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As an embarrassed Joe Scarborough said, Mika Brzezinski didn't have her "filter on" this morning. On today's Morning Joe, Brzezinski broke out a lurid tale of how as a young woman she had been held "hostage" by the son of the President of Lebanon, who apparently had hijinks on his mind. Scarborough had just teased Mika with a variation on his running joke of how she vacations in the south of France. Joe jibed that in retaliation for France's sale of warships to Russia, Ukraine notwithstanding, Mika would be imposing personal sanctions on France by cutting back her weekend trips...

A militant Islamist website has created a series of posters calling for attacks on France and for the assassination of President Francois Hollande in reprisal for the country's policies in Mali and the Central African Republic, the SITE monitoring service said late on Monday. In addition to assisting Mali in its war against Islamists, France sent troops four months ago to the majority Christian Central African Republic, where predominantly Muslim "Seleka" rebels seized power a year ago. The Seleka have since been pushed back by Christian "anti-balaka" - "anti-machete" in the local language - militia.

Vacationing in Florida, President Barack Obama continued his telephone consultations with world leaders on Ukraine, speaking one on one Saturday with the leaders of three European powers and collectively with the heads of the three Baltic states, White House said. Obama held individual conversations with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande. He also held a conference call with Latvian President Andris Berzins, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. On the conference call, Obama reaffirmed the United States' "unwavering commitment" to its collective defense commitments under NATO and...

School students should be given a “European Union education” in the classroom to tackle “ignorance” and growing public Euro-skepticism, according to an election manifesto signed by Angela Merkel and eight other of Europe's leaders. The European People’s Party (EPP), the EU’s biggest political grouping, is convinced such a program would improve the public image of Brussels, which has never been lower. Its manifesto for May’s European elections calls for the introduction of “EU education in schools across Europe in order to prepare the next generation for future challenges and to nurture a European approach”. […] Rather than scaling back the...

Editor’s note: As part of its ongoing coverage of the CF-18 fighter aircraft replacement, Defence Watch has published a number of articles from authors supporting various aircraft. This week Defence Watch will be running a three-part series that looks at the Rafale filling the role as Canada’s next fighter jet. It is written by Yves Pagot, PhD
ParisTech Institute, and a
reservist in Armée de l’Air. (i.e. reservist with the French Air Force, he is in a parachute unit). Pagot notes that he does not have any connection to Dassault or the firms involved in the Rafale production. By Yves Pagot Defence...

Although a huge majority of French want to stay on the Euro, a majority of "workers" don't. Poll Conclusions •79% distrust the outside world •72% have no confidence in the French National Assembly •74% think journalists do not write about the real problems •66% think there are too many foreigners in France •63% say Islam is not compatible with values of French society •84% think politicians act for personal reasons •70% Want strengthening of national power away from EU (up 5 percentage points from last poll) •33% want to exit the euro (up 5 percentage points) •52% of workers want...

The following bullet points are from the French Ipos Poll: New French fractures, results and analysis of the Ipsos/Steria. Although a huge majority of French want to stay on the Euro, a majority of "workers" don't. Poll Conclusions 79% distrust the outside world72% have no confidence in the French National Assembly74% think journalists do not write about the real problems66% think there are too many foreigners in France63% say Islam is not compatible with values of French society84% think politicians act for personal reasons70% Want strengthening of national power away from EU (up 5 percentage points from last poll)33% want...

The heiress and the harpist are running for mayor of Paris. The race is intriguing only because both candidates are women. The race is all about image, and the voters know it. "Don't worry," says a passer-by overhearing the conversation. "It'll never happen."" What will never happen is the promise of the harpist, a former Sarkozy minister, to convert ghost metro stations into swimming pools for the homeless. Kosciusko-Morizet earned her nickname of the harpist ever since being photographed for Paris Match lounging in an evening gown in a forest next to a harp "like some posh wood nymph." Vying...

My ordination in you is divine there is nothing fractured about it as man's ordination for truly you have been set apart for such a time as this and I am moving you into positions of authority though others believe they are in control and as my spirit guides you to them Then I will speak through you disassembling their hierarchy of pride and vanity before their submissers and redeem what is truly mine for my wisdom is greater and they do not walk in the knowledge of my kingdom but their own. So watch as pride takes a fall...

She quickly seduced French officialdom after arriving from Ukraine, winning political asylum within a year of her application. Her visage, framed in blond hair crowned with flowers, helped inspire France's latest postage stamp. Few French people knew back then that they were dealing with a radical soldier for the feminist cause, in town to organize the ranks of women for a radical insurgency with bare breasts as weapons. The sweet start for 23-year-old Inna Shevchenko is souring. The defiant chief of the Ukraine-born Femen movement now risks up to five years in prison and a 75,000-euro ($103,000) fine for bashing...

