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June 19, 2013
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 A Diverse Picture in French CabinetPosted on May 18, 2007Newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made something of a splash with his new cabinet. Seven of the government’s 15 ministers will be women. Bernard Kouchner, the socialist founder of Doctors Without Borders, will serve as the conservative government’s foreign minister. Justice Minister Rachida Dati is France’s first senior cabinet official with an ethnic minority background. It should be noted that although Kouchner is a socialist, he was one of handful of French leaders to support the invasion of Iraq, although he did so on humanitarian grounds.
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By Howie, May 18, 2007 at 5:41 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Does this mean that Bill O will have to call for the reinstatement of the French Boycott?
Viva la France!
Report thisBy QuyTran, May 18, 2007 at 10:19 am Link to this comment
Only one “past” poodle Blair was enough. We don’t have plenty of good foods to feed one another !
Report thisBy Hank Van den Berg, May 18, 2007 at 10:14 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Wait a minute, what is one half of 15? Is one cabinet minister neither male nor female? This is important, because if there are 8 female ministers, now that would be a real development! The number is 7 femals, isn’t it? So it still is not quite half.
Report thisBy Sarkoma, May 18, 2007 at 9:10 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
By now, it is clear that the twin track approach of the neo-conservascists is to pretent they are promoting Women’s rights and on the other hand push for centralization of power and formation of a quasi-dictatorship (cfr. Wolfowitz in Iraq and Worldback, Rice in Bush administration, ...).
Report thisSarkozy has has a neo-con agenda and is masterfully packaged it.
I am not too impressed by Bernard Kouchner neither: Another “Do Gooder” functioning as decoy for the pro-Israeli bias of Sarkozy.
By RAE, May 18, 2007 at 8:30 am Link to this comment
Just a thought…
It certainly makes sense and seems fundamentally fair to ensure that any legislative body purporting to represent “the people” is more or less balanced in terms of the sexes, races, ages, etc.
That said, of PRIMARY importance is that the individuals are selected on the basis of their competence to do the job. This criteria has NOTHING to do with biology.
Do not assume that any specific female, because of her gender, is possessed of greater sensibilities and degree of compassion towards her fellow “man” than any specific male could be. Just remember Lizzy Borden and Margaret Thatcher!
An ambitious and competitive woman could be even more ruthless and cold than a man as overcompensation to avoid being considered “softheaded” or a pushover by her male peers.
Report thisBy Louis Proyect, May 18, 2007 at 7:54 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“It should be noted that although Kouchner is a socialist, he was one of handful of French leaders to support the invasion of Iraq, although he did so on humanitarian grounds.”
So what. French parliamentarians voted for war credits in 1914 “on humanitarian grounds”. They backed the war in Algerian and in Indochina “on humanitarian grounds”. This is nothing new. It was called “social patriotism” in those days. Nowadays it is called “cruise missile leftism”.
Report thisBy Verne Arnold, May 18, 2007 at 7:01 am Link to this comment
Mr. Sarkozy, it seems, has impressed the world with his appointments. Women yes! minorities yes! Play kissy, kissy with Bush? This is a worry. Well see we dont need another Blair!
I have rather enjoyed France’s independence from our worldview. Its healthy. We need honest brokers for friends and more importantly we need to listen. Building a healthy consensus from honest brokers gives legitimate power. With out this legitimacy we are condemned to unilateralist policies, which ultimately will isolate us (already there) and see us relegated to a second-class nothing. We cannot act as though the rest of the world is irrelevant for they are, the other super-power.
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