Word: french
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Plenty, written by David Hare and directed by Fred Schepisi, traces the degeneration of Susan Traherne (Streep) from her work with the French Resistance in 1943 to her desertion of her husband almost 20 years later. Susan--part Joan of Archetype, part loony from Loonyville--is a bitter romantic who never got over her teenage crush on reckless idealism. During the war there was excitement to spare in her view of the British as parachuting | angels of mercy. Her one great moment of idealistic passion--in a tatty French hotel room with an exhausted soldier-hero--is the memory that...
...worst political crisis to hit the four-year-old government of Socialist President Francois Mitterrand seemed to be turning into a nightmare. For weeks French officials had denied charges that the Paris government was directly involved in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, flagship of the Greenpeace environmental movement, in Auckland, New Zealand, last July 10. Nonetheless, a police investigation in New Zealand and a stream of press revelations in France steadily increased suspicions that Mitterrand and his advisers had indeed played a role in the affair. Early last week, after forcing the resignations of France's Defense Minister...
...blaming Hernu, a close friend and associate of Mitterrand's, Fabius was attempting to distance both himself and the President from what French newspapers were calling the "Underwatergate affair." But after repeated denials of official involvement, Fabius' reversal provoked widespread skepticism. A Sofres-Le Figaro poll taken just before the Premier's midweek TV appearance indicated 52% of the French people believe that Mitterrand and Fabius knew beforehand about the plan to blow up the Rainbow Warrior. Fully 78% condemned the decision to sabotage the ship...
...Zealand, meanwhile, two other DGSE agents face a preliminary hearing in November in connection with the sinking. Identified as Major Alain Mafart, 34, and Captain Dominique Prieur, 36, they were arrested shortly after the attack in Auckland harbor. The French government now acknowledges they were a support team for the frogmen who planted the hull-attached mines but argues that they should not be prosecuted since they were acting under orders. New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange, however, has ruled out any "deal" to exchange their freedom for French reparations. Denouncing the sabotage mission as "a sordid act of terrorism...
There is little chance the agents who actually carried out the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior will ever face trial in New Zealand. French law forbids their extradition, and the Mitterrand government, so far at least, refuses to name them. But in the arena of French politics, the prosecution of Laurent Fabius and Francois Mitterrand may have just begun. At week's end DGSE Director Imbot issued an ominous warning: "There has been a plot to destabilize and destroy the intelligence services. I have now sealed off those services. From now on, anything you hear in the press does...