Macron ‘Trying to Go Backwards’ to Days of Imperial France?
Columnist Ted Rall argues President Emmanuel Macron’s delusions of fighting Russia in the Donbass are not shared by most French people.
“Ever since its ignominious defeat in the Napoleonic wars, France is entrapped in the predicament of countries that get sandwiched between great powers,” began a provocative article recently published on the Indian Punchline blog. As other European countries have accepted the United States as the great power of the Western world, France has never fully given up its global aspirations, argues M.K. Bhadrakumar.
And what better leader to carry the torch than one who once confided France needs a king and sometimes, according to his critics, appears to see himself as one?
Columnist and political cartoonist Ted Rall joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program on Monday to discuss the case of Emmanuel Macron, his comments about the war in the Donbass, and whether the French president’s megalomania borders on the pathological.
“One of the things I used to say during the early days of the war on terror was that the United States should follow the example of France,’ said Rall. “Which back in the 2000s seemed to have accepted its fate as a post-colonial, post-imperialistic power, albeit still an important country in Europe.”
“France, at the time, seemed like it had… accepted that colonialism was a bad idea and that they needed to redirect their resources away from militarism and more toward their own people,” he continued. “Maybe he didn’t read his history. Maybe he’s too young to remember that glorious period when France, finally in the 80s and 90s, was able to start establishing a major social safety net that created free college and socialized health care and everything else for its people. But he seems to have forgotten all that and he’s trying to go backwards.”
As much of the Western world moved towards neoliberalism in the 80s with leaders like US President Ronald Regan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, France went in the opposite direction, elevating Socialist Francois Mitterrand to power. The French leader left a lasting legacy in the country, investing in infrastructure, social programs and grand construction projects. His focus on domestic concerns was largely shared in the 2000s by President Jacques Chirac, who rejected French support for the war in Iraq.
Macron has broken from tradition in a number of ways, implementing neoliberal economic policy and promoting a strident French militarism. Fortunately, according to Rall, his ambitions aren’t shared by most of the French public.
“The good news is, I don’t think that the French people – whether we’re talking about the populist right, Marine Le Pen’s party, or you’re talking about the radical left represented by Jean-Luc Melenchon, or – not much of anyone else is in the mood to follow him down this path to destruction,” said the columnist. “And, for that matter, he doesn’t really even seem to have much cooperation from other European powers in terms of direct involvement to go and fight in Ukraine, to fight the Russians in Ukraine.”
Rall insisted most French people are more worried about domestic concerns such as the economy, unemployment, and demographic issues rather than the conflict in the Donbass. And the last time the French military was directly involved in a major proxy war was in the 1960s, he noted.
Additionally, Rall claimed many French people are sympathetic to Russia’s position.
“Russia is not a distant country to them,” he claimed. “There are lots and lots of French people who are descended, who are related to Russians. There was a huge white Russian migration after the Russian Revolution to France and very close ties between Russia and France that go back to the Tsarist era.”
“I just think they get it and they don’t want to get involved in something that’s so brazenly provocative,” Rall concluded.
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More Than Half of Migrant Deaths Are From Drowning
At least 8,565 people died on international migration routes in 2023, according to data from the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This marks the deadliest year on record, up 20 percent from one year before.
“These frightening figures collected by the Missing Migrants Project are also a reminder that we must take increased action to ensure safe migration for all, so that in ten years no people will be leaving their lives in search of a better one”, said Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General.
At least 8,565 people died on international migration routes in 2023, according to data from the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This marks the deadliest year on record, up 20 percent from one year before.
“These frightening figures collected by the Missing Migrants Project are also a reminder that we must take increased action to ensure safe migration for all, so that in ten years no people will be leaving their lives in search of a better one”, said Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General.
At least 8,565 people died on international migration routes in 2023, according to data from the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This marks the deadliest year on record, up 20 percent from one year before.
“These frightening figures collected by the Missing Migrants Project are also a reminder that we must take increased action to ensure safe migration for all, so that in ten years no people will be leaving their lives in search of a better one”, said Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, the Mediterranean is by far the deadliest route for migrants, having claimed the lives of at least 3,129 victims in 2023 alone. Last year, thousands of migrants also died in Africa (1,866), largely in the Sahara Desert and on the sea route to the Canary Islands, as well as in Asia (2,138), where hundreds of Afghans and Rohingya died after fleeing their homes.
