Given that you're living in France you're right on top of the next possible wave of insanity to overcome Europe.

BTW, I had no idea that in France, political figures could use foreign money to finance their campaigns. Talk about the possibility of conflicts of interest. It appears as though a Russian bank, the First Czech Russian Bank had been funding her since 2014. It was her claim that no French banks would lend her money. Anyway, the First Czech Russian Bank was shut down last December because it didn't have enough money to continue its operations. LePen was in the Kremlin last week trying to drum up more financing (it appears she's been successful with the Russians again) but had to cut short a meeting with one of the Russian diplomats to run off to meet Putin. During the course of her meeting she expressed admiration for Putin. I guess when they're holding the purse strings you'll say anything for a bit of dosh.

 

Hi Paul, interesting question. Le Pen is a sycophant, dangerous here but nowhere else. The French are gullible, they are latinos and excitable and are easily led, therein lies the problem. The wave of 'populist' politics is, IMO, pathetic where the stupid and dense seem to have the drop on everyone else including the young who will continue to suffer the consequences when we are all dead.

IMO the European's (EU) are not stupid enough to follow the UK into the (at all costs) abyss, it's a leap of faith in the dark and I honestly believe it is a retrograde step now taken and the UK have lost every vestige of control and respect in the world and it doesn't consider the 48% who voted to stay in the EU.

As for the financing of Le Pen, she must be a puppet, if you cannot get what you want from Peter then try Paul, it's moral blackmail and insidious and she will loose international respect but maybe not here in France as the rank and file see their world in a 'baguette' and 'chit chat' not politics, again, I repeat, easily led by the nose.

Ironically, the more you see into the psyche of the people where you live the more sometimes you see the majority as being weak and despicable which also applies to many in the UK I'm afraid.

 

I can't believe that the French allow political candidates to raise money using foreign sources. In many ways their election laws are extraordinarily fair but I can't get over the fact that candidated use foreign banks to finance their campaigns. Putin has gone out of his way to say that he has no interest in the politics of France and wouldn't use Russian money to influence the outcome. Puh-lease!!!!

You know, this is part of what the problem is here with Trump. While the Russians may not have directly financed his election, that would be illegal, one of the real issues around his failure to release his taxes (like every other presidential candidate in the last 45 years) is whether he personally owes money to the Russians. His own son said, in an interview about 7 or 8 years ago that an awful lot of the money they see coming in is coming from Russia.

I cannot believe that we are at this point, again. It's like now that everyone who lived through the horrors of the first half of the 20th century are dead and gone we're hell bent on repeating all the same mistakes.

 

Paul, it's hard to believe the British are stupid enough to 'cut off their nose to spite their face' but it happened with Brexit.

The French don't follow or apply the rules whether domestic or EU, it's a Rambo society, do as you please but don't get caught.

Now take Francois Fillon, (I'd rather not) he and his wife (who ironically is British) have been embezzling public funds for decades and even daily new fiddles surface about them and public funds but he is still revered and running as a presidential candidate. Most politicians at the top in France have a 'shady' skeleton in the cupboard somewhere.

The problem years ago were the dodgy dealings were more covert whereas today with modern communications info is far more overt. The Russians have always been anti western albeit they have many capitalists in their society.

IMO wherever in this world the average politician may appear squeaky clean initially but as life and their career progresses they become more crooked, just think back, do you ever remember a poor retired politician!

 

I agree that Fillon is a sketchy guy, paying his wife and kids fat salaries from public money. What's your take on Emmanuel Micron. He got a nice boost with the endorsement from Valls the other day.

 

Hi Paul

None of these guys running for the top job are exactly 'scintillating characters' but given the choice of the current spread I would go for Macron who to date seems the cleanest albeit inexperienced, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

I think the support of Valls has given Macron a good boost (or the kiss of death, whatever) but you have two similar personalities with equal goals and ambitions. Macron having a security chief supporting him will do him some good in the short and long term.

Theoretically Fillon should have been booted out on his neck weeks ago when his penny pinching fiddling antics were first uncovered but somehow he seems to survive (it could only happen in France or Italy)

 

I read this in the NY Times this morning.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/201...kets.html?_r=0

What's your take on Sunday's election. Will Macron win and will the margin be significant. Will a coalition effectively null advancements made by LePen. Or, are we on the verge of another Trumpian surprise? You're my man on the street. Has there been any detectable change in the current of this election?

 

I was just listening to NPR and a correspondent spoke with someone about the impact of yesterdays attack on Sunday's election. I was so encouraged by the man's comment. Essentially, he threw the question back at the correspondent by asking 'what kind of idiot would change his entire political outlook because of this attack on the police?' It was his feeling that an election is too important an event to have it swayed by the actions of a madman.

This election can have a devastating effect on the future of Europe. The EU was rocked by Brexit but if LePen can garner enough votes to win the election, she's made it clear she wants France out of the EU as well. There's no way Germany, on its own, could provide the ecomomic strength to keep the EU alive. We could be seeing a seismic shift rivalling just about anything we've seen in the last 50 years (and that includes the fall of the USSR).

 

Oh, and talk about tone deaf, in the midst of all the allegations about Russian meddling in our election, I can't believe that Exxon (our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson was the CEO until last year) is asking for an exclusion from the sanctions enacted after the mess in the Ukraine.

 

Hi Paul

Well, thankfully Le Pen didn't make it and Macron transcended her for the job.

We are just hearing about Trump the chump pulling out of the Paris climate change accord, suicide and a quicker route to his impeachment after his many 'faux pas' in recent weeks. As for the Russian election web intervention, not too sure, but it seems to 'smell' a lot.

The whole Exxon/Mobil thingy is becoming too hot to handle both in the US and UK, amazing how they even raise their heads above the parapet following the Valdez fiasco 25 years ago.

We've been in the UK in recent weeks and we are both shocked how expensive it is there, we had noticed the costs rising on the websites but even more shocked when we were there. Brexit seems an excuse to financially 'ream' everyone in the UK but it's their funeral. I just hope the Conservatives with Theresa May doesn't get in at the election on the 8th June as it will inevitably be a disaster. I think the EU will survive ...... just .......... but it will be a testing time for them and they will seriously need to rethink their game plan for the future and shed an awful lot of jobs and EU hangers on.