ROME, February 27, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “I am a homosexual, but I’m against ‘gay marriage,’� a French pro-family activist told an Italian Catholic opinion paper earlier this month. Jean-Pier-Delaume Myard, spokesman for Manif Pour Tous, told La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana that the “sole purpose� of the homosexualist “gay rights� movement is “destroying the family.� Myard gave the interview following the first big pro-family Manif Pour Tous event in Italy on February 11. Myard noted that in a recent talk, he said “we must break the silence� about the real nature of the homosexualist movement, noting that many homosexuals “have nothing to...

My kingdom is Joy construsted( trustfully constructed) in you, As you rejoice and praise me for all the things that I do! My joy "is" your strength but even more ! For literally it is Heaven's door, The very structure of of my kingdom's expanse, Taste it,then drink it :o===~~~ don't just take a glance, For truly it is my Spring rising up in you \o/ \8/ ( ( ( \8/ ) ) ), As you praise me in worship I shall renew \o/ , Every cell and essence of your body and soul, My spirit in you shall cause...

Remarks made by Iranian foreign minister signal Tehran won't agree to dismantle atomic facilities in talks with world powers on final settlement of decade-old dispute over its nuclear activity.By ReutersNEW DELHI - Iran is willing to address international concerns about its atomic activities but will keep its nuclear program "intact", not close it down, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday. His remarks signaled that Tehran will not agree to dismantle any of its atomic facilities in talks with six world powers on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over its nuclear activity. Related: Those negotiations got under...

Western sources: Israel Air Force hits SS-21 batteries, first attack in Syrian war on nuclear-capable missiles Western military and intelligence sources report that Israeli Air Force strikes in Lebanon and Syria overnight Monday, Feb. 24 came on the heels of the first use in the three-year Syrian war of a Russian-made nuclear-capable Tochka (Point) surface missile - NATO-coded SS-21 Scarab - which carries a 480-kilo warhead with a range of 70 km. These missiles were fired earlier Monday in the Syrian-Hizballah battle for Yabroud. There was no information about the effect of the Israeli strikes.

The French minister for industry, Arnaud Montebourg, has announced the creation of a national company of mines aimed at securing the supply of raw materials and exporting French know-how abroad, EurActiv France reports. The industry minister kicked off the start of the “mining revival” of France recently during his visit to the largest underground gypsum quarry in Europe, located in the French Val d’Oise. […] “The creation of a national company of mines in France will allow us to control the prices, the quantities and our sovereignty. In the past, I have provided a number of mining permits to foreign...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com - The Douala-Djibouti CorridorPosted By Jerome Vitenberg On February 6, 2014 @ 12:15 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 1 Comment The current French involvement in the Central African Republic, which follows in the footsteps of its ongoing “Operation Serval” in Mali, has led many to wonder about President Francois Hollande’s goals in his African campaigns.In recent months, the CAR’s ex-Séléka Muslim rebel fighters, bolstered by Sudanese and Chadian mercenaries, have waged a campaign of murder, rape and pillage against the country’s 80% Christian-majority population. With the government in disarray, Christians have organized defensive “anti-balaka” (“anti-machete”)...

Syrian state TV says government forces have captured two rebel-held areas on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The report, citing a military official, says troops and pro-government gunmen captured Saturday the areas of Rasm al-Hour and Rasm al-Sad, south of the town of Quneitra. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights confirmed troops were on the offensive, adding that the air force was taking part in the attack. …

In an announcement likely to rewrite the book on early colonization of the New World, two researchers have proposed a location for the oldest fortified settlement ever found in North America. They believe that the legendary Fort Caroline, a long-sought fort built by the French in 1564, is located near the mouth of the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia.

I AM with you, my angels surround you, go behind enemy lines and take back my land ! My army is rising up to take back land now that my testimony is sure in my front line(Chosen Ones)assaults( words of declaration) removing the lies of the enemy, and all distractions now shall be dealt with in their time and season of correction or removal for My Testimony is paramount as my spirit moves across the waters of my voice for you are the many waters of my Testimony and I AM sure and true to my word that I will...

General Denis Mercier, The Chief of Staff of the French Air Force, is visiting Israel this week. According to the Air Force website, so for into his visit, the General has met with the Israeli Air Force Commander in Chief Gen. Amir Eshel, who introduced him to the day-to-day challenges of the skies of the Middle East, and discussed the strengthening of cooperation between the two forces and examining the interests which are common to both. Later on, the general was impressed by the IAF capabilities presented to him at Tel Nof Airbase and the Southern Hatzerim Airbase, where he...

