Archivo etiqueta «Francia»
By Robert Zaretsky, a professor of history at the University of Houston, Honors College, and the author of Albert Camus: Elements of a Life (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 28/01/12):
“We’ll always have Paris”: Bogie got it right, at least when it comes to this year’s Oscar nominations. While many critics note the nostalgia evinced in “Hugo” and “The Artist” for the innocence of early cinema, they overlook how these films, along with two other nominees, “Midnight in Paris” and “A Cat in Paris,” also evoke nostalgia for a certain idea of Paris.
That this particular Paris is so fashionable … Seguir leyendo
By Timothy Garton Ash, a contributing editor to Opinion, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and professor of European studies at Oxford University. His most recent book is Facts are Subversive: Political Writing from a Decade Without a Name (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 19/01/12):
On Monday, the French Senate is scheduled to debate and possibly vote on a bill that would criminalize denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915, along with any other events recognized as genocide in French law. The bill has passed the lower house of Parliament. The Senate should reject it, in the … Seguir leyendo
By Rachel Marsden, a columnist, political strategist and former Fox News host (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 19/01/12):
Once again, socialism has put a silver fork in itself. Standard & Poor’s has downgradedFrance’sAAA credit rating, giving the country the side-eye on its claims to have its debt under control. This means the country will now have to pay it all back at an even higher interest rate.
Whom are we kidding? No one’s paying back any debts right now. You need money to do that. When was the last time France had any extra cash lying around? It’s like raising the interest … Seguir leyendo
By Christine Ockrent, a journalist and former chief operating officer of France 24 and RFI. She was also editor in chief of the weekly news magazine L’Express (THE GUARDIAN, 17/01/12):
It was Nicolas Sarkozy himself who, last summer, started turning the triple-A credit rating, a rather technical notion until then, into a major political issue. And so last week, after France was officially downgraded by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, the president slipped two points in the polls. Although the other two rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, have maintained their highest marks for the country, and … Seguir leyendo
By Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 15/01/12):
As Egyptians and Tunisians vote to replace ousted despots and the Syrian government teeters on the brink, two old imperial powers are competing to exert their political influence over Arab countries in upheaval. And they are not America and Russia. After years of cold-war competition over the Middle East and North Africa, it is now France and Turkey that are vying for lucrative business ties and the chance to mold a new generation of leaders in lands that they once … Seguir leyendo
By John Vinocur, senior correspondent at The International Herald Tribune (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 12/01/12):
What kind of country would France be if it abandoned its 35-hour work week (it actually kills jobs), set up an affirmative action program for its Muslim immigrants (featuring a zero-tolerance framework for their assimilation), and scaled back its ambitions for Europe as a global political force to more attainable goals?
Answer: An imaginary one. There are no signs of it happening.
Roughly 100 days before voting in an elimination round April 22, and then in a final ballot on May 6, the French … Seguir leyendo
By Christine Ockrent, a Belgian journalist whose career has principally centered on French television (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 11/01/12):
The French are in love with words.
Written words, spoken words, words to sing or to scream or to declaim. Their elite schools train them to believe that once they forge an elegant formula, the problem they have to confront is already half solved.
Nowhere does it show better than in politics. Take François Hollande, the Socialist challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential election in April.
While the president has not officially declared his candidacy and is using his … Seguir leyendo
By Kathryn Harrison, who is writing a biography of Joan of Arc (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 06/01/12):
Joan of Arc was born 600 years ago. Six centuries is a long time to continue to mark the birth of a girl who, according to her family and friends, knew little more than spinning and watching over her father’s flocks. But type her name into Amazon’s search engine and you get more than 6,000 results. France’s national archives include tens of thousands of volumes about her. She has been immortalized by Shakespeare, Voltaire, Twain, Shaw, Brecht, Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Rubens; more … Seguir leyendo
By Chris Spence, a tour guide in Paris (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 06/01/12):
There are no private pawn houses to be found on the squares, boulevards or back streets of Paris. After a centuries-long battle, a Napoleonic law was passed in 1804 to ban pawnbrokers — some of them charging interest rates as high as 120 percent. Today the state still holds a monopoly on pawnbroking through an institution known as the Crédit Municipal — interest rates 4 to 9 percent.
