Word: french
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...Kill Bill movies eager for a thick new slab of steak Tarantino will be disappointed. There are glimpses of Q.T.'s deft cinematic footwork: a quick flashback to the Basterds' springing of a famous Nazi killer from prison; a moment in bed with a German officer and his French interpreter; a crowd shot in which high-ranking Nazis are ID'd with their names printed over their heads. Most of the film, though, reminds you that Tarantino may be a world-class director but what he really wants to do is write. Here the most explosive confrontations are verbal - long...
...President Nicolas Sarkozy, Foreign Affairs Ministry officials say, has repeatedly spoken by phone with his Syrian counterpart, President Bashar Assad, in recent weeks, requesting that Syria use all its influence with Tehran to free Afshar and Reiss. French officials now suspect Iran will mete out some symbolic legal ruling allowing the pair to return to France - perhaps before the start of Ramadan on Friday, Aug. 21. International media reports say a hastily organized visit by Assad to Iran has been planned for this week - presumably to secure Reiss and Afshar's freedom. (See pictures of Sarkozy celebrating Bastille...
...would the leader of a rogue state the U.S. still lists as a sponsor of terrorism want to play do-gooder for a Western power? In large part to repay Sarkozy for the French leader's decision to reach out to Assad in 2008 with an invitation to France's Bastille Day events. Late last year, Sarkozy renewed that embrace with a visit to Damascus, and in January he sought Assad's help in ending the fighting in Gaza...
...appears Syria is ready to return Sarkozy's favors. "Although the Americans have been slowly reaching out to Syria - especially since Barack Obama's election - Assad is aware Sarkozy was the first Western leader to truly see him as an ally and even a friend," says a French diplomat who asked not to be named. Sarkozy's trust, he adds, was especially appreciated by Damascus given the hatred former French President Jacques Chirac reserved for Assad - whom he blamed for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister and Chirac intimate Rafiq Hariri. "There's some genuine gratitude at work right...
...influential Western allies," Dalacoura says. "So it lowers its tone in Lebanon, sends signals to Israel via Turkey that it's willing to negotiate, and continues using its influence with Iran - all as a part of its increasing ties with the West. And this intervention in support of the French detainees is part of that." (Read "France's Fling with Syria...