Tag Archives: France

Why the US, France and Britain are destroying Syria, by Sam Gerrans

Posted on December 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

From Sam Gerrans, on a guest post on theburningplatform.com:

Since Russia stepped up to the plate, suddenly western countries can’t wait to bomb ISIS. Are they now there to get the job done? Or are they there to stop Russia increasing its influence, and to make sure it doesn’t succeed where they failed?

The world is falling over itself to bomb Syria.

The following statement from Reuters summarizes the situation: “Most of the world’s powers are now flying combat missions over Iraq and Syria against Islamic State. But any consensus on how to proceed has been thwarted by opposing policies over the 4-year-old civil war in Syria, which has killed 250,000 people, driven 11 million from their homes, left swathes of territory in the hands of jihadist fighters and defied all diplomatic efforts at a solution.”

While it may seem to the outside observer that this catalogue of mayhem is the result of incompetence, to me – on the contrary – it is evidence of things going to plan.

I have never, thus far, seen a war the ruling elite clearly wanted to happen not happen.

Here, as in all other cases, there has been a bit of hand-wringing, some crying, some protests, some moving speeches. But like the morality plays of medieval times, after enjoying the sermon dressed as entertainment, life has inevitably carried on as normal with the barons raping and pillaging and everyone else having to put up with that reality.

Destruction of Syria is the plan

This time the plan – at least judging from the outcomes – is to destroy Syria.

Syria has been anathema to the self-appointed arbiters of righteousness: the ‘international community’, that coterie of hypocrites which arrogates to itself the monopoly on meting out death to those who won’t get with the program.

This group dislikes Syria which has had an uncompromising stance towards Israel and an independent financial system, and is using the chance to destroy it to flood Europe with refugees, thus further debasing the makeup of its constituent nations, and simultaneously justifying a lockdown in those countries.

Enter Putin

Everything was going swimmingly until Putin stepped in.

To continue reading: Why the US, France and Britain are destroying Syria

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Rue Sans Issue: French Middle East Policy Reaches a Bloody Dead End, by Steven Vujacic

Posted on November 19, 2015 | Leave a comment

From Steven Vujacic at antiwar.com:

The media high-fiving didn’t last long. Barely hours following the announcement of the “probable” death of anti-celebrity and throat-cutting ISIS pin-up boy “Jihadi John”, Paris was treated to a stunning choreography of terrorist attacks in supposed revenge for the constant and mostly ineffectual French bombing of ISIS targets in Syria.

The eternally hapless president of France did his best to look stern and statesmanlike in response to the massacre but anyone with half a brain must by now be asking themselves whether “Flamby” has a Plan B beyond more sanctimonious rhetoric and flashy air sorties.

The truth hurts. Hollande’s trademark denunciations of terrorism failed to hide the simple fact that French policies have consistently played into the hands of jihadists. From the ill-conceived removal of Muammar Ghaddafi, sworn enemy of Islamic fundamentalism, to the current French government’s strident defense of the incessant and puerile anti-Islamic insults of Charlie Hebdo, to its farcical attempts to weaken the anti-terrorist regime of Bashar al-Assad by judicial means, (i.e., the announcement of war crimes “investigations”), ISIS’ influence and confidence has grown with each French blunder. ISIS has always known exactly what it wants and it senses it is on a big winning streak. As leader of the country with the biggest Arab immigrant population in Europe, one wonders what more Hollande could have done to make life easy for ISIS short of issuing French passports to its entire leadership.

There is only one word to describe France’s foreign policy in the Middle East: reckless. France appears to have taken leave of its senses. Instead of maintaining a low profile anti-terrorist approach which guaranteed security at home, it has opted for the worst of all worlds – loud liberal sermons combined with overt and bloody intervention in a hugely volatile part of the world that has strong ties with a large and increasingly alienated segment of French society.

As the death toll rises, I listen in vain for any recognition that France has taken a wrong turn. That defending Western values in the Middle East and North Africa with air strikes, drones etc. is a moral and military dead end, pure and simple. Nothing. No self-reflection. No doubts. The liberal enlightened West never makes mistakes.

To keep reading: French Middle East Policy Reaches a Bloody Dead End

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France’s Far-Right Party Calls For Nation To “Re-Arm Itself”, Revoke Muslims’ Passports, “Eradicate” Radical Islam, by Tyler Durden

Posted on November 14, 2015 | Leave a comment

From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

If there is one ‘winner’ from last night’s terrible events in Paris, it is France’s anti-EU, anti-immigration far-right wing Front Nationale party leader Marine Le Pen. Having already ascended to the lead in yet another poll ahead of France’s 2017 elections, Le Pen came out swinging this morning call for France to “re-arm itself,” stating that radical Islam must be “eradicated” from France. She further demanded that border controls be made “permanent” and binational Islamists must be depreived of their French passport.