Posted a blank of this photo over the weekend, here are 14 of the best/favorite captions people came up with.

Less than a hundred days before the European Parliament elections, French citizens are less and less attracted by the EU project, according to the latest opinion polls, with a quarter now in favor of quitting the eurozone and reintroducing the franc, EurActiv France reports. 42% of surveyed French citizens think that the country’s EU membership is a good thing, a six-point decrease compared to April 2012, according to the survey by OpinionWay for TV news channel LCI and Le Figaro newspaper. […] Another fundamental EU policy, the free movement of persons, is also increasingly disliked by the French. A survey...

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German leader Angela Merkel has said she will hold talks with France on creating “safe communication networks” in the EU in the wake of the US spy scandal. She said in her weekly podcast on Sunday (16 February) that: “We will speak to France about this and about all things regarding what kind of European providers we have who can offer security for our citizens: So [that] we don’t even have to go with our emails and other information over the Atlantic, but that we can set up safe communication networks within Europe.” She noted the EU is currently in...

In the wake of tens of thousands of people participating in pro-traditional family protests in France and throughout Europe, French President François Hollande backed down from submitting a new family-law bill to parliament that would make legal “assisted procreation for lesbian couples” and “surrogate motherhood for gay men” who want children. The demonstrations were led by La Manif Pour Tous (Protest for Everyone), a fast-growing coalition of groups that has organized massive rallies against same-sex marriage legislation throughout Europe. As Edward Pentin reports at Newsmax, Jean-Pierre Delaume-Myard, a spokesman for La Manif Pour Tous – who is himself gay –...

Very few political cartoons make me laugh out loud. Even when I look back at the all-time favorites that I included in my political cartoonist contest, most of them are on that list because they make a very effective and clever point about public policy. Though I do recall being very amused by Glenn McCoy’s cartoon on media bias, Chip Bok’s war-on-women cartoon, and Robert Ariail’s cartoon about Greece and the euro. But I don’t think any of them made me laugh as much as this gem by Scott Stantis. I don’t even know what it struck me as being...

The UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has apologised to the Syrian people after peace talks in Geneva ended without making progress. He had held final discussions with both sides in Geneva in a last-ditch bid to break the stalemate between the Syrian government and opposition. Mr Brahimi said a key sticking point was the government's refusal to talk about a transitional governing body. No date has been set for a third round of talks. The UK and France have blamed President Assad's government for the failure of the talks. The conflict in Syria has claimed more than 100,000 lives since March...

(Reuters) - France said on Friday it plans to send another 400 troops to help combat a crisis in the Central African Republic as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon pleaded for more swift, robust international help to stop sectarian violence that could turn into a genocide. French President Francois Hollande's office urged other countries to show "increased solidarity" and called on the United Nations Security Council to approve the creation of a U.N. peacekeeping force in the landlocked former French colony. Some 838,000 people have been displaced since the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power in March last year in...

Christian militia taking revenge on the Central African Republic's Muslim population could drive the entire Islamic group out of the country, a human rights group claimed earlier this week. The anti-balaka ("anti-machete") has increasingly fought back against the country's minority Muslim population since the Muslim Seleka rebel group antagonized the country's Christians. Human Rights Watch employees in the Central African Republic have claimed to have witnessed anti-balaka forces cutting "the throats of Muslim civilians, publicly lynching, mutilating, and setting their bodies on fire." It also reported attacks where the groups had cut off body parts or hacked Muslims to death....

European Elections on the 25 May 2014. That the National Front exceeds the UMP and the PS becomes the largest party in France. This scenario has been advanced for the second time in a poll on Sunday. This survey FIFG for JDD credited with 23% of the vote the National Front. A higher score to 17.9% of Marine Le Pen in the presidential 2012. The UMP (21%) and PS (18%) totals are exceeded, but according to the pollster, none of the three parties is assured of his place on the podium, taking into account the margin of error, estimated at...

FRENCH taxpayers have subsidised the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers, it was claimed today. It is estimated the French have paid out between €100m (£82m) to more than €200m as a subsidy for HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, The I reports. The newspaper says it comes after former prime minister Tony Blair and then-President Jacques Chirac signed a defence co-operation agreement in 2006. The French public spending watchdog spotted the loss in the details of the 2013 French defence estimates. Cour des Comptes says the deal led to ‘a French contribution pure and simple to the financing...

