic? One thing is certain: since the formation of a new pro-European government in Belgrade, the situation had changed for Karadzic. His capture was facilitated by the cooperation of a Western service, most likely the CIA, which has a center of wiretapping on Mount Ijman in neighboring Bosnia, and several members of which were operating within the security apparatus Belgrade.


Mistrust of his



No one knows who the source is at the origin of the catch? From his apartment in New Belgrade, Karadzic had every reason to be wary of his own. He knew that his family was under close surveillance. His brother, Lucas, a businessman who delivered "information room" was "treated" by General Rondot. His wife, Ljiljana, had called him to travel to international justice, and there is only one month his son Alexander was arrested and questioned at length by the services Security in Belgrade.

"Karadzic was probably cut all ties with the financial support networks and family so that we can not go back to him," says General Rondot. Sources said Karadzic had only three bodyguards around him. "Hirsute, it reminds me of another fugitive, Saddam Hussein when he was captured," says General Rondot.

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intelligence more than ever a national priority

By Eric Denécé


Denécé Eric, the director of the French Center for Research on Intelligence (CF2R), author of Understanding everything: Secret Services (EPA, 2008), explains why the measures announced in the White Paper on Defence and security must be conceived as the starting point for the recovery of information and not as a result.

The recent White Paper on Defence clearly displays the new government priority given "intelligence and foresight, to ensure the security of our country. The number of services will be strengthened, improved recruitment and training, additional resources shall be granted them; meaningful budgets will be devoted to space intelligence, whether of imagery or interceptions, a diplomat coordinate, from this summer, service activities, as part of a National Intelligence Council (CNR) installed as president.

For those who long argued for a recognition of the importance of intelligence is a great satisfaction. In the highly unpredictable world in which we live, never forget that "weapons are less important than the arm that holds them, the arm is less important than the will which the intelligent guide."

This is due to the awareness of the drafters of the White Paper of the need to anticipate international crises to protect our interests, our citizens and our territory. It is due also to the personal action of the President of the Republic is the first chief executive to focus on a subject that all his predecessors regarded as minor or unhealthy.

Since the creation of the Fifth Republic, no president has given the least importance to intelligence. General de Gaulle did not understand this area, however, vital to the state action and the despised George Pompidou.

Only two leaders have shown a real interest for intelligence Raymond Barre and Michel Rocard. Both had realized that "intelligence is one of the most profitable investments of the state. It is one of the fundamental functions of the national security of any rule of law and constitutes a necessary condition for prosperity. " But they were prime ministers and could never convince the Chief Executive to give this the attention that this area deserves. The fact that a President of the Republic also displays a clear commitment to a national priority intelligence needs to be emphasized.

The White Paper is not the first manifestation of interest Nicolas Sarkozy for this domain. When he was Interior Minister and presidential candidate, he proposed or supported a number of reforms that have taken shape on arrival at the Elysee: establishment of a parliamentary delegation to monitor business Intelligence; approximation of the DST and the General Intelligence (RG) appointment of qualified professionals at the head of service (Frederick Péchenard the DGPN and Bernard Squarcini the DST) will create a National Security Council attached to the Presidency etc..

While some of these reforms were proposed long ago: the transformation of the NWMO a National Security Council has debated since the 1980 merger and DST-RG at least since 1986. But nobody did. In the early 1990s, Michel Rocard, then Prime Minister and his security adviser, the prefect Remy Pautrat, tried to lead a reform: they managed to reactivate the Interdepartmental Intelligence Committee (IRC), but the police chief National opposed the merger time DST-RG and the subject did not interest Francois Mitterrand.

However, the announcement of the new priority given to information must be qualified: the delays in our services for decades requires a major effort. But the measures announced in the paper are still modest.

The space intelligence will be the main beneficiary of the new budgets. Significant investments are crucial to have interception capabilities or observation from space. This is a great decision. But this means that the departments responsible for human research will benefit only a small part of this windfall. This is worrisome, because our intelligence agencies operating abroad are in dire need of means to adapt to new challenges. Michel Rocard recalled recently in Le Figaro that the budgets that France gave the information were three times lower than those of the United Kingdom, which has over the U.S. financial and technical support. Despite the stated priority, the investments proposed by the White Paper will not, by far, to catch up.

It should be remembered that the DGSE, the leading French service, represents only 0.9% of the defense budget, which represents less than 2% of the state budget! This is small for a national priority. Moreover, despite the willingness, the Directorate Military Intelligence (DRM) will lose this year, posts in connection with the reduction in size of armies. Surprisingly, the White Paper does not mention the necessary reconciliation of the young and efficient service with the Directorate of Protection and Security of Defense (DPSD), like what has been done between the DST and RG.

