David Farrar: France says US is surrendering too quickly!

Reuters reports:

“The return for major concessions that will be ⁠asked of Iran is the lifting of sanctions, sanctions that were taken at the United Nations,” Barrot said, referring to a vote in September last year.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, France holds the power to veto any accords.

Kerre Woodham: The entire fuel situation is a mess

How about that petrol, eh? I filled up on Thursday, as usual, that's my usual day. Just the car, no jerry cans, no oil drums, thanks very much, and I thought to myself, $2.95 - she's getting up there. Bargain now, looking at the pumps.

Our colleague Kylie, who has to travel north most weekends, reckons she paid an extra $80 above what she would normally pay for her weekend tikitouring.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Voters will decide whether to punch holes in Europe’s nuclear umbrella

While American and Israeli jets were bombing Tehran last Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron stood before nuclear submarines at the Île Longue naval base in Brittany. He announced that France would extend its nuclear umbrella across Europe.

America had launched a major war without consulting its NATO allies. British bases in Bahrain, Qatar and Cyprus were hit by Iranian retaliation, even though London had refused to support the operation.

Melanie Phillips: The fantasy state of "Palestine"

Time for the US and the Jewish world to start holding their supposed champions’ feet to the fire

In his barnstorming speech this week at the United Nations General Assembly, in which he lobbed one uncomfortable home truth after another at member states, US President Donald Trump told the world body itself that it was useless. Instead of stopping wars and saving lives, he said, it produced only empty words.

The problem with the UN is rather more acute than that. Supposedly the guardian of peace and justice in the world, it has become instead an avatar of evil.

Dr Nicholas Tate: Is the Death of Reading Inevitable?

In France, the September return to school – la rentrée – is always accompanied by la rentrée littéraire – the publication of large numbers of new books – as people look ahead not just to all the literary awards later in the autumn but to their own winter of evenings and weekends sitting curled up reading a new book. Or do they? This year, the rentrée edition of France’s conservative monthly magazine L’incorrect led with an article, ‘Is the death of the book inevitable?’, suggesting that reading may be the very last thing that many French people are likely to be doing.

Dr Will Jones: Marine Le Pen Banned From Standing in Next Presidential Election

Marine Le Pen will not be allowed to stand in France’s next Presidential election after being banned from politics for five years following conviction on embezzlement charges in a ruling condemned by Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister as a “declaration of war by Brussels”. The Telegraph has more.

The National Rally (RN) chief was also handed a four-year prison sentence, of which two years are suspended, and a €100,000 fine.

Simon O'Connor: A tale of three countries

A few thoughts and observations on the recent elections in the United Kingdom and France, and the upcoming Presidential election in the United States.

It has been a fascinating few days of international politics. We have just seen the United Kingdom and France conclude their elections, and of course the anticipation of the Presidential election in the United States.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Macron's electoral gamble to see off the far-right

“How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?”, asked Charles de Gaulle in 1962. Well, after its forthcoming elections, a plethora of cheese varieties may be the least of France’s problems. Risks abound for both France and Europe.

President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call snap legislative elections for 30 June and 7 July was a high-stakes gamble. His centrist alliance suffered a crushing defeat by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally in the European Parliament elections. Macron hopes the early election will catch his opponents off guard and secure him a fresh mandate.

Frédéric Grare: New Caledonia in turmoil

For France, the stakes are high. The reputational damage is already palpable in the region.

Last week, riots erupted in New Caledonia as France’s National Assembly debated a constitutional amendment aimed at enlarging electoral lists on the archipelago. The amendment proposal led to vast movements of protest in Noumea and further division within the population. On the day of the vote, it degenerated into violence. Shops, businesses and public infrastructure were damaged or destroyed and cars burned. Several people – six at the time of writing – were killed and many more wounded. France announced a state of emergency and dispatched extra security forces to New Caledonia, where operations to re-establish law and order are still going on.

David Unsworth: French Citizens Want Cheaper Energy, not Global Warming Elitism

French President Emmanuel Macron pursues his global warming agenda at his own political peril.

Diesel moves France. Whereas in the United States diesel is increasingly a rarity used mainly to fuel heavy trucks, drivers in France and much of Europe have diesel cars. In past generations, diesel was believed to be more environmentally friendly. Today, it turns out that is not the case. Diesel is actually far worse for the environment than traditional gasoline.

Daniel Mitchell: Emmanuel Macron Is Surprisingly Pro-Market for a Socialist... Sometimes

In last year’s French presidential election between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, I joked that voters should choose the socialist over the socialist, but made a serious point that Macron—despite having been part of Hollande’s disastrous government—was preferable since there was at least a hope of market-oriented reform.

…the chance of Macron being good are greater than zero. After all, it was the left-wing parties that started the process of pro-market reforms in Australia and New Zealand. And it was a Social Democrat government in Germany that enacted the labor-market reforms that have been so beneficial for that nation.