Articles by Frederic Clairmont

A possible war launched by the US in Iraq is projected to cost $ 400 bn, even as the rising tide of debt and sharp fall in savings rate threaten to undermine the financial structure of the US.



programmes.
Not all questions found answers; all controversies were not resolved; all personal equations were not straightened out. Quite a few of the participants felt that the deliberations of the meeting should have had some structure, should have focused on some specifics rather than been allowed such an open, free-wheeling run. But there were also those who felt that any predetermined structure would have inevitably left out some points which participants might deem relevant. That had in fact happened on some occasions in the past when more or less UNITED KINGDOM similar discussions were organised. The question whether such a discussion should seek to reach -an agreement on a specific programme of action to be launched immediately, generated quite a sharp difference of views. But there seemed to be no doubt that at the end of it all, the general feeling was that an unusually wide field had been purposefully explored, important conceptual/ideological as well as operational issues had been identified and the ground prepared for a more structured examination of and definitive formulations on such issues in the not too distant future. That, it was felt, was no mean achievement.

Frederic Clairmont In no other country does the bourgeoisie act so swiftly and decisively, when it perceives itself to be threatened, as in France and, in the absence of any authentic left opposition, Chirac today sits atop a political pyramid that is unquestionably solid. But that solidity has to be viewed in the context of global forces in which a bourgeois France and its political bosses remain insignificantly minor players.