Megeve, France, is a ski town at the base of Mont Blanc...Telluride, Colo., is a ski town at the base of the San Juan Mountains...this week, a long-standing effort between the comparable communities to become sister cities will take a big step forward. Three Telluriders are traveling to Megeve to act as representatives of Telluride in an international water conference.

It is arguably modern Europe's flagship ideal: the freedom to move across borders and seek a better life elsewhere. But in the Europe of Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi, and others, the privilege has its limits -- and its paradoxes. Effectively excluded, it seems, is the one group singly most identified with a nomadic and peripatetic existence: the continent's 10 million-strong Romany population.

Amid all the furor stirred by the French government’s decision to repatriate hundreds of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma, many would be surprised to learn that Sarkozy is a pretty popular name among the Roma communities in Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. No, not French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but the name Sarkozy -- or rather Sárközy.

Is Nicolas Sarkozy's so-called burqa ban, as my FP colleague David Rothkopf writes, an expression of rising intolerance in France? Perhaps. Coupled with his expulsion of more than 1,000 Roma, it sure looks like le président is trying to use a cultural wedge to shore up his flagging popularity. Still, I think the "burqa" issue (or, alternatively, the jilbab + niqab, or abaya issue) is more complicated than David allows.

Though the presence of Roma (more commonly known as “Gypsies”) is nothing new in Western Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy began an unprecedented immigration crackdown campaign on Roma in France this past summer. In July, Sarkozy announced plans to dismantle 300 illegal Roma camps in his country...

APDS Blogger: Hilary Tone

Though the presence of Roma (more commonly known as “Gypsies”) is nothing new in Western Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy began an unprecedented immigration crackdown campaign on Roma in France this past summer.

The European Union has called France a "disgrace" and is threatening to take legal action against the country after it expelled thousands of Roma migrants...If France is found to be in breach of European law it could be fined but it would also face "a serious loss of prestige" according to sources in the commission.

An Iranian newspaper said on Tuesday that France's first lady Carla Bruni deserves to die after she condemned Iran's decision to stone a woman to death for adultery.