Finally, a reservation must be formulated. Diplomacy is not intelligence. Whatever the personal qualities of ambassadors appointed head of the DGSE, or RSS, these are two businesses and two different purposes. As the president has done to the police, it is time to give women and men of the intelligence function steering or coordination of services.

We should rejoice that for the first time, intelligence is the subject of presidential interest and a national priority. But if a new dynamic seems to be emerging through the white paper, it should not overshadow a tangible fact: the French intelligence is undersized in terms of threats, our interests in the world and our international responsibilities .

The measures announced should be seen as the starting point for the recovery of national intelligence and not as a outcome. They do not allow us to match the average UK, Germany or Israel, a country in which the intelligence budgets are increasing continuously for many years.
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"Men will always be necessary to defend our country"

Interview by Stephen Montety
of Le Figaro of 11/07/2008

"As a member of the Security Council, France can not avoid its responsibilities when the world order is being undermined "said General Jean-Louis Georgelin on the tasks entrusted to the French military.


(photo Francois Bouchon / Le Figaro)

In the occasion of July 14, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, Chief of Defence Staff speaks. Deliberately choosing not to comment on recent events, he reflects on the status of a soldier at a time when high technology invaded the world of defense and security.

LE FIGARO. - The first question concerns the moral and intellectual forces now that our country has not experienced war for half a century. What light is there on his army?
Jean-Louis Georgelin. - I see that this look is positive in view of all the polls we have. Not the image of the armed as measured in these surveys has been good in recent years, while paradoxically the concept of war has deserted the minds. This probably reflects the fact that people feel a strong need for security against threats to the territory.

You are the Chief of Army Staff who have experienced during the twentieth century several defeats. The recollection of these episodes he leads a lack of credibility of the French armies, especially in the eyes of the foreigner?
I'm not at all feel that the losses you mention hanging over us. Military history is still a succession of victories and defeats. The Americans, for example, have won extraordinary victories at the end of the Second World War, but they have known since Vietnam. It is true that the French army symbolically weighed the 1940 defeat, felt like a real humiliation, and Indochina, where we could measure the separation between the CEF and the country, and finally Algeria where there was a real tension between the military and political leaders. Personally, I remain deeply affected by the defeat of 1940, about which we have not yet exhausted, as evidenced by reading The Strange Defeat, Marc Bloch, important book that I always read to my subordinates.

Today, youth officers, the past fades, even if only because these events date back almost seventy years. Today is another type of war. Your question suggests that there may be complex with regard to this story. The answer is no. First, because the recent works of historians rehabilitate how the French fought in 1940. The debacle has not prevented individual behaviors consistent with military honor. France has been present to victory in 1944 and 1945. Finally, since the end of the war in Algeria, she has led a number of military operations in Africa or elsewhere, and each time she has demonstrated a real military capability, which means that our image abroad n has steadily increased.

1870, 1914, 1940 ... It seems there is a kind of inevitability that makes the French army is always behind a conflict ...
In defeat, the responsibility of the military is not unique. They share with political leaders who took strategic options and budget, and with the nation itself. The historian Jean-Baptiste Duroselle did analyze the difference between diplomacy and military tool. But it also shows that there must be total coherence between the two. For there is a difficulty that we face all the time: calendars. The duration of construction of a military tool does not match the speed with which one can change the concept of diplomatic or political vision. Can evolve a policy a few years, but a military tool is built into thirty or forty years. We just change the world with the demise of the Warsaw Pact, and in France, the professionalization of the army. But this is not a reason to liquidate all equipment we had: we could see the role of artillery in the siege of Sarajevo, the Leclerc tank in Lebanon. Generally, in peacetime, there has always criticized the military to be too expensive.

For Westerners, the only legitimate military intervention that is based on international mandates, not to defend the national interest but to restore the rule of law in foreign lands. Is there more soldiers, but policemen of the international order?
History of France being what it is, especially as a member of the Security Council, it seems difficult for her to discharge of its responsibilities when the world order is being undermined. Often I am asked: "Dying for Kabul, what does that mean?" This means that the soldier is a servant who obeys the mission given to it. That the President of the Republic to assess the merits of the mission. But our society tends to lose the notion of obedience, which requires discipline and humility. The army, after that company is not immune to such a drift. Obey, it means that we recognize an authority is superior, that our time is extremely relativistic, is hard to accept.

