Washington Is Next on François Hollande’s Tour to Press Allies for Anti-ISIS Coalition

[ucrdem]

Source: New York Times

PARIS — President François Hollande of France heads to Washington on Tuesday as a self-described wartime president, with his political future at stake.

France is pressing hard for its allies and friends to step up their efforts against the Islamic State, so Mr. Hollande has been on an extraordinary global tour this week to win them over. He met here Monday morning with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who promised to press the British Parliament to approve military action in Syria.

After seeing President Obama on Tuesday, Mr. Hollande will be off to Moscow. By Sunday evening he will also have met with the German, Italian, Canadian and Chinese leaders, plus the European Union president, Donald Tusk, and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

Mr. Hollande is counting on the new reach of the jihadists abroad — massacring 130 civilians in Paris and taking responsibility for bringing down a Russian airliner full of civilians over Egypt — to change assumptions in Washington, Moscow and London and prompt a serious military effort to take down the self-styled caliphate. He is calling on Washington and Moscow to “unite our forces” in a “wide and single” international coalition against the Islamic State.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/world/europe/washington-is-next-on-francois-hollandes-tour-to-press-allies-for-anti-isis-coalition.html

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[840high]

1. kick

[ucrdem]

2. Obama: We are all French now

CNN, Tue November 24, 2015, video at the link:



Washington (CNN) It might be America's oldest alliance, but it has rarely looked more vibrant.

{snip}

Obama spoke in unusually personal and emotive terms directly to the French people about his own memories of spending time in France as he argued that the ISIS shootings and bombings on cafes, a soccer stadium and a concert hall in Paris were by extension an attack on the world itself.

"We love France for your spirit and your culture and your joie de vivre. Since the attacks, Americans have recalled their own visits to Paris, visiting the Eiffel Tower or walking along the Seine. We know these places. They're part of our memories, woven into the fabric of our lives and our culture," Obama said.

The President said that upstairs in the White House residence, he had a photo of first lady Michelle Obama and himself kissing in the French capital's Luxembourg Gardens.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-tiersky/francois-hollandes-finest_b_8635060.html

[ucrdem]

3. Francois Hollande's Finest Hour

Huffpost, Posted: 11/24/2015 4:31 pm EST

François Hollande is rising to the occasion. In French existentialist vocabulary, 'il devient lui-même," which means creating himself, becoming what he might have been, reaching his potential, hidden as it was. There certainly was artifice and theatrics when at the conclusion of his Versailles speech the parliamentarians gave him a standing ovation and broke into the Marseillaise. But even a skeptical eye saw some genuine patriotism rather than the usual hypocrisy. The French parliament with the president standing at the rostrum at that moment visually and truly represented the French as a people and a nation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-tiersky/francois-hollandes-finest_b_8635060.html
..............

Too bad it took a tragedy but better Hollande than Sarkozy or Mme. Le Pen

[ucrdem]

4. WaPo, The Latest: France says it has struck IS center in Iraq

President Barack Obama shakes hands with French President Francois Hollande during their news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015.

By Associated Press November 24 at 4:46 PM

WASHINGTON — The latest on President Barack Obama’s meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the White House on the fight against the Islamic State group:

4:30 p.m.

France says it has struck an Islamic State command center located west of the Iraqi city of Mosul.

A French official on Tuesday said warplanes struck the command center in Tal Afar.

The official spoke in Washington shortly after French President Francois Hollande met with U.S. President Barack Obama.

{snip}

12:30 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande says that in a meeting with President Barack Obama the two decided to scale up their efforts in Syria and Iraq.

Hollande says the two countries will strengthen their intelligence-sharing regarding targets.

Obama says the United States will do even more to prevent attacks at home and that there is a growing recognition after the Paris attacks that European countries need to ramp up efforts to stop the flow of terrorists.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-latest-obama-hollande-meet-to-discuss-fight-against-is/2015/11/24/35dd9638-92c2-11e5-befa-99ceebcbb272_story.html

[Sunlei]

5. François Hollande gave lots of good details on the live presser he and Obama had today.

Details we just do not hear or see on our American medias. Answered a lot of press questions too. good questions from the press today.

[ozone_man]

6. Obama's poodle.

Blair was Bush's poodle.

They created/enabled ISIS, and now want to take it to the next level. ISIS is only a tool for them to do their dirty work.