As well as the baguette marinara(French loaf),the beret remains one of the most famous of French symbols abroad. Now production of these" Made in France " headgear is based on the shoulders of a small family business established since 1840 to Oloron. Laulhère has indeed acquired berets Blancq-Olibet, its historic rival established in 1819 and located 40 miles away, to Baudreix the heart of the Béarn. "The acquisition was natural because there was no room for two major and historical actors in the sector beret says René Renda, manage Laulhère. Now, we are the last to control the manufacturing process...

Acknowledging "enormous frustration," President Obama said Tuesday that his administration "continues to explore every possible avenue" to help resolve the nearly 3-year-old Syrian civil war, although he again said he had no plans for military intervention. Appearing with French President Francois Hollande, a reliable partner in his foreign policy agenda, Obama called Syria a "crumbling" state and worried that conditions there have destabilized the region. The president also expressed frustration in another area of close cooperation with France, threatening to come down "like a ton of bricks" on businesses that would trade with Iran while international talks continue over its...

Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National (FN), the most likely winner of the upcoming municipal and European elections in France, held a press conference on January 22, in which she presented the foreign policy of her party, including a passionate plea for France to break off its relations with Saudi Arabia and ally itself to Iran. Sitting next to her foreign policy advisor Aymeric Chauprade, Le Pen advocated that France should sever its links with Saudi Arabia, "America's... ally" and a "dangerous country ruled by extremist clans, who, since the origin of Wahhabism, have but one goal: to...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: You know, I don't care how Obama tries to spin this. He's up there now with the French president, Hollande. I don't know if they're asking the French president about his wife and his mistress and his girlfriend. I don't know if they're asking him that. But somebody just asked Obama about the three-year delay of the employer mandate, and there's no answer that can get him off the hook on this. But this one, he said, "Well, we just learned that this will give the employers more time to be in compliance with the law." I...

The French anti-Semitic comic Dieudonné was acquitted Friday on charges related to a video in which he calls for the release of a self-styled Islamist serving life for the kidnap and murder of a Jewish phone salesman, AFP reported. The controversial performer, who has a string of convictions for anti-Semitic hate speech, was cleared of defamation and illegally defending a convicted criminal because the judge ruled that it had not been proven that Dieudonné was behind the distribution of the video. As a result, the court could not consider the content of his remarks, the judge added in a ruling...

German scientists have announced after almost 26 years of research that the bones interred for centuries at Aachen Cathedral are likely to be those of Charlemagne. Researchers confirmed on Wednesday evening - 1,200 years to the day since Charlemagne died - that the 94 bones and bone fragments taken from the supposed resting place of the King of the Franks and founder of what was to become the Holy Roman Empire came from a tall, thin, older man. The team first opened the sarcophagus of the first emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire in secret...

My substance is your makeup but do not look for it to be anatomical and my atomic number is eternal never wasting away for truly I AM Wonderful in ALL aspects of this one word "ETERNAL". I AM thus an eternal constant and there is no slide rule that can measure my kingdom for I have no beginning or end to measure yet I have storehouses ,does my Word not proclaim this ?! So tell me my children is there really a need to be earthbound when even now you carry this makeup within you ?! Let me allow you...

By W. Alejandro Sanchez An obscure fact of Latin American military affairs is that the Brazilian Navy possesses its own aircraft carrier. The vessel, now five decades old, is currently undergoing repairs so that it can serve for at least a decade more. Nevertheless, given the fast pace of South American geopolitics and geosecurity affairs, serious questions should be raised whether or not Brazil actually needs a carrier in its fleet. The Carrier Brazil acquired its carrier from France in November 2000: the vessel is a non-nuclear, 36,000 ton, Clemenceau-type carrier, which was constructed in the early 1960s.The carrier, originally...

The Jewish National Fund held an event honoring Israel in the heart of Paris Sunday, but the real reason for the event was a desire by Israeli authorities to support French Jews in a time of trouble. Over 15,000 people, most of them Jews, are expected to attend the two-day event – an exhibit titled “Israel Today and Tomorrow.” The event received unprecedented security: central streets were cordoned off, and police snipers were placed on rooftops. Ultranationalists gathered with the intent of marching on the event, but were blocked by police – both uniformed and undercover – a long distance...