You will find more infographics at Statista
More than half of the dead or missing are presumed to have drowned. 13 percent of the recorded deaths were linked to vehicle accidents or hazardous transport and ten percent were victims of violence.
The IOM writes that actual figures are likely far higher due to data collection challenges, citing remote locations such as Panama’s Darien National Park as an example as well as maritime routes, where “invisible” shipwrecks occur.
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Ukraine Conflict Won’t End This Year – Türkiye
The Ukraine conflict is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon and has the potential to escalate even further, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
In an interview with CNN Turk on Monday, Fidan claimed that the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev have “turned into a war of attrition,” which he said is a grave matter of concern for Türkiye.
“Strategically, we are concerned about the expansion of the [conflict] into the region,”Fidan stated, adding that this process “begins with language and then turns into action.” Europe, he warned, “should be more worried about the situation in Ukraine than we are.”
Commenting on the prospects for a peace deal, the minister said, “there is no basis to expect development on this issue in 2024. We don’t see this in the near future.”
Read more Moscow has received no ‘serious’ proposals for talks with Kiev – Lavrov
He noted, however, that Türkiye has several initiatives to end the conflict and is one of the few countries calling for peace in NATO, the EU, and other international platforms. According to Fidan, Ankara is well positioned to pursue this policy because it has good relations with both belligerents.
Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Türkiye has repeatedly urged Moscow and Kiev to cease the hostilities, and provided a venue for peace talks that year. While the negotiations – which revolved around the issue of Ukrainian neutrality – initially made some headway, Kiev later walked away. Moscow claimed that the talks were derailed by then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who advised Ukraine to keep fighting – a claim that Johnson denies.
On Friday, Fidan also insisted that it is “time to separate the issue of [Ukrainian] sovereignty from the ceasefire” in order to stop the conflict, stressing that this does not mean that Kiev would recognize Russia’s territorial gains.
However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree barring talks with the current leadership in Moscow in the autumn of 2022, after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly in referendums to join Russia. President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is open to negotiations with Ukraine as long as Kiev and its Western backers are serious about long-term peace with Moscow, and not just because they “have run out of ammunition.”
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Missile Milestone for US Allies, But Security Dilemma for Asia
According to a news report on Breaking Defense, the two US allies of Japan and the Philippines are nearing important milestones in their plans to invest in new missiles that will extend the reach of their militaries in the Western Pacific.
The first set of BrahMos missile systems the Philippines bought from India is expected to reach the Philippines by the end of March. Around the same time, 30 personnel from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force are expected to receive guidance from the US Navy to operate Tomahawk missiles the Japanese government plans to purchase from the US.
Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times that this development reveals that US allies are responding to the US’ so-called Indo-Pacific Strategy and its much hyped “China threat” theory with which the US tries to form small cliques.
Tokyo and Manila’s investment in new missiles are based on their own calculations. Since last year, China-Philippines tensions have heightened over the South China Sea maritime disputes under the incitement of Washington. BrahMos missiles have a flight range of up to 290 kilometers at supersonic speed and can be launched from land, ship or fighter aircraft. The missiles could pose a striking capability toward Nansha islands such as Ren’ai Jiao (also known as Ren’ai Reef) and Meiji Jiao (also known as Meiji Reef) and even the Huangyan Dao (also known as Huangyan Island).
As for Japan, the Tomahawk missiles Japan plans to buy from the US can hit the targets 1,600 kilometers away, which far exceeds Japan’s need for self-defense but greatly boosts Japan’s offensive capabilities. Japan is using the connivance and support of the US to break through the constraints of its pacifist Constitution and realize its dream of being a political and military major power.
Japan decided in late 2022 to develop a strike capability allowing it to launch attacks on enemy forces, which was a major shift of its postwar commitment to limit its military to self-defense capabilities. If the Tomahawk missiles are deployed in Japan’s offshore islands, it could have the capability of striking the Chinese mainland.
