FAF Weekly Brief March 5, 2010

France

A storm battered France's Atlantic coast last weekend, killing 52 people. The storm, called Xynthia, blew into France early Sunday, February 28, smashing sea walls and destroying homes. The storm also battered Belgium, Portugal, Spain and parts of Germany. Regional officials clamored for France to quickly reinforce its aging sea walls. Another debate has focused on whether local officials allowed too much construction in zones susceptible to floods.
 
Figures released Thursday, March 4, show that the French unemployment rate rose to nearly 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, wiping out recent gains and bringing jobless figures to their highest levels since 1999.

On Tuesday, March 2, Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Rwanda's former President Juvenal Habyarimana, was arrested near Paris, but later released and put under judicial control. Habyarimana, who had been living in France for the last 15 years despite protests from Rwanda's government, has been accused by Rwandan officials of being the "main architect" of the 1994 massacre of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, according to the Guardian. Organizations that work to defend survivors of the genocide and track down people involved in the massacre have welcomed the news.

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev visited France on Monday, March 1, in a bid for closer ties between the two countries. The same day, French president Nicolas Sarkozy announced the  sale of four Mistral-class warships to the Russians. According to Business Week, the sale of the Mistral-class tank carrier would mark the biggest arms sale ever by a NATO country to Russia. At a news conference,  Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters that  the two countries have started "exclusive" talks toward the possible sale, which has sparked some concern among some NATO allies and Georgia, which went to war with Russia in 2008.

United States

New York Governor David A. Paterson has come under increased pressure to resign. On Friday, February 26, he announced that he would not seek reelection, as he struggled with an ever plummeting approval rating and decreased support  from his political party. Paterson is facing allegations that he and his staff interfered in a domestic violence case involving a top governor's aide. In addition, a state ethics panel has accused him of seeking and accepting World Series tickets from the New York Yankees last year despite a gift ban, then lying to the panel about it.
On Wednesday, March 3, the District of Columbia legalized gay marriage, making it the sixth place in the United States where same-sex marriages may now take place. The law had been signed by Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty in December 2009, but as Washington, DC is not a state, it still required congressional review. A day before the law took effect, Supreme Court Chief Justice, John G. Roberts Jr., rejected a request from marriage equality opponents to put the new law on hold.

President Barack Obama is pushing for an "up or down" vote on a healthcare bill, forgoing any hopes the reforms will receive bi-partisan support. This follows 15 months of debate and Republican filibustering of attempts to move the healthcare initiative forward. Versions of the bill have already been passed in both the House and Senate. The tentative plan now is for the House to accept the Senate's version and for both chambers of Congress to use a process known as reconciliation, which requires a vote of a simple majority of 51, to bridge any gaps between the two chambers' bills. The initiative still faces many challenges both from more conservative Democrats who oppose some of the abortion language in the legislation and from Republicans who have made clear that they will use all means available to derail the president's efforts.

A U.S. Congressional committee is debating a resolution which would label the World War I era deaths of ethnic Armenians by Turkish forces as genocide. The move is strongly supported by the United States' large Armenian community, but according to the BBC, Turkey has threatened "consequences" for Turkish-U.S. ties if the non-binding resolution is passed. The administration of President Barack Obama also opposes the Congressional move, fearing it will harm ongoing reconciliation talks between Turkey and neighboring Armenia.

On Wednesday, March 3, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to win Brazilian support for sanctions against Iran. Brazil, which is a temporary member of the United Nations Security council, has long been an opponent of sanctions.

 See also:

- An article in the New York Times describing the "Coffee Party," a liberal alternative to the conservative Tea Party, which has started to grow in popularity.

Business

On Tuesday, March 2, General Motors announced that it will recall 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac cars due to power steering problems. The announcement comes in the wake of Japanese carmaker Toyota's callback of more than eight million cars due to stuck floor pedals, resulting in unwanted acceleration, as well as problems with brakes. GM has blamed the supplier, which is partly owned by Toyota, for the faulty steering wheels, adding to Toyota's growing worries.