The demonstrations mobilized in Paris and Lyon grow in strengthBy Les Echos | 02/02 | 1:13 p.m. | updated at 18:29 LDCs, GPA, gender theory and "fiscal overkill families" were the menu demands of protesters. In Paris, the organizers speak of 500,000 demonstrators, the police 80,000. In Lyon, of 20,000 to 40,000 protesters marched. As the tradition requires, the battle of numbers looks tough at the parade held in Paris and Lyon on Sunday by the AKI group for all. "We were more than half a million" in Paris, jubilated the association, while the Parisian crowd was not dispersed by...

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Paris and Lyon Sunday to protest against France’s legalization of gay marriage and defend their interpretation of traditional family values, which brought together conservatives from across France. Ahead of the protest, some 1,500 police officers were deployed in Paris and 600 in the central city of Lyon, according to Reuters. The Interior minister, Manuel Valls, warned that any violence towards the police would be dealt with severely. RT’s Peter Oliver reported from Paris that the protests are the latest in a wave of unrest which has been spreading though France....

Europe’s electricity system is not living up to its promises, according to a French advisory body to the prime minister, which published a report on Tuesday (28 January) largely blaming renewable energy subsidies for this failure. The EU’s energy policy hinges mostly on power management. However, the European electricity system does not function, according to a French government advisory body, the General Commission for Strategy and Forecasting (Commissariat général à la stratégie et à la prospective—CGSP), which presented the findings of the study on 28 January. …

Minarets instead of church towers, muezzins instead of churchbells. A different France.The secular and libertarian magazine Causeur asks: “Is this the end of the bell towers of France?”. Until last week, the church bells of Boissettes, a town of five hundred inhabitants in the district of the Seine, were ringing every half hour. Then, the Administrative Court of Paris has stopped the bells, as an alleged violation of the 1905 law on the separation of church and state. The story seems a perfect epitaph to an essay that appeared ten years ago by Danièle Hervieu -Léger, “Catholicisme, la fin d’un...

It is nothing short of chilling. A video, taken on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, shows masses of French protesters marching down a Paris thoroughfare chanting openly anti-Semitic slogans and calling on Jews to get out of France. Chants include "Jews, France is not yours!" "Jews out of France" and "The story of the gas chambers is bull***!" At one point, in a show of raw, seething hatred, the crowd simply spits out the word "Jew, Jew, Jew!" Many of the marchers can be seen giving the "quenelle" inverted Nazi salute popularized by anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne. The gesture...

When the White House scribblers were putting the finishing touches on the State of the Union address, President Obama took a moment to commemorate memory. Monday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious of Hitler's death camps. "Each year on this day," he said, "the world comes together to commemorate a barbaric crime unique in human history." But not quite the whole world. Anti-Semitism thrives in the Middle East, where certain politicians vie to see who can say the ugliest things about Jews, and such sentiment is surging in Europe. Bloody...

More than even Italy or France, China guzzled almost 2 billion bottles of red wine last year. Red wine consumption has skyrocketed in the country since 2007, partially because the color red signals good fortune, experts say.China has surpassed France and Italy to become the biggest consumer of red wine in the world. According to a joint report out of Vinexpo and The International Wine and Spirits Research (IWSR), Chinese oenophiles tipped back the equivalent of 1.865 billion bottles last year (or 155 million 9-liter cases).

The evaluation team at the CEAM test centre has been developing the concept of operations for Rafale’s new AESA radar. The team leader gives us an update. On 24th October 2012, a new type of Rafale took to the skies from the runway at Mont-de-Marsan (BA 118) Air Base, home of the French Air Force’s CEAM test centre. From the outside, there was virtually nothing to distinguish it from the dozens of Rafales that had already visited the base. However, hidden inside the radome was the promise of an air combat revolution: the RBE2-AESA, the first European active electronically scanned...

The Royal Moroccan Navy will take possession of its FREMM frigate on 30 January. (DCNS) The Royal Moroccan Navy is scheduled to commission its FREMM multimission frigate Mohammad VI (D 601) on 30 January 2014 in a ceremony to be held in Brest, France. The ceremony will be attended by Morocco's Prince Moulay Rachid, Inspector General of the Royal Moroccan Navy Vice Admiral Mohamed Laghmari, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and French Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Bernard Rogel. The ship will sail to Morocco about four weeks after it is commissioned. The ceremony was initially scheduled for 25...

PARIS --- France and Britain are due to sign several defense-related agreements during their short Jan. 31 summit meeting at Brize Norton, England, including one to launch joint development of a next-generation anti-ship missile and another to fund a two-year feasibility study for a joint combat UAV. British and French officials have widely briefed the media in advance of the summit to obtain the editorial coverage that both countries’ leaders – British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President François Hollande – need to bolster their domestic standing. The briefings also seek to highlight that, after several fruitless summits in...