The Crédit Municipal de Paris on the Rue des Francs Bourgeois was crowded when I made a lunchtime … Seguir leyendo
By Nancy Goldstone, the author of the forthcoming book The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 04/01/12):
On Jan. 6, people around the world will come together to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the birth of St. Joan of Arc, the brave peasant girl from the French countryside who in 1429 lifted the English siege of Orléans, walloped the enemy army and led her king to be crowned at Reims. French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans a special visit to the village of Domremy, her birthplace. There will be a parade at … Seguir leyendo
Por Martin Feldstein, profesor de Economía en Harvard. Fue Presidente del Consejo de Asesores Económicos del Presidente Ronald Reagan y Presidente de la Oficina Nacional de Estudios Económicos. Traducido del inglés por David Meléndez Tormen (Project Syndicate, 28/12/11):
El Gobierno francés no parece entender las implicaciones reales del euro, la moneda única que Francia comparte con otros 16 países de la Unión Europea.
Los funcionarios franceses han reaccionado ahora a la perspectiva de una rebaja de la calificación de crédito arremetiendo contra Gran Bretaña. El jefe del banco central, Christian Noyer, ha argumentado que las agencias de calificación deberían … Seguir leyendo
Por Christian Salmon, escritor. Traducción de Juan Ramón Azaola (EL PAÍS, 22/12/11):
“Ya que estos misterios me superan, finjamos que soy su organizador”. Nunca la fórmula de Jean Cocteau fue tan oportuna como en la última cumbre del G-20 de Cannes. Debía ser la hora de gloria de Nicolas Sarkozy, en todo caso una ocasión soñada de desempeñar un papel anhelado por él: el de capitán intrépido en medio de la tempestad. Nunca se había visto una cumbre de jefes de Estado y de Gobierno tan sometidos a la tutela de “los mercados” y, a decir verdad, tan poco … Seguir leyendo
Por Juan Goytisolo, escritor (EL PAÍS, 11/12/11):
El pasado 17 de octubre, cuando salía de una boca de metro en Étoile, ignoraba del todo que se cumplían exactamente 50 años de un acontecimiento que marcó profundamente mi vida: la noche en la que la Plaza de la Estrella se tintó de amarillo y recreó en el ánimo de los allí presentes una resucitada y siniestra Étoile jaune. Fue el titular de Le Monde, en un quiosco de la Avenida Friedland, el que reabrió las puertas de la memoria y me proyectó a 1961 en un vertiginoso salto atrás.
A … Seguir leyendo
Por Pascal Boniface, director del Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales y Estratégicas de París (LA VANGUARDIA, 29/10/11):
Según los últimos sondeos, si las elecciones presidenciales francesas se celebraran en este momento, François Hollande sería el vencedor con un 62% de los votos frente a un 38% del actual presidente Nicolas Sarkozy. Sería la revancha de alguien que, hace tres años, aparecía como un perdedor absoluto mientras que nada ni nadie parecía ser capaz de detener la marcha triunfal de Nicolas Sarkozy.
Pero la amplitud del margen de esa hipotética victoria muestra también su irrealidad. Descartado, por tratarse de un caso … Seguir leyendo
Por Christine Ockrent, periodista. Traducción de María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia (EL PAÍS, 09/10/11):
En general, las disputas internas del Partido Socialista francés provocan bostezos de aburrimiento. Peleas entre egos -siempre los mismos-, palabrería constante y, sobre todo, la penosa sensación de que sus dirigentes no han atravesado una frontera desde el siglo pasado. Pero, de repente, justo cuando la derecha muestra abiertamente sus dudas sobre las posibilidades de Nicolas Sarkozy de salir reelegido en la primavera de 2012, resulta que el PS ha conseguido modernizar nuestra vida política. Algo de lo que se siente no poco orgulloso y de … Seguir leyendo