As Bloomberg notes:

*FAR RIGHT PARTY LEADER MARINE LE PEN COMMENTS IN TV SPEECH
*LE PEN SAYS FRANCE NEEDS TO CONTROL ITS BORDERS PERMANENTLY
*LE PEN CALLS FOR PERMANENT BORDER CONTROLS
*LE PEN CALLS FOR ‘ERADICATION’ OF RADICAL ISLAMISM IN FRANCE
*LE PEN: FRANCE IS ‘VULNERABLE’, ‘MUST RE-ARM ITSELF’
*LE PEN: FRENCH PEOPLE ARE NO LONGER SAFE
*LE PEN: BI-NATIONAL ISLAMISTS MUST DEPRIVED OF FRENCH PASSEPORT

Which is all fine if this was some extreme and unpopular party, but in fact…

Marine Le Pen Tops Another French Presidency Poll

The Front National party in France are moving one step closer to seriously challenging for the country’s presidency. A new opinion poll reveals that their leader, nationalist firebrand Marine Le Pen, has topped yet another poll ahead of the elections in 2017.

The IFOP poll in conjunction with Sud Radio and Lyon Capitale gives Ms. Le Pen a lead under three different scenarios, reflecting the panic setting into the French political establishment which is considering a ‘grand coalition’ of centre-left and centre-right parties to keep the Front National out.

According to IFOP, if centrist politician Francois Bayrou and centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy ran, Ms. Le Pen would top the first choice in the multi-round election with 28 per cent of the votes. In second, the Republican Party’s Sarkozy (23), and in third, current president, socialist Francois Hollande (21).

As John Rubino noted previously, there are two reasons for the rise of National Front and other anti-euro parties:

1) The adoption of a common currency hasn’t delivered the broad-based prosperity that was promised. Instead, Germany has entered a golden age of soaring exports, massive trade surpluses and balanced budgets while most other eurozone countries have been unable to function with a currency they can’t devalue at will.

2) The European Union’s decision to counter falling birthrates with rising immigration from Africa and the Middle East has, in the opinion of a growing number of Europeans, produced a two-tiered society in which a shrinking layer of liberal, pacifist, aging “natives” sits atop a growing, restless layer of newcomers who instead of assimilating are trying to impose their culture on traditional Europe.

And then came the Paris attacks. The perps are Middle Eastern though it’s not clear what group they’re affiliated with. But no one seems to care whether it’s ISIS or al-Qaeda. Their ancestry is all that will matter in the next election, and any politician with an anti-euro, anti-immigrant platform will find a suddenly very receptive audience.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-14/frances-far-right-party-calls-nation-re-arm-itself-revoke-muslims-passports-eradicat

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Greece Fallout: Italy & Spain Have Funded A Massive Backdoor Bailout Of French Banks, by Benn Stell and Dinah Walker

Posted on July 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

From Benn Stell and Dinah Walker, at The Council on Foreign Relations, via zerohedge.com:

In March 2010, two months before the announcement of the first Greek bailout, European banks had €134 billion worth of claims on Greece. French banks, as shown in the right-hand figure below, had by far the largest exposure: €52 billion – this was 1.6 times that of Germany, eleven times that of Italy, and sixty-two times that of Spain.

The €110 billion of loans provided to Greece by the IMF and Eurozone in May 2010 enabled Greece to avoid default on its obligations to these banks. In the absence of such loans, France would have been forced into a massive bailout of its banking system. Instead, French banks were able virtually to eliminate their exposure to Greece by selling bonds, allowing bonds to mature, and taking partial write-offs in 2012. The bailout effectively mutualized much of their exposure within the Eurozone.

The impact of this backdoor bailout of French banks is being felt now, with Greece on the precipice of an historic default. Whereas in March 2010 about 40% of total European lending to Greece was via French banks, today only 0.6% is. Governments have filled the breach, but not in proportion to their banks’ exposure in 2010. Rather, it is in proportion to their paid-up capital at the ECB – which in France’s case is only 20%.

In consequence, France has actually managed to reduce its total Greek exposure – sovereign and bank – by €8 billion, as seen in the main figure above. In contrast, Italy, which had virtually no exposure to Greece in 2010 now has a massive one: €39 billion. Total German exposure is up by a similar amount – €35 billion. Spain has also seen its exposure rocket from nearly nothing in 2009 to €25 billion today.