We can also ask whether the concept of war itself is exceeded, which would mean the end of the soldier. For my part, I do not believe that, whatever the wisdom of men, we can say that the war has disappeared. Especially because a level of wealth as that of Europe will sooner or later coveted, especially if America remains an island of prosperity surrounded by a poor world. The French nation will she able to endure another war? Yes, if she has kept within its borders, as part of its alliances, women and strong men of a spirit of sacrifice and renunciation, which have accepted a life of selflessness, willingness to take risks. I often think that speech which Thucydides puts into the mouth of Pericles eulogizing dead fighters against Sparta: "There is no happiness without freedom and there is no freedom without courage." We must not forget that reality.

What does the ideal military in 2008?
One of my concerns is the risk of trivializing the military. With the prospect of a difficult international situation, we should commit ourselves to a large scale in a hard conflict, my concern is to have the military really ready to meet state requirements military. When I met the Chiefs of Staff, is a theme that I discuss often. We must always be ready to face a serious event, and could exceed the current framework of our overseas operations. For me, the duty of a leader is to get that attitude and maintain. Officers in schools, identifying students strikes me. It should not be that over time this feeling fade. Let me make a comparison in the religious sphere: there are religious in countries where it is carried by a true faith. A country that is no longer concerned for his safety, but only by concerns individual would be endangered.

These young people are trained to an ideal based on the notion of sacrifice. What does this concept today as officers of the army have been largely dead since the end of the war in Algeria?
We had since the end of the war in Algeria for more than six hundred dead in the theater of operations. We were dead in Lebanon, Bosnia, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Afghanistan. But our young officers should not be mistaken in time and live in nostalgia of RC4. We must be prepared to die if freedom of the City requires. We can not exclude the spirit today sacrifice in the training we provide. An army that would give up this spirit of sacrifice becomes a simple international police. We can not ignore the fact that the true specificity and true nobility of the military profession. An army who would give up an army.

We have a small army. Is it reasonable to think that she should make the management of conflicts of low intensity, maintaining order throughout the year? Can both do that and be prepared for more serious events?
is my responsibility to be able to do so. I currently under my orders 250 000 soldiers. We must both be able to participate in these operations while continuing to train and we train ourselves. I always wonder when I hear explain that France should intervene in some operations: it is often the international situation that dictates the operations in which we must get involved. We do not always have a choice. The French army must be possible in three directions: to cope with a sudden worsening international situation, fight against instability in the framework of our international commitments, to participate in protecting our interests and our citizens including in civil operations in the country, as in natural disasters, for example. It would be wrong to believe that we can favor one of these areas to the detriment of the other two.

The mission of the military is not unconnected with the police officer, even if it does not question the collective destiny of the nation and works within the national framework to preserve the rule of law . But can we differentiate between these two states?
There is a fundamental difference between the police and the military even if it is true, the two risk their lives in the exercise of their profession: the nature of the adversary. The opponent is the police that an offender must neutralize the name of the company; the soldier is a man who, like him, is in charge of the destiny of his nation and fought for his country. In the latter case, the level of violence may reach an extreme stage.

But for twenty years, the French armies are engaged in outside a crackdown on offenders under international law ...
I do not deny the fact that indeed we are dealing with some kind of offenders. But the difference is that they rarely act for its own interests but in the name of a certain collective vision, which gives them ideal and perseverance in action.

Do you feel today that the military thinks about itself, it produces a thought to design or plan? The Centurions Are some doctors?
is often the case against the French military thinking. It is also a consequence of our defeats. We forget that a number of our military thinkers have still abroad. Do you know Guibert, Captain Ardant du Pic Admiral Castex, who is recognized and studied in the U.S.? In the 1960s, we also had two types of thinkers French soldiers: experts the Revolutionary War, David Galula (the thinker of the cons-long insurgency published in the U.S. and arrives just in France), Colonel Trinquier. Other soldiers were a true reflection on the nuclear era, generals Beauffre and Welsh and, of course, Lucien Poirier.

So it's true, France is written under the United States. But I note with satisfaction that this is changing. Recently, several scholarly works, analysis of the history, strategy were published by colonels. We naturally encourage officers to publish, through CEREM (Centre for Studies and search of higher military education) or the journal Inflections. It also created the DSMB (Centre Joint concepts, doctrines and experiments), which reflects in depth on all these subjects, also with the doctrine centers of each army.