An announcement that Weight Watchers and fast food chain McDonalds have joined in a partnership  in New Zealand on Wednesday, March 3 was met with outrage by nutritionists and obesity experts. As part the agreement, Weight Watchers will now endorse some of McDonalds' products to dieters and the Weight Watcher logo will appear next to certain food items on McDonalds' menus.

Apple Computers is suing HTC Corp, the manufacturer behind the touch screen Google Android phone, claiming that it has infringed on 20 of Apple's patents connected to its iPhone product. According to Reuters, some in the industry speculate that Apple is using the suit to attack Google by proxy. Many of the patents involved in the case are 15 years old and also cover operating systems, meaning the lawsuit may expand to other corporations beyond HTC. Apple is seeking to bar companies from selling phones in the United States that use the disputed technology. While not cited in the suit, Google has come out in defense of HTC and its operating system.

On Tuesday, March 2, the European Commission ruled to allow European farmers to grow more biotech crops. The move clears genetically modified potatoes to become the first such crop to be produced in Europe in 12 years. According to the Independent, the ruling was met with opposition from environmental groups and a large section of the public who fear the crops will spread antibiotic resistant diseases to humans.

International

In response to an official inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq on Friday, March 5, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that going to war had been the right decision and that he had provided the necessary funding for military action, the Washington Post reported.  Brown said Iraq's failure to comply with United Nations resolutions justified war. While Blair was criticized in January for saying he had no regrets about the war, Brown's opening statement expressed sorrow for the deaths of both British servicemen and Iraqi civilians. Critics have accused Brown, who was finance minister at the time of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, of failing to provide enough funding for military chiefs to equip troops properly.

It is estimated that the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday, February 27, may now result in 1,000 deaths. According to the Chilean government, 795 people are already confirmed dead with an estimated 2 million people made homeless. It is also feared an unknown number of victims were dragged out to sea by the massive waves which pounded the Latin American nation's coastline. Looting and violence plagued Chile's largest cities Santiago and Concepción in the aftermath of the quake, forcing police and firefighters to abandon relief efforts in order to battle the looters. The government has also flown soldiers and marines to protect the vulnerable southern cities hit by the disaster. Extensive aid has been promised by the international community, including regional neighbors Brazil and Bolivia, as well as the United States.

Radovan Karadzic, the indicted Bosnian Serb wartime leader currently on trial at The Hague for crimes committed during the 1992 to 1995 Balkan war, denied his soldiers committed atrocities, calling the alleged acts "myths" according to the New York Times. Karadzic also argued that there had been no siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, instead claiming the city had simply been divided by fighting, with Bosnian Muslims killing fellow Muslims and even planting bodies to incriminate Serbs. He also asserted that the widely documented1995 Srebrenica massacre in which 7,000 Bosnian men and boys were murdered, was a fabrication. 

On Wednesday, March 3, Libya announced a comprehensive trade embargo on Switzerland, following days of heated exchanges between the two nations and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for jihad or holy war, against the Swiss. However on Thursday, Libya's Ambassador to the U.S., Ali Aujali clarified the comments, saying the jihad is of a purely economic nature. The ongoing feud dates back to 2008 when Swiss police arrested Gaddafi's son Hannibal over charges that he abused two of his employees. Though the charges were ultimately dropped, Libya still retaliated by cutting oil exports to the European country and withdrawing millions of dollars from Swiss banks. Tensions further rose when in 2009 a referendum banning minarets at Swiss mosques was passed. 

Speaking from a meeting in Cairo, Egypt, the Arab League's foreign ministers announced that they accepted a U.S. proposal for Palestinians and Israelis to renew indirect talks brokered by the United States. A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority ruled out direct talks for the time being, citing as an obstacle the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The news was welcomed by the Israelis and by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; however the Palestinian Liberation Organization must also agree to the proposal. The PLO is due to meet by week's end.

French-American Foundation Announcements:

- The French-American Foundation supports humanitarian efforts in Haiti. Please donate now.