French Election

by Ramin Mazaheri and cross-posted with PressTV It’s a question which appears almost too basic a starting point, but not when we recall what a catastrophe the heart of Western

by Jimmie Moglia “Douce France, cher pays de mon enfance” – so goes the song [Sweet France, dear country of my infancy]. I did not grow up in France, but

Unlike the British election, which interests them not at all, the Russians are following the French election closely.
President Putin will never say publicly who he wants to win the French election.  If pressed he will say – rightly – that it is none of his business, and that he will work with whoever the French people elect for their President.  I suspect he even says this in private to his officials.

In the 2016 US presidential election, Donald Trump credited the “forgotten man and woman” for his astounding upset victory, which flew in the face of all the pollsters and predictions.
“They are forgotten no more,” he has said.
Now, France is heading to the polls on Sunday, in an election crucial to the future of not only France, but Europe itself.

He’s baaaack…
With his huge ego (much larger than Trump’s, I am sure) unable to stand remaining out of the spotlight, Barack Obama has publicly thrown his support behind left-wing establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron in France’s tight presidential race.
The first round of France’s presidential election is due to be held on Sunday. Should no one receive over 50% (almost certain to happen), the top two vote-getters will proceed to the second round on May 7th.

Last month Marine Le Pen revealed her foreign policy program in front of foreign diplomats. Her speech received a warm and interested welcome, and, of course was ignored by the french mainstream media, much more interested by finding how many shirts and suits François Fillon got from his rich friends.
The late debate organized by TF1 between the five main candidates, Emmanuel Macron, François Fillon, Marine Le Pen, Benoît Hamon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon focused mainly on domestic affairs, the participants only had a couple of minutes to share their view on diplomacy.

Russia’s President Putin has met with French National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the Kremlin in Moscow, in what I believe is the first ever meeting between Le Pen and Putin (Le Pen has previously met with other Russian officials including Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin).
The meeting comes in the middle of an increasingly fraught French Presidential election campaign and shortly after the candidates held their first television debate.

21st Century Wire says…
The French Presidential Election took another controversial turn with the EU Parliament revoking the immunity of France’s right-wing candidate, Marine Le Pen, for tweeting graphic photos of ISIS victims dating back to 2015 on Twitter. The decision to revoke immunity was taken by a majority of members in the plenary of the EU Parliament.