The Prigojine of the West
Philippe Roux, Cousance (Jura)
Obviously, I unreservedly condemn the actions and manipulations of Putin, Prigojine, Wagner and company. And I approve of Charles Haquet and Cyrille Pluyette when they remarkably denounce the Wagner hydra and “the incarnation of this gray zone which allows an authoritarian regime to carry iron into sovereign countries without appearing in broad daylight”. But are our liberal democracies so transparent? In the name of the Monroe Doctrine and the anti-Communist struggle, in Guatemala and then in Nicaragua, the United Fruit Company, the armed wing of the CIA, set all of Latin America to fire and blood. (“It’s time to stop the Hydra Wagner”L’Express of May 25).
The planet Arno Klarsfeld
Jean-Pierre Ponthus, Valogne (Manche)
You wonder why Arno Klarsfeld, this “son of the famous Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld”, gives [des entretiens] in far-right media to air his views on Ukraine. You seem to be unaware that the ban on the far right was lifted by Arno’s parents themselves when, on October 13, 2022, they agreed to receive the medal of the city of Perpignan from the hands of its mayor, the very RN Louis Aliot. But this positive reconsideration, even this absolution of the RN, and consequently the lifting of all prohibitions against it, were announced a long time ago, by Arno’s mother herself, in 1969. She recalls, in fact, in the Memoirs of the couple, that she had established from that date a distinction, which we will not call Jesuitical, between former Nazis: the absolutely infrequent and those “to whom one can shake hands”. (“Arno Klarsfeld, a Peter Pan in the war in Ukraine“, L’Express of May 4).
Man more dangerous than AI
Claude Massicard, Chambray-lès-Tours (Indre-et-Loire)
There is no need for artificial intelligence to threaten civilization. The man takes care of it very well. We are taught to be western, eastern Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, capitalist, communist, etc., while we are identical beings of flesh and bone. Big, big, small, white, yellow, black? The same blood, the same neurons, fundamentally equal. It is not artificial intelligence that has created these classifications, these borders, these nationalities, these beliefs. AI is just another way to continue to perpetuate this domination of man by man. (“Yuval Noah Harari, artificial intelligence threatens the survival of human civilization“, L’Express of May 17).
Jérôme Fourquet and large bodies
Alexandre Jevakhoff, Paris.
Accustomed to the fine analyzes of Jérôme Fourquet, I was particularly surprised by his remarks according to which “the great bodies are opposed in principle to the abolition of standards”. If we accept the usual definition, the large bodies (General Inspectorate of Finance, Council of State, Court of Auditors, Mines) do not produce standards. On the contrary, their control and audit missions seek to make the State more efficient. Jérôme Fourquet’s expression is therefore either a misunderstanding of the subject, or a temptation to “go fashionable” at the time of the reform of the senior civil service.. (“Jérôme Fourquet: “Bureaucratic disease, this enormous burden », L’Express of May 17).
School: congratulations to Elisabeth Badinter!
Lise Besse, Saint-Ismier (Isère)
Elisabeth Badinter is not mistaken in her analysis of the school system. I can confirm it with this lived anecdote. In class, a student refuses to obey a teacher. Altercation, witnesses, threat of parents to file a complaint. The head informs the rectorate. Prof summoned, HRD speech: “Rest easy, we support you”. Eight days later, letter to the teacher and “formal notice”. Clearly “Let it not start again”, signed by the same HRD. Look for the error … This took place when Jean-Michel Blanquer was minister. I understand that young people do not rush to pass the competitions … (“Elisabeth Badinter: “The obsession with tolerance weakens secularism”“, L’Express of May 11).
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