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...should have never abandoned values that are part of our Republican patrimony to the National Front," Besson told RTL radio in defending the debates last month. The sharp-tongued Besson has slapped down his leftist detractors with mockery and insults, and even dismissed the growing criticism from the right as "café clap-trap." In doing so, he has not only shown the same defiant pugnacity that has become his boss's trademark, but has also become Sarkozy's most effective political operative handling an explosive issue. "Once he bolted the Socialist Party, Besson's very political existence depended...
...there's a risk to that: the tactic may backfire. Sarkozy's approval ratings have fallen to a record low of 39% since the identity debates were announced. Meanwhile, a poll this week showed that 55% of people consider the debates "not necessary." And two months ago, 64% of respondents in another poll called them merely "an electoral tool." The possibility that this could lead to a spanking for the right in the March elections has only grown as other right-wing politicians have followed Besson's lead with provocative statements of their own. Earlier this month, a conservative mayor...
...children have the right to learn how to skate on ice," Murillo gushed during the inauguration of the park, which plans to receive 1.6 million children over the next month, before closing Jan. 3, 2010. "This park is for the children, because they were born to be happy...
...looked possible because Nigeria's government was finally conceding that the rebels' demands - increased development and the environmental repair of the delta - were justified. "The militants are not asking for anything unusual or extraordinary," Defense Minister Godwin Abbe told TIME at his offices in the capital Abuja earlier this month. Just as significant, a petroleum industry bill was also introduced promising greater transparency in a notoriously opaque business - a sign the government was willing to crack down on the kind of corruption that has served Nigeria so badly, fueling unrest not only in the delta but the north...
...hopes for peace are evaporating fast, largely because of two factors. First, the main drivers in the government toward negotiating a truce with the rebels have been out of action for weeks. Yar'Adua, a chain smoker with chronic health problems, has been in Saudi Arabia for nearly a month receiving treatment for pericarditis, an inflammation around the heart. In addition, the President's special adviser on Niger Delta affairs, Timi Alaibe, the key middleman who brought the militants to the table, has been in London for his own medical treatment since early October. The absence...