Worldcrunch
Christophe Gleizes’s sentencing on appeal by an Algerian court has sent shockwaves just as all signs pointed to a thaw in relations between Paris and Algiers. The apparent, perhaps temporary, failure of diplomacy has put Paris in an awkward position and reignited the campaign to support the journalist.
Political change in Paris and German mediation led to the release of writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers. A victory for diplomacy over confrontation.
Whether it’s in Tunis, Algiers or Rabat, France is faced with the near-impossible task of finding its diplomatic footing in countries that were under its colonial rule last century.