Macron's road to reelection runs through Africa
How will Africa play out in a French presidential election year? On 21 June 2021, the AAPA was pleased to welcome Pascal Airault, staff writer and columnist for L'Opinion and co-author with Antoine Glaser of Le Piège Africain de Macron: Du Continent à l'Hexagone. The same Emmanuel Macron, drawn in by his nation’s role as a former colonial power in places like Chad and Mali, wants to display that…
Sneak Preview of the Stunning Pinault Collection in the Bourse du Commerce
The AAPA visited the new Pinault Collection on May 18 (4 days before the official opening), thanks to the organizational skills of Elaine Cobbe (with Shellie Karabell shepherding on-site). Both the building and its contents were impressive! Architect Tadao Ando’s welcoming and subtle design, blends history with contemporary art. The spatial layout of concentric circles features 10 galleries over…
French historian Benjamin Stora discusses French-Algerian reconciliation
AAPA members met with French historian Benjamin Stora, author of a recent and controversial report commissioned by President Macron on French-Algerian relations. Prof. Stora is an expert on the topic from the colonial period until today, and is especially known for his work covering the years of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962). With about 25 members attending the zoom conference on…
Britain Post-Brexit
The AAPA welcomed back an old friend on April 7 when veteran diplomat Lord Peter Ricketts, a life peer in the UK House of Lords (and Ambassador in Paris from 2012 to 2016) joined us on Zoom to discuss Britain Post-Brexit in a discussion moderated by AAPA VP Shellie Karabell. He admitted he was "surprised by how ill-prepared the government was" for Brexit and wondered how the country would…
'Nationalist' Marine Le Pen denounces 'globalist' Macron in meeting with AAPA
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right Rassemblement National party, was hosted by the AAPA in a well-attended video-conference on March 30. Le Pen has been in the news since opinion polls started showing her within a whisker of beating President Emmanuel Macron in a putative second round of the presidential election in 2022. Le Pen maintained her drive to "detoxify" (dédiaboliser) the brand…
Ex-AAPA VP Michael Balter tells us about the $10-million defamation suit he is facing for his #MeToo reporting
The AAPA met with ex-VP Michael Balter on March 18 to hear about the $10-million defamation lawsuit he is fighting and the issues surrounding it. Michael was served with the suit last June by archeologist Danielle Kurin, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Victims, or survivors as they prefer to be called, allege she was complicit in her former husband’s sexual harassment…
Authors’ Panel
Looking for inspiration and guidance on writing that book? Eight AAPA authors provided advice on finding a publisher, getting an advance, choosing an agent, marketing your opus and more in a panel discussion on Zoom on December 10. Click the link below to hear what the panelists—Monique El-Faizy, Peter Gumbel, Susan Herrmann Loomis, Linda Hervieux, Victor Mallet, Stefania Rousselle, Dana Thomas…
AAPA meets with Catholic priest to discuss laicité, sex abuse scandal, and scouts
The AAPA met on November 20 with Yves Combeau, a Paris-based Dominican priest, scholar and historian. Father Combeau is a specialist in the history of youth movements, particularly scouting, and has published several works of non-fiction and fiction on the subject. Combeau’s briefing has come at a time when France's Catholic Church is in crisis. The terrorist threat at places of worship has…
European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton says: “don’t send me your lobbies”
Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is very clear about the direction that European Union (EU) regulation on internet companies should take. Strategy is based on 4 pillars: a Data Governance Act, a Digital Services Act, to be unveiled in early December and update the 2000 e-Commerce directive, a Digital Markets Act and the 2019…
Whither the bistro après-Covid? A French chef responds
Alain Fontaine, bistrotier and bon vivant who operates in the beating heart of Paris, honored AAPA with a meeting on June 25. Besides his toque, Fontaine wears two other hats: he is president of the Association Française des Maîtres Restaurateurs -- essentially chefs who insist on preparing all meals on site from fresh, raw ingredients -- and he is spearheading a drive to win UNESCO recognition…