The French are still trying to understand how Barack Obama popped out of nowhere to run for the world’s most powerful office. Now, they are struggling to comprehend last week’s Republican convention that produced the political bombshell from Alaska. French, like many North Americans, were stunned and confused by Sen. John McCain’s surprise choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Wasilla, Alaska,

Now that there has been a respite in the financial tsunami sweeping the globe, finger-pointing is sure to begin. The chief culprit for this near-death experience must be the star-crossed Bush administration and its reckless financial policies.

Senator John McCain’s insistent claims that the US is winning the war in Iraq thanks to his `surge’ strategy are the military-political equivalent of the junk securities that Wall Street’s shady financiers have been peddling around the globe.

I’ve been called a lot of things in my times, but never a liberal Democrat - until recently. In American political argot, `liberal’ means leftwing.

America has hopefully left the dark period of post-9/11 `temporary madness,’ to use the words of writer John Le Carré, and is re-emerging into the daylight. The grim era of President George W. Bush and his mentor (and real president), VP Dick Cheney, is at an end.

Much of the Western world just honored the millions of soldiers fallen in the two world wars. But we also need to look beyond post-war myths and understand the tragic political mistakes that sent these soldiers to die in wars that might have been avoided.

The esteemed American poet Carl Sandburg perfectly captured the spirit and power of Chicago: `Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat…Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.’

The world financial crisis, swine flu, al-Qaida, Pakistan, the menacing Taliban – all seem quite remote here as spring makes this, the world’s most beautiful country, even lovelier.

History is the propaganda of the victors. Accordingly, Germany’s Adolf Hitler has been assigned total blame for starting World War II in Europe, history’s deadliest conflict in which 50 million died.

Armistice Day is always a very solemn event here in Paris and across France. Even the weather provides a dramatic backdrop: dark, thick, low-lying clouds and rain showers add to the aura of wartime loss and tragedy.