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Roger Annis

International intervention heats up in Mali

By
Roger Annis
| May 7, 2013

France's National Assembly and Senate have voted to extend the country's military intervention in Mali. A resolution passed both houses of parliament on April 22. Not a single vote was cast in opposition.

Three days later, the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 2100, creating a policing mission beginning July 1, 2013. The mission is called by its French acronym MINUSMA. Its projected size is 11,200 soldiers and 1,440 police.

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Opinion

The NDP should learn from defeat of Sarkozy in France

François Hollande on the campaign trail. (Photo: Parti socialist / flickr)

For the first time since the election of François Mitterrand in the 1980s, French voters elected a socialist president earlier this month. Is there anything progressive forces in Canada can learn from their French cousins? While the context is different, there are important similarities between the NDP and the French Socialist Party.

Both are progressive parties struggling to find their voice at a time when right-wing ideas seem to dominate. Both parties are flirting with the centre, at the risk of losing their base (and their identity) to the left. Ultimately, the challenges for the NDP are remarkably similar to those faced by the French Socialist Party.

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NDP Canadian politics france Thomas mulcair François Hollande
David J. Climenhaga

From the Annals of Diplomacy: Stephen Harper fires a Cannon at the Parisians

By
David J. Climenhaga
| May 11, 2012

If you didn't think Prime Minister Stephen Harper really despised social democrats, then consider for a moment this factoid from yesterday's news columns:

Only two days after Socialist François Hollande was elected president of France, Harper named Lawrence Cannon Canada's ambassador to Paris. Indeed, it's possible that Cannon will be on the job in the City of Light by the time Hollande takes power on May 15.

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