Robert Thompson was our senior writer on Axis of Logic and all his essays are published in his column, "Letters from France". His essays offer refreshing perspectives on international relations with a European perspective. He was a French citizen and a retired Avocat (Trial Lawyer) at the Boulogne-sur-Mer Bar. He lived with his wife in a small village in Northern France until the time of his death on May 20, 2009. He was born at Leek (North Staffordshire, England) in 1931, and, after reading Jurisprudence at Oxford University, he became an English Solicitor. He later went to work at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. There he was Director in charge of the Legal Department and also Secretary General of the Court of Arbitration, the most important international commercial arbitration centre on the world. While there, he became the I.C.C. Director in charge of relations with the Arab states, where he travelled for professional reasons, and he worked towards legal cooperation with the countries then within the Comecon.