During his speech to a partisan crowd after his recent loss in the first stage of the French presidential race, Sarkozy put out a challenge. He offered Socialist challenger François Hollande three debates. The occasion in itself was a little odd. A casual viewer tuning in might have mistakenly thought
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Drive-by Planet: Jean-Luc Mélenchon: Left-Front surges in French polls
Left-Front firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon has moved ahead of far-right Marine Le Pen to become the third placed contender in the presidential campaign. He pulls no punches in his colorful descriptions of Le Pen and her far-right views, calling her “a dark presence” and a “filthy beast spewing out hatred.” Mélenchon
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Merah killings: more about psychiatric issues than jihad?
To describe the Mohamed Merah killings as the act of a jihadi-on-a-mission is the type of simplistic narrative that short circuits more in-depth discussion about Merah’s motivations. There are questions about his psychological state that raise questions about whether he was acting as the “mujaheddin” he claimed to be. Merah
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