Reflection is difficult because, unlike fifty years ago, the threat is more diffuse
... Precisely because the situation is more difficult than the reflection is even more necessary. Reflection, especially through writing, is conducive to the man of action to prevent it from slipping. Consider what? It seems important to think constantly of what the war today. What does that mean in a country in Europe that has postponed the threat beyond its borders, new situation, which closed the open parenthesis of conscription by the French Revolution? What is war today? What kind of conflicts should you prepare, when the technology (including information technology and communication) have significantly changed? We must take advantage of opportunities offered by technology, but believe that we can protect our society without taking risks is a dangerous illusion. To be respected, we must take risks humans. Look at the plight of Americans in Iraq. We saw them destroy the army of Saddam Hussein in three weeks. Four years later, they are in an extremely difficult situation. War is not a pure rational world. Take the concept of courage. In all societies, it is a virtue. And yet ... As long as one is not tested, we know nothing of courage. Courage can be individual or collective. I'm always fascinated by the reaction of Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands War. What justified going to war for a few islands lost, if not honor and courage in command to take risks? The idea that only by cameras, satellites, sophisticated weapons we will be defended against all is an illusion. If I am a soldier, because I think that there must be men and women to defend our country, our values, what we believe. This dimension has been fully taken into account in the White Paper.

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Bronislaw Geremek, the death of a great European

Pierre Rousselin
Le Figaro 13/07/2008

Both man of spirit and action, and committed scholar, Polish Bronislaw Geremek has been through his time at the forefront of the fight for freedom . Both
man of spirit and action, and committed scholar, Polish Bronislaw Geremek has been through his time at the forefront of the fight for freedom.


Photo credit: AFP

The intellectual and Polish MEP Bronislaw Geremek, a figure of anti-union Solidarity during the 1980s, died Sunday in a car accident in Poland. A historian by training, former adviser to Lech Walesa, former foreign minister, he was 76 years old. Francophone and Francophile, he contributed his share to bring down the Iron Curtain and the reunification of Europe.

He was extraordinarily bright and at the same time very simple. Able to listen with patience and warmth anyone tell him about what he knew better than anyone. And so competent that he made available to all the intricacies of the complex history and politics.

blue eyes sparkling, her voice hollow, pipe between his teeth, the tweed jacket, Bronislaw Geremek was a regular conferences, seminars and television programs. It is disputed because it was the European intellectual par excellence, a great humanist, one of those extraordinary people who, for Montesquieu, punctuate the story our continent.

Both wit and man of action, and engaged scholar, he crossed his time at the forefront of the fight for freedom, first in the epic hero of Solidarity in Poland, then builder of our new Europe.

Born March 6, 1932, the child grows up in the Warsaw ghetto. Son of a rabbi, he managed to escape in 1943 with his mother while his father died at Auschwitz. Back in Warsaw, he studied history and specializes in the Middle Ages, less subject to Marxist dogmatism.

Several times, the French government grants enable to go to Paris, where he became perfect French and Francophile sustainably. The historian has a passion for the work of the Annales school, alongside Fernand Braudel, Jacques Le Goff and Georges Duby, and became one of the world of exclusion and marginality in medieval France.

In 1950, he joined the Polish Communist Party (Stern). He will leave eighteen years later, after an anti-Semitic purge led by the Party leaders in March 1968, and after the crash in August, the Prague Spring by the Red Army, which is integrated detachment Polish. He then moves closer defense workers.

In August 1980, Professor Geremek arrived in Gdansk in the company of another prominent intellectual Tadeusz Mazowiecki, to seal the alliance between the opposition and academia worker. This is the great strike in the shipyards. The two men will find themselves alongside the small electrician Lech Walesa, propelled to the head of Solidarity. They will be his main political advisers.

Bronislaw Geremek suffers from the time the red of the secret police. In 1983 he made two months in prison on remand. He is expelled from his university and accused of spying for the United States, then belonging to an illegal organization, Solidarity. The union is wary of him: the anti-intellectual sling prevents him from being elected a full member of management.

This ostracism did not prevent him from playing in the shadows, a leading role. During the sixteen months of the existence of the union, it exerts a moderating influence. Despite this, he is despised by the regime, who sees in him the image of the militant anti-intellectual in the pay of the United States.

After the coup of 13 December 1981 and the declaration of a state of war by General Jaruzelski, Geremek was placed in camp internment. Simultaneously, the subject of particularly heinous attacks from Radio Warsaw. It is presented as a "Jewish chauvinist" with links to the "International Freemasonry" and portrayed as a clever impostor to the appearance but would be a "specialist subjects such as prostitution scabrous" the Middle Ages.

interned for a year, and then imprisoned again for three months in 1983, he was dismissed for "anti-Soviet" of his teaching position at the History Institute of the Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.