In short, France has managed to use the Greek bailout to offload €8 billion in junk debt onto its neighbors and burden them with tens of billions more in debt they could have avoided had Greece simply been allowed to default in 2010. The upshot is that Italy and Spain are much closer to financial crisis today than they should be.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-06/greece-fallout-italy-and-spain-have-funded-massive-backdoor-bailout-french-banks

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Germany, France Call for Fiscal and Political Union. Public Ignorance Vital for Success of EU Power Grab, by Don Quijones

Posted on June 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

The Europeans set up a supranational government for the EU, which has steadily expanded its powers at the expense of the individual countries and continues to do so. Who knew? Well, anyone who knows anything about governments. From Don Quijones at wolfstreet.com:

Since Europe’s sovereign debt problems exploded onto the scene in 2010 the European Union has masterfully exploited the crisis to strengthen its grip over the old continent. It has stripped once-proud, independent nations of the last vestiges of their economic sovereignty. It has also pulled off the long-cherished dream of banking union, which was quietly consummated last fall.

Now, with the help of Berlin and Paris, it is looking to complete the coup. And this time not in the shadows, but in broad daylight.

The first move was to prep the masses. In an article published in The Guardian, Emmanuel Macron, France’s Minister of the Economy, and Sigmar Gabriel, the German Vice-Chancellor, outlined the broad strokes of the plan, calling for greater fiscal and social harmonization in the Eurozone while conceding that other EU countries like Britain should be allowed to settle for a less integrated Union based on the single market — at least temporarily:

Our common goal is to render it unthinkable for any country in pursuit of its national interest to consider a future without Europe (meaning, one assumes the EU) – or within a lesser union.

Straightening A Crooked Brussels

“The euro was built on a Franco-German understanding but also on a typically European compromise,” they write. “This gives France and Germany a particular responsibility to straighten what is crooked” — an eminently fitting phrase.

“A new, staged process of convergence is needed,” the authors add. This would involve not only structural reforms (labor, business and the environment) and institutional reforms (functioning of economic governance) but also social and tax convergence – all in the name of addressing the “critical flaws in the architecture of monetary union.”

What Macron and Gabriel fail to mention is that those same critical flaws were an intended part of the euro’s design from the get-go. The goal was always to crush national sovereignty – and more specifically monetary sovereignty – as a vital stepping stone to attain full-on political union, as the German Prime Minister Joschka Fischer publicly admitted just days after the introduction of the euro in 1999:

The introduction of a common currency is not primarily an economic, but rather a sovereign and thus eminently political act…political union must be our lodestar from now on: it is the logical follow-on from Economic and Monetary Union.

In other words, while euroskeptics in the UK and elsewhere were publicly ridiculed for daring to even suggest that the European project might pose a threat to national sovereignty, European heads of state were publicly – indeed proudly – conceding as much. As Patrick Allen writes, Machiavelli himself would have been proud of the euro’s founding fathers. “They pushed through a policy against considerable opposition aimed at achieving a result that was not about economic union.”

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/06/06/germany-france-call-for-fiscal-and-political-union-public-ignorance-vital-for-success-of-eu-power-grab/

To continue reading: Germany, France, Call for Fiscal and Political Union

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Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – French Government Begins Blocking Websites it Doesn’t Like, by Michael Krieger

Posted on March 21, 2015 | 1 comment

From Michael Krieger, at liberty blitzkrieg.com:

There’s no better way to show terrorists you mean business than by preemptively ending freedom before the infidels have a chance to.

Ever since the tragic Charlie Hebdo terror attacks, France has responded by turning its back on decency, freedom and civilization itself. While the counterproductive authoritarian government response to terror attacks throughout the Western world has been long noted by myself and countless others, no country has demonstrated a more enthusiastic embrace of fascism and irrationality than France.

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/03/19/liberte-egalite-fraternite-french-government-begins-blocking-websites-it-doesnt-like/

To continue reading: French Government Blocks Websites it Doesn’t Like

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She Said That? 12/11/14

Posted on December 11, 2014 | Leave a comment

From Ms. Martine Aubry, mayor of Lille, France, writing in the French daily Le Monde:

I’ll fight this social regression at a national level, as in my town.

The Wall Street Journal, France’s Move to Spur Moribund Economy Draws Fire, 12/11/14

And to what social regression was Ms. Aubry referring? Child or convict labor? Involuntary euthanasia? Privatizing health care? A forty-hour instead of thirty-five hour work week? Outlawing adultery? Conscription? Two-week instead of five-week vacations? Prohibiting dogs in restaurants? Google? Apple? Amazon?

None of the above. President Francois Holland has floated a proposal to allow stores to remain open on Sunday. The horror! Some might think that allowing people the freedom to shop an extra day of the week in shops whose owners want to stay open that extra day is social progression, not regression; but this is France. Ms. Aubry was not alone in her determination to fight Sunday openings and a range of similarly innocuous “outrages.” Thousands took to the streets of Paris in protest. Meanwhile the French economy is, as the headline notes, moribund, flirting with recession.

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