Category Archive: France

FRANCE – ISLAM: Trying to Put Lipstick on a Pig.

Should we be worried that nearly half the Muslims in France privilege Islamic Law to the laws of the Republic and that the figures among Muslim youth born in France are much more radical? Or should we be relieved that half do not?

Does it change the meaning of the figures if we say ‘Islamic Law’ rather than ‘Sharia’?

The left, counting on their Muslim electorate, and a few Muslim associations, are striking back at an IFOP poll which shows Muslims in France are growing more and more radicalised and hostile to the host country. Some are saying this is Samuel Huntington’s revenge. Is the Clash of Civilisations paper proving true?

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FRANCE – ISLAM: Was S. Huntington Right?

Paris, November 28, 2025, by S.G. Kazolias.

Marianne, the symbol of Liberty and the French Republic

Nearly half the Muslims in France, 15 and older, believe Islamic Sharia Law should be applied in the countries where they live, according to a study published in November by the French polling institute, IFOP.1  This adhesion to rigorous Islam is higher among those aged 15 to 24, that is to say, youth born in France of recent Muslim migration and holding French citizenship. The French model of integration does not work.2

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France: Wokeism about to get a Rude Awakening?

Paris, Oct. 8, 2025. By Socrates George Kazolias

France is in crisis. But France is not alone. The French (possibly the British too) will probably go to the polls within a year. The chaos may grow violent when, as predicted, the hard right anti-immigrant and EU sceptics come to power. After Marx’s The Civil War in France, the new version of the book could well be written from the other side of the aisle this time.

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Civil War in France Coming?

By Socrates George Kazolias, August 24, 2025.

France and Britain are on the cusp of a civil war and preparations must be made now to minimize the damages. This is the dystopian prediction by a leading scholar at King’s College, London, Department of War Studies. The French right and press went to town with the story. After all, it is August.

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France Deports Gaza Student for Alleged Antisemitism

Socrates George Kazolias, August 6, 2025

A Gaza Palestinian student has been deported from France to Qatar for allegedly sharing online antisemitic, even pro-Hitler, posts. Her treatment underlines the double standards in France when it comes to dealing with hate speech, racism and ‘terrorism.’

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True American Exceptionalism: We, Us, Our vs THEM

Paris, France. July 4, 2025. by Socrates George Kazolias

Why do we Americans say “We” or “Us” or “Our” when referring to our country’s actions even when we deeply disagree with them while the Germans and French, for example, distance themselves from that collective identity when critical?

At least this is the case for my generation and my father’s generation, a period of European immigration and descendants of slavery with a solid Anglo-Saxon education and environment. I can’t say whether this is true of post 1970s immigration from other parts of the world.

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France: ‘Lawfare’ Backfires & Le Pen Fires Back

Paris, April 2, 2025, by Socrates George Kazolias

The French lower Court decision March 31 to bar the 2027 presidential election favorite, Marine Le Pen, from running has angered millions throughout the country, sparked fears of social unrest and widespread political condemnation, including from the far left.

The ripples have been felt to the summit of the state and the system looked desperately on April 1 for a way to backtrack, if not stave off, at least put off, a social confrontation.

The  Appeals Court, which usually takes two years to hear a case, said it will begin the trial next January for a decision upholding or invalidating the lower court’s ruling in June 2026, which would give Marine Le Pen, and her far right National Rally party, if the first ruling is overturned or reduced, nine months to prepare for the 2027 ballot.

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2024 Antipodes

By S.G. Kazolias, Paris, December 27, 2024.

Hypocrisy: Orwell’s “Doublespeak,” or Raymond Devos’s “Antipodes”1 found their home in 2024 and truly made it the year of the grotesque which may give renewed youth to Ionescu’s Theater of the Absurd.

Yes, every word has its ‘Anti.’ But 2024 also demonstrated that repeating lies enough does not cause most people to believe they are true.

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French Bill Disparages Genocide Victims

Paris, April 4, 2023, by Socrates George Kazolias

On March 28, the French National Assembly enacted a law recognizing the 1931-1932 famine that hit the Soviet Union as a “Genocide” against the Ukrainians through a “planned famine” known as “Holodomor.”  The law means anybody who denies it was a genocide against the Ukrainians, or excuses it in any form, now faces up to one year in prison and €45,000 in fines.

Similar legislation had been voted on the genocides of the Jews by the Nazis in 1990 and of the Armenians by the Turks in 2001.

Qualifying the Soviet famine as a genocide against Ukraine is very problematic on several fronts and guts the word “Genocide” of its true meaning. Jewish Frenchmen and Armenian descendants who support the anti-negationism law, known as ‘Loi Gayssot,’ should be outraged. Or has the definition of “Genocide” changed? More on the famine below but first the law itself.

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Paris 2024 Olympics on Track to a Security Nightmare

Paris, Jan. 23, 2023—By Socrates George Kazolias

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are on track (and field) to start in a little over 18 months and they promise to be a ‘Games of Firsts and Superlatives.’ The first ‘first’ was at the closing ceremony in Japan in August 2021, with a limited number of spectators and a year later than originally scheduled, due to Covid.

Firsts of Firsts

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