Word: frenchness
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...This year, along with the Miike and Gordon, says Geddes, "We're closing with a really crazy French film called Inside, with Béatrice Dalle. It's an intense bloody horror film. You're going, 'Omigod, they're not going to do that! Omigod, they've just done that.' I saw it at Cannes, where a quarter of the audience walked out and the rest gave it a standing ovation. When we play the movie I actually want to have a camera on the audience so I can film them freaking out." That makes Geddes the perfect Midnight Madness...
...European Union, nearly every Western European country has adopted similar, if not more stringent, policies. The British banned the hoary pastime of Sir John Walter Raleigh last July; smoking indoors now carries fines of ?600 for the offending party, and twice that for the publican. The formerly indomitable French, for whom smoky left-bank cafés and ennui are cultural staples, will follow suit beginning January 1, 2008. And cannabis-fans in the once surreally tolerant Netherlands will have to take their joints down to the banks of the canals and out of the world-famous coffee houses...
...dedication to Islam can propel some into underground extremist activity facilitated sometimes by their physical appearances. "In politically incorrect language, they don't look like Muslims to most people, and the freedom of movement and lack of suspicion that affords is used to the hilt in preparing attacks," the French intelligence official explains. "In addition to their radicalism, converts often feel they are proving their piety through jihad. That's an extra motivation that makes them a real danger...
...Another repeated variable counter-terrorism forces look out for is what another French security official calls "the key": a particularly intense meeting, training session, or combat stint that pushes young extremists over the threshold of talk, and into a mind-set where action becomes a must. Fighting with jihadist forces in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Chechnya and now Iraq has served that purpose for thousands. But as was seen with member of the London bombing group and the trio arrested in Germany this week, trips to Pakistan to meet with or receive instruction from extremists there can also serve the purpose...
...failed bombings of German trains last year was proof Germany was, is and will continue being a primary target of terrorists, just like we all are," notes the French intelligence official. "We're hosting the World Cup of rugby, featuring teams from all the main coalition countries in Iraq, meaning our alert level will be particularly high. But it's been high for years anyway, because France - like the U.S., U.K., Germany, and most others - is a prime target not for what we do, but what we represent. None of this is new, and unfortunately each new attack or attempt...