In 1989, during negotiation of the Table discussion between the government and Solidarity, he is one of the main mediators. His knowledge of the Party, he attended the inside for eighteen years, it is valuable to drive an unprecedented process to considerable historical consequences.

conducted under the threat of intervention by Moscow, the discussions eventually lead to in effect by the fall of the communist regime in Poland, leading all the satellites of the Soviet Union in a gear that has caught the leaders Solidarnosc, as indeed most European observers.

In the first election "semi-democratic" June 1989 Geremek joined the Diet. He chairs the parliamentary group of Solidarity, the Committee on Reform of the Constitution and the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament. Thus began a parliamentary career he will pursue, from 2004 until his death in Strasbourg and Brussels.

Poland came this year in the European Union. Bronislaw Geremek was one of the great architects of the European roots of his country since he was foreign minister from 1997 to 2000 and he especially had to negotiate the accession of Poland to NATO.

With the humor of an old sage, he handled the derision to relativize the difficulties of European construction: "When I study a European directive, he said, I put a Bach cantata, and it is already much better. "

apostle of reconciliation between Germany and Poland, a supporter of an agreement with Russia, convinced European, Bronislaw Geremek was primarily a Polish patriot, a major battle of his country to freedom.

The need for a political Europe was to him so obvious that the institutional crisis initiated by the failure of the Constitution inspired him this remark: "After making Europe, we Europeans need to do now. Otherwise, we risk losing it "(1).

(1) "Europe in crisis". Preface of the book "Visions of Europe", published by Odile Jacob in September 2007.

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Betancourt, a video release

AP

On the video capture disclosed by Bogota Ingrid Betancourt was discovered in the process of boarding the helicopter. At this point, it is still unclear that this is a release operation. (AP)

Fake journalist filmed the raid that led to the release of 15 hostages held by FARC. In this revealing video, he intends to prove Bogota there has not been staging designed to conceal the payment of a ransom.

While several media outlets are questioning the official version and report a ransom, the Colombian military has released a video Friday of the rescue operation that led to the release Wednesday of 15 hostages from FARC, which Ingrid Betancourt. This document lasting three minutes was filmed by a member of the Colombian special forces who was posing as a journalist.

In the first sequence, we see the hostages across a plain to reach a helicopter, similar to those used in previous unilateral release of hostages held by the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross). Their hands are hampered by plastic rods and some of them seem angry.

Suddenly, the camera fixed on the face of American military Keith Stansell, held hostage for 5 years, who said at the wrong camera: "I love my family." Then she moves to the head of the rebel captors, the commander "Cesar" who refuses to grant an interview.

The second sequence is that the announcement of the hostages sitting in the helicopter, they are free. "You are free everything is finished, "shouted one of the commando members, addressing the hostages that explode with joy. Ingrid Betancourt, resigned, his face closed, does not seem at first fully understand the situation. Then a smile on his lips.

Finally, we hear screams of joy, cries of joy and some hostages were standing in the unit.

No image shows how the two FARC guerrillas are neutralized by special forces.

Israel denied involvement

The Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, who has decided to broadcast these video clips of the press, argued Friday night these images proved that there was no stage intended to conceal the payment of a ransom to the rebels but a true commando operation.

He explained that the trick had been copied on two previous hostage-handed, which took place in January and February through the mediation of Venezuela. "During the last two hostages handed, there was always a cameraman provided by (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez," he said. In addition, the helicopters that had brought the six hostages were carrying Venezuelan and the staff of the International Red Cross.

The defense minister also denied reports published in international media that Israel has participated in the operation, ensuring that the mission was "100% Colombian". "Not a single foreigner participated there," he said, adding that U.S. authorities had been notified ten days before the operation in the framework of an agreement between President Alvaro Uribe and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush.

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And if that was all a bluff?

Radio Suisse Romande said that Bogota and Washington have paid a large sum of money to "flip" one of the guards of the 15 hostages freed. The military announced would never have happened.

If confirmed, the information revealed by Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) could be a bombshell in Colombia. Citing a source "close to the events," "reliable, proven repeatedly over the last twenty years," the radio said in effect that no military operation would have taken place to free Ingrid Betancourt and 15 other hostages.

The radio said the hostages "were actually purchased at full price, then the whole operation was staged." The source of the RSR said that the wife of one of the guards hostage, was arrested by the Colombian military, would function as an intermediary. It is thanks to Bogota, assisted by the United States could "buy" the release of the hostages against $ 20 million paid to their guardians. Also according to the radio, Washington would be the basis for this operation.

The RSR also explains that many observers were disturbed by two very credible in the official version of the release of hostages: first, the look absolutely perfect conduct of the operation and then the absence of a Video showing commandos in action, while a man is always responsible for shooting this type of operation.

