France – Page 3 – The Burning Platform

The Next French Revolution

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

The politics in France is changing and the shift is underway ahead of the 2017 presidential elections. Today, France’s far-right National Front won almost 30% of the vote. Between the high taxes, abuse of socialists who have driven the economy into the ground as evidenced by the share market decline when everyone else has been making new highs, rising unemployment, falling property prices, and now the Islamic State attack that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, Marine Le Pen’s party secured 29.4% of the vote nationally.

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This anti-Europe, anti-immigration party, which came first in six regions out of 13 is warning that things are changing in Euroland. “This is a historic, extraordinary result,” Front National lawmaker Marion Marechal-Le Pen told TF1 television. “The old system died tonight.”. Marion is the granddaughter of Jean-Marie and niece of Marine Le Pen and is a glamorous 25-year-old who is upsetting the political tables much as Donald Trump is in the USA. Marion is overthrowing the mainstream conservatives and socialists. This is a nationalist type movement that has not been seen in France since Napoleon, She was elected at 22 to be the youngest in French history. This is showing the generational shift our computer has been projecting for this period. A full-blown political turn.

Why the US, France and Britain are destroying Syria

Hat tip Westcoaster

Guest Post by Sam Gerrans

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.

Continue reading “Why the US, France and Britain are destroying Syria”

AND IT BEGINS

There are a large number of people in Europe who will not let politicians dictate the demise of their culture. There are an equal amount in the U.S. They will increasingly take the law into their own hands.

Will Europe Man Up?

Guest Post by Patrick J. Buchanan

Will Europe Man Up?

If the purpose of terrorism is to terrify, the Islamic State had an extraordinary week. Brussels, capital of the EU and command post of mighty NATO, is still in panic and lockdown.

“In Brussels, fear of attack lingers” was Monday’s headline over The Washington Post’s top story, which read:

“Not since Boston came to a near-standstill after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 has the life of a major Western city been brought to a halt this way by the fear of terrorism.”

Below that is this headline: “After Paris, a campaign changed by fear.”

That story is about what’s happened in our presidential race: “Across the country … have come pronouncements of anger and fear not seen after the terrorist attacks in London and Madrid — or even in some ways after Sept. 11 2001.”

Voters speak of “feeling more afraid of the Islamic State, more horrified by the imagery of the beheadings and other atrocities.”

The New York Times’ Roger Cohen describes the Paris he loves.

“[T]hey are shaken. There is a void in the streets too empty, a new suspicion in appraising glances, a wary numbness. Paris is afflicted with absences — the dead, of course; visitors frightened away; minds frozen by fear; and tranquility lost. The city feels vulnerable.”

“I think France is attacked above all for what it is,” writes Cohen, “That in turn is terrifying. … I don’t think Paris has ever felt so precious or precarious to me as it did over the past week.”

Terrible as the massacres were, some perspective is in order.

Continue reading “Will Europe Man Up?”

Nigel Farage – 2013: The EU is Increasingly About War

ISIS Is a Monster of Our Own Creation

Guest Post by Bill Bonner, Chairman, Bonner & Partners

PARIS – Paris was calm last night.

We walked across the River Seine…

Pausing to take this photo of the Eiffel Tower along the way.

Screen Shot 2015-11-19 at 11.56.45 AM

We were living in Paris in 2003 when President George W. Bush and his team decided to attack Iraq.

Our misgivings were recorded in the Daily Reckoning e-letter we were writing at the time. As we put it:

The U.S. invasion was arguably the best thing that ever happened to jihadists. It challenged them. It forced them to grow and adapt. Like an oversupply of antibiotics in a New Delhi hospital, U.S. interference has wiped out the weakest of the terrorists and forced others to mutate into much more lethal varieties.

The war in Iraq led to dozens of experiments and innovations — in the art of insurgency as well as in organizational skills and management. What was just a handful of nut-job jihadists a few years ago, under pressure from the U.S. military, has become far more powerful and much less amateurish.

But the worst thing that could come from an aggressive attack, we warned, would be victory. It would encourage even more stomping around where we have no business.

We reported that the French had wisely, in our view, decided to stay out of it and suggested that Americans might be better off out of it too.

This view so infuriated readers that thousands canceled their free subscriptions. One wrote to say he hoped the U.S. would “bomb Paris on its way to Baghdad.”

Continue reading “ISIS Is a Monster of Our Own Creation”

Paris, Sharm el-Sheikh, and the Resurrection of Old Europe

Outside the Box: Paris, Sharm el-Sheikh, and the Resurrection of Old Europe

By John Mauldin

Soon after the Paris attacks, I picked up the phone to talk over the situation with my friend George Friedman. George is one of the truly world-class thought leaders on geopolitics. We had an animated 20-minute conversation. I didn’t particularly like what I heard.

George thinks we face big difficulties in dealing realistically with the ISIS threat. The more I read—and the more I listen to people like George who have worked these issues for decades—the more I think that we, as a culture, need to face reality.

