main page
"To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
|
click here for a bigger sunset
One small voice in the proud tradition of FreeBlogging*
Thursday, January 09, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:37 AM:
Here comes your French news round-up of what the average French person is seeing above the fold this morning:Le Monde: Curiously, Le Monde is fronting a Figaro poll. "3 French in 4 oppose war in Iraq." They have the related story, "M. Chirac prepares public opinion for an eventual war with Iraq." Comes the question for France: Can a nation prove itself to be the conscience of Western Civilization by standing with Saddam? Chirac knows better. How long will it take le peuple to catch up to him?
Le Figaro: Not surprisingly, Le Figaro also front its poll, "3 out of 4 French hostile to war in Iraq." There's another angle, though:
But, for Jean-Francois Doridot, director of the "Opinion" department of the polling institute, Ipsos, "everything depends on context." "We had already posed a similar question last September," he specifies. "The results were exactly the same. But the UN has not yet said if there was a material breach (violation patente) of Security Council Resolution 1441! One might think that if the Council declares itself in favor of a military intervention, the French will be much more divided. It's thus a matter of opposition on principle, which can evolve in a few days, after a decision by the UN or the taking of official positions by French authorities."
At the time of the War in the Gulf, a CSA poll, published January 8, 1991, showed that 79% of the French thought "no cause, even a just cause, was worth going to war over." And 69% of them felt that it "is out of the question for a French person to die for Kuwait City." January 18, according to the first poll after the beginning of hostilities, 67% of the French, reassured by the precision and technological superiority of the Allies, approved of the war against Iraq. "Once the intervention had been decided upon, opinion came around," comments Jean-Francois Doridot. "That's perhaps why Jacques Chirac is preparing public opinion today..."
Libé: "Buffalo Grill: Gray Zones in the Dossier." The restaurant chain financial mismanagement scandal continues.
* * *
French Elections, 1st round
Second round special page
Second Round Results Map
The TurkeyBlog main page contains only the 20 most recent entries.
To go further back, check the archive in the right hand bar.
