JAPAN STILL UNDECIDED ON ITER SITE
May 3, 2005

"We have not made any sort of policy or decision on this issue," said Hatsuhisa Takashima, who is with the Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimuraat in Paris, on the multi-billion dollar project that should one day generate inexhaustible supplies of electricity.

"Our position is to have a discussion on that subject with the French," said Takashima...

CHIRAC CRIES VICTORY OVER ITER NUCLEAR REACTOR
May 4, 2005

"France is on the verge of getting ITER sited at Cadarache" in the south of the country, Chirac told French television, using the acronym [sic*] for the reactor. "We will have it at Cadarache!"

JAPANESE FURY AT CHIRAC CLAIM OVER RESEARCH REACTOR
May 6, 2005

Japan is planning a formal protest over President Jacques Chirac's public claim that it has given up its bid against France to host a multi-million euro pioneering nuclear reactor which would emulate the sun's nuclear fusion process.

"We are considering lodging a protest through diplomatic channels with France over the president's remarks," Toichi Sakata, a senior official at the science ministry told AFP. "His remarks were inappropriate," he added.

He said Chirac's remarks were "unilateral", arguing that the president's comments "certainly would not work positively for the current negotiations".

EU 'SURPRISE' AT FRENCH COMMENTS ON REACTOR DEAL
May 6, 2005

The European Union executive commission is "surprised" by a French government announcement that Japanese and EU officials have struck a deal mapping out future cooperation over a ground-breaking nuclear reactor, a spokesman said Friday.

France's deputy research minister, Francois d'Aubert, said Thursday in a statement that a technical agreement was reached at a meeting in Geneva which could lead Japan to drop its bid to host the revolutionary reactor.

He also said that EU Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik would hold a news conference on Friday in Brussels to unveil the deal.

Voicing "surprise" about the announcement, European Commission spokesman Rupert Krietemeyers said Friday: "There's no press conference by Potocnik, who is not even in Brussels".

[Emphases added.]

* ITER = “The way” in Latin. Formerly interpreted to stand for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, although this usage has been discontinued.

How many times does the world need to see this cycle before the penny drops?
Step 1: Negotiate anything with France
Step 2: Regret it

You regret your Independance from the UK, Doug?

Much less than the British regret previously dividing up the continent with France.