Worse for President Uribe, Swiss radio said he "wanted to decide the D-Day, where such release would occur, according to its own political agenda." Alvaro Uribe has indeed call early elections, while several corruption cases put him in trouble in the polls.

The staging a commando operation allows it says Swiss radio, "stick to his line that excludes any negotiations with the rebels until the hostages are not released" and "regild its image. "

Another sign of the credibility of the information given by the RSR, the reaction to the slowest of Paris. Asked at a press briefing Friday, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Eric Chevallier said that France paid no ransom. "Not having been involved in this operation, we have not been associated with its financing arrangements, if indeed there was funding arrangements," he replied. A somewhat convoluted answer, which supports the notion of "staging".

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The bluff of the Colombian army operation

EXCLUSIVE FIGARO MAGAZINE - How the army and the Colombian intelligence services have they managed to fool one of the most paranoid in the world? Decrypting a plan that went smoothly.

"Operation worthy of a movie ',' epic epic" ... The Colombian authorities have no words strong enough to describe their success after the release of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC hostages. Yet failure is an ingredient to make a Hollywood blockbuster: shootings. Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president, has stressed on several occasions: not a shot was fired during the operation, and no one was injured. "We have never improvised," he says to explain the unexpected success of an operation conducted by a thorough and effective modern army. Le Figaro Magazine was able to interview the Colonel Gomez, one of the main organizers of this release, which goes behind the scenes.

Act I: infiltration. Evidence suggests that Thursday morning, the British had managed to infiltrate "agents" of military intelligence at two levels of the organization FARC. "At least one man" was able to integrate the "first circle of the Armed Forces Forces of Colombia, its secretariat, a body of collective leadership. Others seem to have been placed in front of a number of FARC, led by Gerardo Antonio Aguilar, alias "Cesar". The British did not say how many officers were involved in this huge bluff, nor how long they were infiltrators. Still, this first step has been made possible by an intensive intelligence work, in collaboration with U.S. and Israeli consultants.

Act II: identification. In an interview published Saturday in Le Figaro Magazine, Colonel Gomez, one of the main organizers of these releases was that the Colombian military had located the hostages since "approximately four months." "We had technical information and also information obtained by the infiltrators'. About 200 soldiers were involved in this phase, and some have come very near the area where the hostages were undetected. In early May, soldiers have even seen two American hostages, and two Colombians who washed into the river, but we did not want to attempt a release order not to endanger the lives of others. "

Act III: the bluff. The objective of President Uribe to free the hostages most important, foremost among them Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans. But they are divided into three groups held in different places. Taking advantage of the beheading of the organization after the death of Raul Reyes and number 2 of the historic leader Manuel Marulanda, with the undercover agent in the secretariat, the army managed to FARC to believe that their new leader, Alfonso Cano , ordered the consolidation of the hostages and their transfer to a new place, for a possible prisoner exchange. According to Colonel Gomez, officers even managed to circulate this order on the fictional radio waves from the guerrillas.

The jailers are convinced that they must transfer the 15 hostages who were among a group of 39 captive-called "policies" that the rebels wanted to exchange against 500 of their imprisoned by the Colombian authorities. The FARC commander Asprilla confirmed Ingrid Betancourt one hour before surgery. The hostages are then carried to a rendezvous point where two helicopters waiting. They are white, without any distinguishing mark. This is actually M-17 of the Colombian Army, repainted as soon as possible by the military.

Act IV: action. The plan being put together, yet to take action. The army was indeed a "plan B" in case of a hitch: circle the FARC captors without fighting and to bring humanitarian organizations to negotiate the release. But it will not be used. Men are descended from a helicopter. They wear t-shirts bearing the image of Che Guevara and are even equipped with AK-47 rifles, weapons typical of the guerrillas and not the Colombian army. They say they are responsible for transporting the hostages by helicopter to a camp to meet the new leader of FARC, Alfonso Cano. In confidence, Cesar climbs into the machine. He was immediately neutralized by Colombian agents. Meanwhile, other men handcuffed the hostages to deceive the other guerrillas and are mounted in the M-17. Doors are slammed behind them. In total, this phase did not last more than five minutes.

Act V: deliverance. Immediately, Ingrid Betancourt noticed a naked man, blindfolded on the floor of the unit. She then recognizes Cesar, his torturer, who had humiliated repeatedly during his captivity. The commander and a member of his staff, appears to have been previously deceived by disguises and immediately neutralized. It was at that moment that the head of the Colombian army operation falls the mask. " You're free. " The hostages scream, cry, leap into the air with joy, as the story of Betancourt, who emphasized that he was scared that the helicopter crashed. In total, nine people participated in this phase of the operation.