I asked George to distill his thoughts into a short essay I could publish in Outside the Box, and he agreed.

This is a very thought-provoking piece with a different conclusion—which is what you can always expect from George.

Paris, Sharm el-Sheikh, and the Resurrection of Old Europe

John Mauldin, Editor
Outside the Box[email protected]

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By George Friedman

The attacks in Paris last Friday night were part of a long-term pattern of occasional terrorist attacks by jihadists on targets in Europe. In the European context, this stood out for two reasons. First, the scale of the attack was substantially larger than other attacks in recent years, both in the number of participants and the number of casualties. Second, it was different in the level of sophistication and planning. Securing weapons and explosives, gathering at least three teams, identifying the targets and the manner in which these targets were to be attacked involved fairly complex logistics, intelligence and above all coordination. Most impressive was their counter-intelligence and security. There were at least seven attackers and additional support personnel to secure weapons, gather information and help them hide out in preparation for the attack. No one detected them.

Continue reading “Paris, Sharm el-Sheikh, and the Resurrection of Old Europe”

CULTURAL SUICIDE

Via Ben Garrison

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

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/14/2015 09:36 -0500

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

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

France Restricts Cash, Movement of Gold & Crypto-Currencies

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

France is of course the most socialist country in Europe and it always attacks anyone with money. Its latest war on money is broadening to create a virtual lock-down on all assets of anyone. France is strengthening the control of cash payments drastically. Also the gold sales and movement of any tangible goods is to be reported.

The French Finance Minister Michel Sapin has announced a drastic tightening of the use of cash in France. As the newspaper Le Parisien reported that citizens should be strictly monitored from September 2015 if they make payments in cash.

– The limit on cash payments will be reduced from 3,000 euros to 1,000 euros.

– Tourists can only pay up to 10,000 euros in cash, so far there were 15,000 euros.

– If a Frenchman wants to change money into another currency, it must still do to 1,000 euros without identification only. So far, French could buy foreign currencies for 8,000 euros.

– If a bank customer stands out more than 10,000 euros in a month from his account, the bank must report the transaction to the Money Laundering Authority TRACFIN.

– Banks must inform the authorities of all cargo transfers within the EU that exceed 10,000 euros. This regulation checks, pre-paid cards and even gold are affected.

– The control of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin to be drastically tightened.

This is the economic tyranny we face. What is yours really belongs to them from the way they see it. We no longer live in a democratic world. This is all about them controlling the people to sustain their power. The French official reason for these measures is the “war on terror”. In fact, it is the measure that we are witnessing around the globe because those in power feel it slipping away. This is not a war on terror, it is war against the people in the form of financial repression. It is still unclear whether other euro countries to follow the example of Paris and its citizens in other countries restrict the free, private use of their money.

FOURTH TURNING – THE SHADOW OF CRISIS HAS NOT PASSED – PART FOUR

In Part One of this article I explained the model of generational theory as conveyed by Strauss and Howe in The Fourth Turning. In Part Two I provided an overwhelming avalanche of evidence this Crisis has only yet begun, with debt, civic decay and global disorder propelling the world towards the next more violent phase of this Crisis. In Part Three I addressed how the most likely clash on the horizon is between the government and the people. War on multiple fronts will thrust the world through the great gate of history towards an uncertain future.

War on Multiple Fronts

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

The drumbeats of war are pounding. Sanctions are implemented against any country that dares question American imperialism (Russia, Iran). Overthrow and ignominious imprisonment or death awaits any foreign leader questioning the petrodollar or standing in the way of America spreading democracy (Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Egypt). The mega-media complex of six corporations peddle the government issued pabulum about ISIS being an existential threat to our freedoms; Russia being led by the new Hitler and poised to take over Europe; Syria gassing innocent women and children; and Iran only six months away from a nuclear bomb (they’ve been six months away for the last fourteen years). Hollywood does their part with patriotic drivel like American Sniper, designed to compel low IQ unemployed American youths to swell with pride and march down to enlistment centers, located in our plentiful urban ghettos.

The most disconcerting aspect of Fourth Turnings is they have always climaxed with total destructive all-out war. Not wars to enrich arms dealers like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, but incomprehensibly violent, brutal, wars of annihilation. There are clear winners and losers at the conclusion of Fourth Turning wars. Leaders mobilize all forces, refuse to compromise, define their enemies in moral terms, demand sacrifice on the battlefield and home front, build the most destructive weapons imaginable, and employ those weapons to obtain victory at any cost.

It may seem inconceivable that war on such a scale will happen within the next ten years, but it was equally inconceivable in 1936 that 65 million people would die in the next ten years during World War II. We valued all the wrong things and made all the wrong choices leading up to this Crisis and during the early stages of this Crisis. The accumulation of unmet obligations, unpaid bills, un-kept promises and unresolved issues will provide the fuel for an upheaval that will shake our society to its core and transforms the country’s direction for the next sixty years. The outcome of the conflict could be tragedy or triumph. Our choices will make a difference.

