ECHELON mentioned twice on R4

[Shalom Avital]

At 10:06 AM +0100 on 7/5/00, Gilead Cooper commented:
>>  The first at about 06:15 reported a French judicial(?) enquiry into the
>>  role of ECHELON (and of Britain being used) as a tool for economic
>>  espionage against France. The reporter was the BBC correspondent in Paris,
>>  James Kumerasamy (sp?). Ironically it was the French attempts to bribe
>>  Saudi officials in 1994 that the Americans allegedly intercepted and
>>  reported to the Saudi government, scuppering the Airbus deal in favour of
>>  American plane makers.
>>
>Does anyone know the French for "chutzpah"?
>
>Gilead Cooper
>3 Stone Buildings
>Lincoln's Inn

Hi,

speaking both Hebrew and French, I would translate chutzpah with the 
French slang
"culot".

The word itself, before slang, means: bottom (no pun intended), like 
the bottom of an oil lamp, or "dottle" like the bottom of a pipe 
[smoking instrument ;-)], suggesting something covered with a thick 
layer of ...whatever.

More to the point, the French judicial (Juge d'Instruction = a judge 
with almost unlimited investigating powers), with all due respect, 
who has embarked in this crusade,  disregards, or is not aware, of 
the French operation or operations carried out on USA sovereign 
space, dealing with industrial espionage.

It seems, for the moment at least, that the French officials are not 
very comfortable with
the French judicial endeavors.

Cheers,
Charly