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A Colombian intelligence

LEMONDE.FR Colombian Defense, made the announcement from Bogota, indicating that the release occurred near San Jose del Guaviare in the south-east.

"I first want to give thanks to God and soldiers from Colombia," said the former hostage in a first statement on radio Caracol.

In an intervention from the Elysee, the French president to prevcisé Ingrid Betancourt was in "good health". Alongside the children of Ms. Betancourt thanked Colombian President and heads of state of countries that have contributed to the liberation of the hostages. According to the Minister

Colombian defense, two helicopters took part in the operation during which two guerrillas were detained. The minister said that the operation was underway last year, focusing on the intelligence work done by the General Freddy Padilla de Leon, chief of the armed forces, and Mario Montoya, head of the area was place the operation.

undercover

In announcing the release of the hostages, the defense minister has told the story of an intelligence operation and infiltration of very high level. He has stated that hostages were held in three different locations in order to enable their release, it was necessary for the Colombian armed forces to infiltrate the secretariat, the instance of collective leadership of the highest level of the FARC. In this context it was decided by leaders of the guerrilla movement to bring the hostages to be placed under the sole control of Alfonso Cano, who has been leading the FARC after recent death of Manuel Marulanda, said "Tirofijo".

The minister said the operation was conducted with the logistical support of a "fictitious organization" with a helicopter which was actually a unit of the Colombian army. The Colombian armed forces had also infiltrated, according to the minister, the head of FARC number 1, headed by Gerardo Antonio Aguilar, known as "Cesar", with a share of the hostages. The official was arrested while carrying, using the force helicopter, hostage to the point chosen for the three groups together and deliver them to Alfonso Cano.

At the request of President Uribe, an intelligence work on a scale hitherto unknown, including payment information and protection of witnesses, has been developed during the past year by the armed forces and the DAS (Administrative Department of Security) with the help of Israeli consultants, mostly retired officers of the army of Israel.

The Minister addressed to the FARC during his press conference: "We will continue to work for the release of other hostages. We call on current leaders of the FARC that they do not do kill, that they release the hostages and they do not sacrifice their men. "

A strong media mobilization for the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt, held since February 2002, existed in Europe. But l'espoir de la voir libre avait été plusieurs fois déçu. D'abord en 2003, lorsque Dominique de Villepin, alors premier ministre, avait monté une mission de négociation et dépêché un avion. Puis en mars 2008, lorsque la diplomatie française et le président vénézuélien, Hugo Chavez , avaient participé à l'envoi d'hélicoptères dans la zone où l'otage a finalement été libéré. La dernière preuve que l'otage était encore en vie, une vidéo où elle apparaissait immobile, avait été diffusée en novembre 2007.

Ingrid Betancourt, 46 ans, ex-candidate écologiste à la présidence de la Colombie, was a hostage of the FARC for over six years. The

Monde.fr (with AFP)

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The "FBI's French," launched Tuesday

Source: AFP 29/06/2008

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Simply bravo ...

The writer Jean-Christophe Rufin elected to the French Academy

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White Paper on Defence: a hope disappointed

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The White Paper and the intelligence

In France, when you do not hear a question, it creates a commission that handles make it disappear. What connection with the information you say?

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is finally released ...

The White Paper is finally published French Defense ... two months after the originally scheduled release date. If we will not contest the fact that "the army, it ensures the security of the nation, not the land"

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blogs anger shaking the Arab world

Beirut, Delphine Minoui Le Figaro, 26/05/2008 eventually sentenced to three years in prison. Reason given: "publishing false information" and "weakening national sentiment". In fact, the young man of 23 has posted an article criticizing the security of his country on an Internet forum.

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Man alone

The army chief has lent Sunday oath before MPs who were elected at the head of Lebanon. If this election restart Lebanon after 18 months of political crisis, the new president is no less a man alone. The mission he had to accept, and which he has been preparing his name was called to replace another general, the pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud is to begin the reconciliation between two deeply divided camps: the anti-Syrian majority, backed by the West and Saudi Arabia, and the opposition led by Hezbollah, an ally of Iran and Syria. That was the gist of his first speech:

"I call you, politicians and citizens, to start a new phase called Lebanon and the Lebanese, to realize the interests of the nation," he said.

The election of Michel Sleiman, the 127 by 118 deputies, is expected to end 18 months of political crisis. While Lebanon was without a president since November 2007 she was made possible by the signing on May 21 in Doha, an agreement negotiated by Qatar last minute to pull the country out of crisis.