Wang Yunfei, a naval expert, told the Global Times that BrahMos are mainly used against weaker targets. If a real conflict occurs, China has various kinds of weapons such as air-to-surface missiles, anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles that can overwhelm BrahMos. Although BrahMos missiles can boost the ability of the Coastal Defense Regiment of the Philippine Marine Corps, they have limited deterrence against China.
As for Tomahawk missiles, which is subsonic but not supersonic, China has many counterstrike abilities as it has more kinds of missiles such as DF and other types of cruise missiles.
Wang said that the analysis of the use of a weapon does not depend on its performance, but the underlying intention and motivation. Under the encouragement of the US, Japan and the Philippines are investing in these two missiles to undermine China’s efforts to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. China has no motives to attack the territory of the two countries, but if they harm China’s interests, they will inevitably face counterstrikes from China and become cannon fodder for the US’ aggressive Asia policy.
Japan and the Philippines are not alone in missile investments. Australia is enhancing its long-range strike capabilities through similarly purchasing Tomahawk missiles.
Sun Xihui, an associate research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the US’ Asian allies always use the “China threat” rhetoric as an excuse to develop offensive military forces. In fact, their actions are a trigger for regional arms race, which will poison the atmosphere of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and lead to a security dilemma in Asia. This is what the US likes to see.
The US has used the Russia-Ukraine conflict to create fear and firmly controlled its European allies, forcing them to increase their defense budgets. Now it wants to replicate this approach in Asia. Sun noted that the US does not want to have a direct confrontation with China; instead, it relies on its allies and partners in Asia to contain China and turns its sense of strategic crisis into mutual confrontation among Asian countries to achieve the dual goals of mastering the minds of its Asian allies and maintaining regional hegemony.
In the face of the disruption by the US, China must maintain strategic steadiness, strengthen self-defense, and enhance its long-range defense capabilities to ensure its national security and legitimate rights and interests.
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‘Kate Middleton’ Spotted During Farm Shop Visit With ‘Prince William’
The Princess of Wales was reportedly spotted smiling and looking relaxed, happy and healthy during a shopping trip with her husband William over the weekend. It might be more accurate to say that a couple […]
The post ‘Kate Middleton’ Spotted During Farm Shop Visit With ‘Prince William’ appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Taliban Accuses Pakistan Of Bombing Civilians
Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of killing eight civilians in an air raid on Monday. The Islamist group responded by opening fire on Pakistani targets, allegedly wounding seven people.
Pakistani jets “bombarded the homes of civilians” in the early hours of Monday morning, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. Mujahid said that the bombing killed eight people in the provinces of Paktika and Khost, both of which border Pakistan.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry did not comment on the alleged civilian casualties but said that the Pakistan Air Force had launched “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations” against Taliban-sponsored terrorist groups operating in the two provinces. These groups include the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad says have used Afghanistan as a staging ground for attacks on Pakistani soil.
The Taliban denies sheltering the TTP. While Hafiz Gul Bahadur once led a Taliban faction in Pakistan, his current relationship with Kabul is unclear.
Read more Taliban boycotts UN-sponsored meeting
The most recent of these attacks was on Saturday, when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into a military checkpoint in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A splinter group of the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed seven Pakistani soldiers.
Mujahid said that Taliban fighters responded to Monday’s airstrikes by targeting Pakistani military outposts with heavy weapons. Pakistani officials told Al Jazeera that three soldiers and four civilians were wounded by mortar fire.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which has a long experience of freedom struggle against the superpowers of the world, does not allow anyone to invade its territory,” the Taliban spokesman stated.
Although an American ally, Pakistan provided military and financial aid to the Taliban before and during the US invasion of Afghanistan. That relationship has since soured, with Pakistan fencing up its side of the Afghan border and deporting hundreds of thousands of Afghans late last year. Tit-for-tat killings have become commonplace along the frontier since 2022, with the Pakistani government accusing the Taliban of sheltering terrorists and Kabul accusing Islamabad of violating Afghan sovereignty.
READ MORE: Taliban winning war against opium trade – UN
Not a single country officially recognizes the Taliban government, which took power in Kabul in 2021 during the final stage of the withdrawal of US troops. The UN does not recognize the group’s authority over Afghanistan, and the Taliban has boycotted power-sharing talks in Qatar.
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