Free Republic

A French diplomat competing to be the world’s top health official says a tiny international tax can help fill the World Health Organization’s coffers, a proposal aimed at bringing order to the U.N. agency’s fragmented budget. Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy told journalists at the Foreign Ministry in Paris that “micropayments” tacked on to as-yet-undetermined international business operations could support WHO’s budget. “I’m persuaded that innovative financing can play a role in the support of WHO,” he said. …

PARIS (EJP)--- Following complaints from the Jewish community, French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has retracted a controversial statement where he claimed Iran “played a stabilising role” in the Middle-East. Speaking on the Jewish Community Radio station on Wednesday, Douste-Blazy said Iran had “a part of responsibility in the current conflict” between Israel and Hezbollah and that it had “to help pacify the region”.

Philippe Douste-Blazy 53, the new foreign minister of France set the French ambassadors into alert. Since a fairly long time is the studied physician and former minister of health and culture escorted by high ranking officials to prevent him from awkward embarrassments. The cause for that were a series of appearances where he astonished his conversational partners with gaps in his knowledge. The former major of Lourdes mixed repeated Thailand with Taiwan and Croatia with Kosovo. During a vistit in the Shoah-museum in Jerusalem he asked why no jews were deported from the United Kingdom. Problematic is also that "Douste-BlahBlah"...

PARIS (Reuters) - France's new foreign minister pledged in comments published on Monday to press on with recent efforts to improve relations with the United States after the chill caused by the Iraq war. In a wide-ranging interview with Le Figaro newspaper, Philippe Douste-Blazy signalled no major change in foreign policy following his appointment on June 3, despite French voters' rejection of the European Union constitution on May 29. Relations with Washington became strained when Dominique de Villepin, who is now France's prime minister, led opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. But ties began improving under Douste-Blazy's...