There will be war on many fronts, and they have already begun. The culmination will likely be World War III, with the outcome highly uncertain and potentially disastrous.

Continue reading “FOURTH TURNING – THE SHADOW OF CRISIS HAS NOT PASSED – PART FOUR”

US & UK try to sabotage any Ukraine peace agreement

Talks between Russia’s President Putin, France’s President Hollande, and German Chancellor Merkel have been constructive, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday. However, RT spoke with political analyst Dan Glazebrook, who thinks that while Germany seems enthusiastic about the peace talks, the other sides involved in the conflict – the US and UK – are creating obstacles which may stand in the way of the conflict’s resolution.

France Has Taken the Extremists’ Bait…

Guest Post by Bill Bonner

Dear Diary,

It took only 48 hours. And France took the bait.

Rather than declare the murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists a crime, which it surely was, French prime minister Manuel Valls turned an act of murder into an act of war, which it surely wasn’t.

“France Declares ‘War,’” bleated a headline in Sunday’s New York Times.

Now the killers are martyrs in a holy war against the West. Western nations can now roll out more armored vehicles, more airport security, more snooping and more spending – all in the name of protecting citizens from fanatics.

Fear and Loathing in Paris

Paris looked like a city under siege when we went through it on Saturday.

Helicopters overhead. Gendarmes everywhere. Fear and loathing down every rue.

Even with the diminutive François Hollande at its head, the French government seemed suddenly robust – its muscles flexed, its cheeks rosy and flush with energy and purpose.

“War is the health of the state,” said American writer Randolph Bourne.

“Compare what these Islamic commandos did to Charlie Hebdo and what your Navy SEAL team did to Osama bin Laden,” suggested a provocative Frenchman.

“Both were trained to kill. Both killed unarmed people in the name of their cause. Bin Laden had been accused of a serious crime. But no trial was ever held. No verdict ever rendered.

“The cartoonists had been accused of a serious crime, too… at least as the radical Islamists saw it. In both attacks the killers gunned down innocent people who hadn’t been accused of anything.”

“What’s the difference?” he asked. He did not stay for an answer.

We had one: In our Western tradition, making fun of someone is not a capital crime. Plotting the murder of thousands is.

But the man had a point. The perps – the brothers Kouachi – believed in a different tradition… a different set of rules… and a different kind of justice.

Once killing is permitted, people will reach out to others… and blow their brains out.

Continue reading “France Has Taken the Extremists’ Bait…”

FRENCH INTERPRETATION OF FREE SPEECH

That’s funny. European politicians joined together in solidarity to rejoice in the beauty of free speech. I guess their interpretation of free is different than mine. If you agree with their government approved speech, than it’s OK. If not, they arrest you.

The French are going to use this incident as the reason to create their own Patriot Act. Rather than supporting the right to free speech, they will take away more liberties and freedoms from their citizens. It was so predictable. And the sheep will stand idly by while they are led to slaughter.

PARIS — France’s prime minister announced he would seek tighter surveillance of convicted extremists Tuesday and reports emerged that the weapons used by a terror cell to kill 17 people around Paris came from outside the country.

In a rousing, indignant speech, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said “serious and very high risks remain” and warned the French not to let down their guard. He called for new surveillance of imprisoned radicals and told the interior minister to come up with new security proposals shortly.

In a sign that French judicial authorities were using laws against defending terrorism to their fullest extent, a man who had praised the terror attacks in a drunken rant to police was swiftly sentenced Monday to four years in prison.

French Comedian Arrested Over Sympathizing With Charlie Hebdo Killer

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2015 15:26 -0500

Yesterday we discussed the crackdown on ‘extremism’ around the world (and its potential implications for freedom). Today, as The Guardian reports, notorious French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala is now intimately aware of the implications, having been arrested for being an “apologist for terrorism” after suggesting on Facebook that he sympathised with one of the Paris gunmen.

As The Independent reports, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls attacked Dieudonné, calling him a “peddler of hate and said there should be no confusion between the ‘impertinent’ satire of Charlie Hebdo and ‘anti-semitism, racism and negationism’.”

In an open letter, the comedian claimed on Tuesday that he had been misunderstood.

The comedian made international headlines in 2013 when French footballer Nicolas Anelka was banned for five matches by English football authorities for using a gesture created by Dieudonné that many consider to echo the Nazi salute.

His original statement on his Facebook page was as follows:

“After this historic, no legendary, march, a magic moment equal to the Big Bang which created the Universe, or in a smaller (more local) way comparable to the crowning of the (ancient Gaullish king) Vercingétorix, I am going home. Let me say that this evening, as far as I am concerned, I feel I am Charlie Coulibaly.”

What he had meant to say on Facebook, he said, was that “I am considered like another Amedy Coulibaly when in fact I am no different from Charlie.”

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Be careful what you say – or think!!