Ausweis in pocket, I head out for my morning constitutional on Avenue de Breteuil, a spacious esplanade lined with double rows of plane trees leading to the monumental golden dome of Les Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb. A police car cruises…
“France has neither winter nor summer nor morals,” observed Mark Twain. “Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.” The sage of Hannibal, Missouri, was right on both points. France’s temperate climate, moderated by the Gulf Stream, lacks the…
’Tis indeed the season to be jolly, but don’t expect much merriment here. To be sure, the weeks of France’s ongoing strikes against the attempt by the government of President Emmanuel Macron to reform the country’s creaky retirement system is…
Nervous self-congratulation will be the order of the day next week in London as representatives of the 29 member nations convene to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. There will be much relief expressed that President…
After years of Islamist terror attacks from Paris to the Riviera that have left hundreds dead, you might think that the French are inured to the fact that they are the jihadists’ favorite target in the Western world. But now…
The French are a nation of incorrigible, rebellious frondeurs who resent those in power, whoever they might be. Sometimes the animosity turns viciously violent, as during the Jacquerie uprising of 1358, when overtaxed peasants went on a rampage against the…
Israel’s summer offensive against Hamas in Gaza sparked the predictable pro-Palestinian demonstrations across Europe. Organized by groups ranging from pro-Arab associations to far-left fringe parties, they were for the most part peaceful, but the Continent’s centuries-old anti-Semitism resurfaced in countries…
Maybe the third try will be a charm for President François Hollande. After doggedly attempting to apply socialist dogma for his first two disastrous years in office and bringing the French economy to its knees, he reshuffled his cabinet again…
When gendarmes arrested seven Muslim militants in Strasbourg in a pre-dawn sweep last May, it was the first major move in the government’s stepped-up attempt to stem the flow of French jihadists to Syria to join al Qaeda’s fight against…