Showing posts with label François Hollande. Show all posts
Showing posts with label François Hollande. Show all posts

Sunday, February 16, 2014

NSA Spy Programs : French President Got Paid Off, German Chancellor's Worries Continue

Just days after French President François Hollande declared that France had "restored" its trust with the Obama White House after the growing N.S.A. spying scandal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a proposal to create a Europe-only Internet apparatus that would circumvent the N.S.A. backdoor taps, almost universal decryption, and data collection.

During his state visit to the United States, French President François Hollande declared that the U.S. and France had restored mutual respect between the countries, because both nations are committed to respecting the right to privacy. President Hollande's remarks appeared to contradict the N.S.A. relentless spying program on French citizens in apparent violation of Article 9 and 1382 of the French Civil Code and Articles 226-1 and following of the French Penal Code. It's unclear what side deals President Barack Obama might have made with France to induce the French president to announce a reconciliation with the U.S. government. When the data collection of the N.S.A. spy program was first reported to include the private information of millions of French, German, and Spanish citizens, amongst others, popular outrage erupted in Europe to the growing corruption of the Internet by the N.S.A.

Meanwhile, German Chanchellor Angela Merkel made an announcement after the conclusion of President Hollande's state visit to the U.S. that she would propose to France the creation of a new Web network to ensure secure communications in Europe.

No word, yet, on how the Obama administration will respond to Chancellor Merkel's proposal.

Conspicuously absent from President Hollande's agenda during his state visit was any addressing of the latest General Motors TV commercial, which engages in French-bashing.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Scurrying Off, In Secret, Away From The Press

Francois Hollande - Sneaks off to meet Mistress at Secret Apartment

Mayor Bill de Blasio has secret rendezvous with American-Israeli group behind closed doors ; French President has secret rendezvous with Julie Gayet behind closed doors

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was "forced to defend himself Friday after a Thursday speech to the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee was left off his public schedule," The New York Daily News reported, adding, "A reporter from the website Capital New York who found out about the event and tried to cover it was ejected by security, the outlet said."

Separately, Capital New York reported that Mayor de Blasio blamed AIPAC for refusing entry to the reporter, noting that, "The mayor insisted AIPAC wanted the dinner to be closed to the press, but agreed he should have informed reporters regardless."

This isn't the first time that Mayor de Blasio has locked out reporters from covering a controversial event. Last month, Capital New York reported that then the mayor-elect attended a fundraiser for New Yorkers for Clean Livable & Safe Streets (NY-CLASS), the backers of a controversial $1 million Super PAC that exceeded Campaign Finance Board restrictions to defeat the mayor's chief challenger, Christine Quinn. The NY-CLASS fundraiser was also closed to reporters. (And all the behind-the-scenes lobbying that the mayor did to select Councilmember Mellisa Mark-Viverito as the new Council speaker hasn't been exactly transparent, either.)

During the aftermath of the post-Christmas 2010 blizzard, then Public Advocate Bill de Blasio excoriated Mayor Michael Bloomberg for being absent while the city lay buried in unplowed snow.

"The City Council is calling for an investigation into why so many neighborhoods were still buried in snow, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio sent a letter to Bloomberg demanding to know what happened," the local ABC News affiliate reported at the time.

So much for a real progressive reform agenda when it comes to government transparency and openness. Mayor de Blasio's secretive disappearing acts remind us of embattled French President François Hollande, who took to a motor scooter to travel to a secret rendezvous now and then with his mistress, the actress Julie Gayet.

Does the First Lady have anything to worry about ?

Bill de Blasio - Sneaks Into Pro-Israel Lobby AIPAC photo Bill-de-Blasio-TA132a1pp_w860_h617_zps03889c0d.jpg

Sunday, January 12, 2014

François Hollande Only Has Himself To Blame For Not Having A Private Life

What Private Life ? François Hollande, the N.S.A., and Article 13.

The magazine, Closer, reported last week that the French president, François Hollande, in having an affair with the access, Julie Gayet. The fallout provoked by the revelations have been instantly scandalous for two reasons.

First, the French president is normally accorded a large zone of privacy. In the past, other presidents have had lovers, and even fathered children out of wedlock, but the press never reported these truths.

Second, François Hollande reacted in anger. He demanded that the press respect his personal zone of privacy. But the president is a hypocrite, because the French national government just enacted a controversial new law, Article 13, that allows the Ministry of Economy and Finances to spy on French citizens. When the French president says that he has a private life, I want to know, "What private life ?" The president only has himself to blame for not having a private life. Here's how : He's done nothing to stop the N.S.A. spy program or the passage of Article 13.

Ordinairily, France has privacy laws that should be respected, but the United States violates these laws as a consequence of its N.S.A. spy program, and France itself collaborates with the N.S.A., in violation of its own laws.

If the president wants that his private life be respected anew, then he should be fighting on behalf of everybody to have a private life. If the president does nothing on others' behalf, how soon before the good French people should expect that the Ministry of Economy and Finances, given their new spy powers, will disclose "selfies" of the president ?