How did aggressive nationalism push france and germany to the brink of war in the early 1900s?

a. New weapons of mass destruction had placed Germany ont he most feared nations list. b. Germany sought retribution for its depressed economy, which it blamed on France. c. France yearned for revenge against Germany to regain its position as Europes leading power. d. Germany longed to seek revenge against france for its lost provinces.

In court with Jérôme Kerviel, the man who lost five billion

Watching the trial of Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader, I have been struck once again by the informal atmosphere of French criminal courts. There is plenty of majesty in the Palais de Justice, on the site of the old royal… Read More

France’s eloquent prophet of doom.

France lost its duel with the Anglo-Saxons for supremacy centuries ago. It is now a third-rate power, condemned to sink into race-driven civil war. That is not a line from a Frog-bashing website or the French ultra-right. It’s the apocalyptic… Read More

Sarkozy stirs the plot

Has the palace lost its senses ? The latest episode in the soap opera of the French royal court could lead to that conclusion. President Sarkozy’s team at the Elysée Palace have just counter-attacked over the affair of the marital… Read More

Jean Ferrat, the red bard

France has lost another of its great singer-songwriters. Jean Ferrat, who died yesterday at 79, was not known much beyond the French-speaking world — unlike Jacques Brel or Georges Brassens. But he was a national institution, much loved by the… Read More