An audience of foreign dignitaries attended the election, including the head of the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. The vote was place under very high protection, with troops deployed around the parliament in downtown Beirut, and snipers posted on rooftops.

To welcome this election, the country was decked Sunday of Lebanese flags and portraits of General Suleiman. The small town of Amchit, which originates General Suleiman, was jubilant. Gunfire echoed through the streets of Beirut ... but with joy!

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The anti-Syrian majority and the opposition agreed conducted for several months on behalf of General Suleiman, a man of consensus remained away from political and religious rivalries. But the struggle over the formation of a unity government, claimed by the opposition, prevented the election.

This election began the revival of the country's institutions, undermined by the crisis, by violence and by the series of bombings that targeted anti-Syrian bloc since 2004. The violence of early May, who took the turn in Beirut clashes between Sunni Muslim, pro-government militants and Shiite opposition, have also left traces, suggesting a reconciliation difficult.

For weapons, the opposition, composed of Shiites and part Christians, has been successful on his main claim, a blocking minority in the future government. It will occupy 11 out of 30 portfolios, where Slimane will have only 3, and will use the veto to impose its will on serious decisions, such as those relating to state security. Hezbollah, the only Lebanese militia army officially yet, fate even win twice, since the issue of its disarmament has not been put on the table.

soon elected president, the current government, headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, has resigned de facto. Consultations have begun to form government that will lead the country toward general elections in spring 2009.

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Climate: the icy South Pole deliver 800 000 years of secrets

Caroline de Malet
Le Figaro, 15/05/2008 a close correlation between the concentration of greenhouse gases and temperatures recorded in Antarctica. Accrediting the idea that the warming is attributable to human activities.

For twenty years, scientists have continued to test this hypothesis over periods of longer and longer. By drilling deeper and deeper, in the framework of the European Epica: one thousand, two thousand, more than three thousand meters. Today, two international teams of researchers, mostly French, published in the journal Nature the latest results of this analysis for 800 000 years, dealing respectively with CO2 and methane. Paleoclimatologists had never risen as far back in time. If the analysis of carbon dioxide is always based on samples from two Antarctic sites (the Russian base of Vostok ice for from today to 420 000 years and the Franco-Italian site drilling Dome C cores dating from 650 000-800 000 years), the methane was performed on the same core conclusion from Dome C, with a measurement point every meter (or every 380 years).

The result of this titanic work conducted over the past 20 years confirms many hypotheses, but also brings its share of surprises. Among the confirmations, scientific have identified nine climatic cycles of alternating glacial and interglacial (warmer). One more a few years ago, where they were identified only eight. Another major conclusion: never, during this long period of several hundreds of thousands of years, was found a CO2 concentration as high as today.

"With 800 000 years of archives, the chances of missing a peak comparable to the one we know today are becoming more minimal," said Jerome Chappelaz, deputy director of the Laboratory of Geology and glaciology Environment (LGGE) in Grenoble and co-author of the work on the methane.

The most striking episode warm identified the period dates back to 320 000 years. The CO2 content was then 320 parts per million (ppm) against over 380 now and the methane concentration of 780 ppm (cons 1800 today). It was then 3-5 degrees higher than today's South Pole. But, says Jerome Chappelaz, "unlike the recent period, which this evolution occurred in 150 years, during this last episode, it took place over several thousand years, which has been given time to to stabilize climate. " Rapid change



Among the harvest of lessons delivered by these works, "we found the lowest levels ever recorded in CO2 667 000 years ago," says Dominique Raynaud, a former director of LGGE and coauthor of study devoted to CO2.

The atmosphere was experiencing carbon dioxide concentration of 172 ppm, more cons than 380 ppm today. "One that may be explained by the role of CO 2 capture by the oceans, which has been more effective at certain times today," said Dominique Raynaud. The study on

Methane shows it, with time increasing the intensity of monsoons in Southeast Asia is consistent with the increase of the methane content in the atmosphere. A new observation is explained in part by the role played by moisture, snow cover of the Tibetan plateau and sunshine. Last

contribution of this work: the rapid climate changes observed in each of the glaciations can not be explained either by the duration of glaciations either by their intensity. Researchers have even noticed when glaciation occurred 770 000 years ago. In fact, these episodes are systematic. "It is surprising because it was expected that they depend on the volume of ice caps in the North Atlantic, but this is not the case, do not hide Jerome Chappelaz. What

question the idea, widespread, that the thermohaline circulation may slow during hot, which could result in a cooling of Europe. Nothing like this has been observed in the past. A real stir, which will not fail to stir.