25/06/06 - Affaires françaises... La rencontre secrète entre Nicolas Sarkozy et Tony Blair

Sarkozy seeks help from Blair
The Observer 25/06/06

"In an effort to salvage his bid for the presidency from the chaos of France's centre-right government, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has met Tony Blair twice in the past few weeks for advice, The Observer can reveal.

The overture is likely to be regarded with deep suspicion by many Frenchmen, who see Blair as the epitome of the detested free-market 'Anglo-Saxon' model. The unofficial meetings, covering both policy and campaign advice, have taken place despite calls from President Jacques Chirac for them to stop. Chirac is opposed to Sarkozy becoming the centre-right's 2007 candidate for President.

The most recent encounter was last weekend when Sarkozy was on a private visit to London to mark his reconciliation with his wife, Cecilia. Officially, he laid a wreath at Charles de Gaulle's statue in Covent Garden and met only Home Secretary John Reid. In fact, as one of Sarkozy's aides confirmed yesterday, France's most ruthlessly ambitious politician also met Blair. The aide, Gerard Longuet, said that comments made by Blair during their meeting had 'inspired' a keynote speech by Sarkozy to his Union Pour Un Mouvement Populaire..."

"...The revelation of the close relationship between the Prime Minister and Sarkozy comes at a difficult time in the minister's campaign to succeed Chirac. Though the socialist party will not choose its candidate until November, the popular Segolene Royal - who has also expressed admiration for Blair - is neck-and-neck with Sarkozy in opinion polls. While needing to carve out a clear campaign in the face of competition from Royal, Sarkozy needs to distance himself from the unpopular incumbent government of which he is part..."

"...In spring 2004, when he was finance minister, Sarkozy made his first request for a head-to-head with Blair. The Elysee Palace was not keen, but it is believed that Peter Mandelson intervened and a meeting was arranged for 25 May. Last October they met privately at a hotel in London, after the Elysee had asked Downing Street to turn down a request for an official encounter.

Most tellingly, Sarkozy's campaign team - 'The Firm' - has drawn direct inspiration from the Blairite spin tradition. According to Le Monde journalist Philippe Ridet, 'La Firme Nicolas' is a crack team of thirtysomething workaholic men, with the latest mobile phones, Ralph Lauren suits and an image-building obsession that stops at nothing: 'It's a political style we have never seen in France before.'"


25/06/06 - Priorité du Ministère de la Défense, la défense contre le terrorisme

La défense contre le terrorisme - Une priorité du Ministère de la Défense
Ministère de la Défense 04/06


24/06/06 - Sept aspirants-terroristes-virtuels arrêtés aux Etats-Unis, peu d'évidences de préparation d'un attentat

Terror Suspects Had No Explosives and Few Contacts
WaPo 24/06/06

"Federal authorities announced charges here Friday against seven men they described as "a homegrown terrorist cell" that planned to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings. But officials conceded that the group never had contact with al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups and had not acquired any explosives..."

Indictment reveals little hard evidence of terrorist plot
KRT 23/06/06

"...But, long on ambition, they were short on success. They acquired combats boots, a cell phone, a camera and some cash, but never stockpiled explosives, carried out a mission nor posed any real threat.

They also had another major problem. The al-Qaida representative who allegedly told them he had come "from overseas" to evaluate and finance their jihad was actually a government informant, authorities said..."


BBC: Sears Tower 'plotters' just 'wannabes'
The Raw Story 23/06/06

"In a BBC news broadcast today, Miami Herald reporter Mani Garcia remarks that the government's arrest of seven men in connection with a 'plot' to blow up the Sears Tower is probably overblown.

"They've been described to us by sources as 'wannabes' -- still to be determined if making a connection about talking about doing an attack and and being able to finance an attack," Garcia said. "We've seen previous cases where the Federal government has announced with great hoopla breaking terrorist cells. And when you start deconstructing a case, you see that there's a lot of talk."..."


24/06/06 - L'administration Bush intercepte aussi les transactions financières internationales

CIA has tracked bank transactions in terror hunt
Independant 24/06/06

"The US Treasury Secretary, John Snow, said a programme that tracks millions of financial transactions is not an invasion of Americans' privacy but "government at its best" and vital to anti-terrorism operations..."


Enquête sur l'espionnage américain
Le Soir 24/06/06

"La ministre de la Justice, Laurette Onkelinx, a ouvert une double enquête sur l'espionnage par le gouvernement américain des transactions financières internationales passant par l'intermédiaire Swift, basé en Belgique..."


Financial Search Raises Privacy Fears
WaPo 24/06/06

"...questions of privacy arose yesterday after revelations that the Bush administration has been tracking clues about terrorists by searching the records of a Belgium-based banking consortium that handles millions of financial transactions daily across national borders..."


Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror
NYT 23/06/06

"Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials..."


U.S. secretly tracks world's money web
Looking for evidence of terrorist activity, Treasury Department uses subpoenas to spy on suspicious wire transfers between banks
SFGate 23/06/06

"The U.S. government, without the knowledge of many banks and their customers, has engaged for years in a secret effort to track terrorist financing by accessing a vast database of confidential information on transfers of money between banks worldwide..."


Lire également, Read also :

La NSA espionne le Monde
Armées.com 23/06/06

Is the NSA spying on U.S. Internet traffic?
Salon 21/06/06