Re: The election heartquake in France

Boris brings up an interesting  point here. It has been common for many in
the past to assume that "Left wing governments equal nationalism and anti-US
sentiments" while "Right wing governments equal pro-capitalism and closer
ties with the capitalist USA."

But Boris reminds us that right wing governments can also become very
anti-USA. And the issue isn't just France.......how Russia will evolve is a
particularly important question.

Alan Spector

====================

----- Original Message -----
From: "Boris Stremlin" <bstremli@binghamton.edu>
To: "Michael de Socio" <desoc001@hotmail.com>
Cc: <Anne-Marie.Jeay@univ-nancy2.fr>; <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 12:21 AM
Subject: Re: The election heartquake in France


> Anne-Marie,
>
> I wouldn't be too hasty about moving to the US:  Chirac will almost
> definitely win the runoff, and in a recent story covering the French
> elections, the New York Times observed that the "right-wing" Chirac is
> well to the left of - Al Gore!  We're not exactly the same planet here...
>
> However, Michael is correct to note a general rightward shift in Europe.
> Thus, I repose a question I asked here several months ago - what does a
> rightward shift in Europe mean for the relationship between Europe and the
> US (and for future of EU integration).
>
> On Sun, 21 Apr 2002, Michael de Socio wrote:
>
> > I was shocked to read this morning that La Pen and Chirac will be facing
> > off. This seems to be the general rightward trend, doesn't it? Bush Jr.,
> > Sharon, Berlusconi in Italy, Haider in Austria; Denmark recently went to
the
> > right as well.
> >
> > Bush's "war against terrorism," his war against the Other, especially
Arabs
> > and Muslims, must have played a large role in the resurgence of La Pen?
> > (Incidentally, the last I heard, he was in prison and was barred from
ever
> > running in elections again. What happened?)
> >
> > But maybe not all is bad news: Jospin (center-left-liberal) lost because
the
> > far left received an astounding 10% of the vote. Perhaps we'll start to
see
> > a resurgence of the Left (and not the wimpy, laissez-faire Clinton-Blair
> > variety, modelled, after all, on Reagan).
> >
> > michael de socio
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
>
> --
> Boris Stremlin
> bstremli@binghamton.edu
>