International Politics Thread - Disease and Disaster

[benjipwns]

it depends on where you vote, we don't vote just for President or MP or whatever but a million different little offices

like here's a couple sample ballots from different states:

[benjipwns]

https://www.rt.com/news/380771-rt-fakecheck-news-project/

In a post-truth world, it's sometimes hard to distinguish between what is real and what is fake news. RT’s new special project, FakeCheck, helps you to separate fact from fiction and transit into a post-fake reality.

With the proliferation of social media channels, few people find or have the time to dig into the source of information they are being fed through their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Unknowingly and against their will, they often fall prey to hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation masquerading as real news.

So if you stumble on a news story that just looks like it is out of this world, head over to RT's FakeCheck – a special project dedicated to cutting through the bias, inaccuracies, misinformation and outright falsehoods in major news stories.

FakeCheck is an interactive, easy-to-use multimedia portal that breaks down popular news stories in an easily-digestible manner, covering both serious topics and viral hits.

In an interview to RNS news outlet, answering a question on whether it is impossible to fight the spread of unreliable information, RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said: “Not exactly. We are taking action. In particular, we’ve launched the Fakecheck project. We will debunk fakes that are extensively distributed across the mainstream media.”

“Someone – the Washington Post, for example – will write some complete nonsense, and then the whole world reprints it! Say, when the newspaper wrote about a hacking attack on a US electricity network, for which Russia was allegedly responsible. It was alleged that Russian hackers broke into the American power grid through a power company. One had been under the impression that the whole of America would plunge into darkness. Yet later, the energy company denied the information. It turned out that only one laptop of the company was infected, and it was not even connected to the general network.

“And yet, it all remains in the public mind as an actual fact, even if […] a refutation was later issued. Therefore, we are launching this project so that such things are debunked. It is clear that there must be more such projects, of course,” Simonyan said.

"With today’s overabundance of sources and prevalence of social media streams in news delivery, misinformation can spread like wildfire, with unverified reports, rumors, and outright falsehoods getting serious news treatment,” RT’s Deputy Head of News Andrey Kiyashko said in a press statement. “RT’s new project helps you separate fact from fake.”

[Cerveza mas fina]

Didnt know I had to register to vote from abroad

Blame me if Wilders wins

[benjipwns]

Lager aside turnout is up quite a bit apparently.

[Kara]

Should have voted SP, Dufus. /Jacobin

[Cerveza mas fina]

Wilders apparently getting a beating

[Kara]

http://www.dailyedge.ie/irish-politicians-like-beyonce-3274798-Mar2017/

  Best Ireland

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sinn Fein

I’d like her a lot better if she paid the Sri Lanka women who sew her clothing line a decent wage while she enjoys a personal wealth of over a quarter of a billion dollars.

I am republican, but Beyoncé is the only queen I have time for.

If I had to pick just one (which is unfair) it would be “Irreplaceable.” Apart from the general good advice from Beyoncé that we should move “to the left, to the left,” it would behove us all as elected members of the Dáil that we should never for a second get to thinking we’re irreplaceable.

That said, I always felt “Bills, Bills, Bills” from Beyoncé’s days in Destiny’s Child was a good allegory for what has faced the Irish working class.

[close]

[Cerveza mas fina]

journal.ie is a premium source of banter

[benjipwns]

thanks to PD for link to this Dutch and French elections expert explaining everything:

[VomKriege]

In the French election, we now have the complete field of candidates (pending confirmation their 500 endorsements are deemed valid). 11 this time round, which is fairly normal (10 in 2012, 12 in 2007) and far away from the record 16 in 2002.

Besides the main candidates I mentioned a fair bit (Mélenchon, Hamon, Macron, Fillon, Le Pen) the rest of the field is :

- Nathalie Arthaud, the spokesperson for the secretive Trotskyist Lutte Ouvrière, in her second run. She walks in the path of her predecessor Arlette Laguiller and her 6 consecutive runs in the election under the same banner (first woman in the election in 1974). Nathalie Arthaud is a "class candidate" and an economy teacher (lots of economy teachers in french politics...)

- Philippe Poutou for the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (which itself is mostly a reskin of the old Trotskyist Ligue Communist Révolutionnaire). Worker in a Ford factory, union leader. On his second run.

- Jean Lasalle for Résistons, former associate of Christian Democrat middleweight Bayrou (who joined Macron for this bid), he's a mayor and MP from the deep Pyrénées (the mountain range separating France from Spain) who became famous for a 39 days long hunger strike to protest a factory moving. Stands for rural France.

- Jacques Cheminade for Solidarité et Progrès, tried to run 6 times in the election but it's only his third valid bid (he failed to get endorsements the other times). He's the oldest and cloud cuckoolander candidate (wants to colonize the moon) but he's actually connected to Lyndon LaRouche. Wants France to leave NATO, the EU and the Euro. Former student at HEC (highest commerce school in France) and ENA (which produces a lot of career ubli servants and politicians).

- François Asselineau for the Union Populaire Républicaine, also a former HEC and ENA student, former public finance inspector, former member of the right wing mainstream party but constantly floating to his right under Charles Pasqua (Former representative of all the shady underbelly of gaullism, became famous when he said he wanted to "terrorize the terrorists" in the nineties) then Philippe de Villiers (Catholic ultra-conservative), now defending a "sovereignist" bent stance including a "Frexit" from the EU. Somewhat of a minor Internet sensation those last few years.

- Nicolas Dupont-Aignan for Debout la France, a right wing politician placing himself between Le Pen and Fillon who broke with the mainstream party back in 2007 when Sarkozy took complete control. Also a sovereignist. Also suggesting France should maybe leave the EU in "its current form". He has a couple of schticks like presenting himself as the champion of car owners (a demographic prone to pout and feeling targeted). He's on his third run.

Those six candidates will probably not tally more than 10% combined (in reality, bar any surprise, probably closer to 5%) and they're mostly non factors.
However, upon examining the complete list, the left is fielding a low number of candidates. Greens have joined Hamon and Communists rallied (after a narrow vote) to Mélenchon, somewhat contrary to tradition of running someone. The problem is that the 3 major candidates are all able to do over 10%.

EDIT: Poutou claims Lasalle endorsed his presidential run to help him mount a viable bid...

Also, to the surprise of no one, former Socialist Prime Minister Valls refused to endorse his party candidate Hamon.

Macron said he wanted to reinstate a mandatory conscription (only a month long however). Chirac decided in 1997 that the French Army was to become a professional, voluntary enlistment only, institution. The mandatory service was 10 months long then.

Latest BVA poll :

First round :
Le Pen 26%
Macron 25%
Fillon 19,5%
Hamon 12,5%
Mélenchon 12%
Dupont-Aignan 3%

Second round :
Le Pen 38%
Macron 62%

When asked if they were firm and sure of their choice of candidates, voters said :
Le Pen 80% sure
Fillon 70%
Mélenchon 58%
Macron 54%
Hamon 44%

[VomKriege]

Basque separatist organization ETA is claiming they want to disarm fully for April 8th and are ready to work with the Spanish and French governments to reveal the location of weapons caches.

[VomKriege]

Reuters War College podcast has an interesting episode titled "How spreading democracy keeps dictators in power" with academic Alastair Smith (co author of The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics). In short Smith believes that dictatorships are built on small coalitions of power players, that a dictator survival will hinge on keeping that small coalition happy, that international courts and the like -no matter how immoral it sounds- is providing a negative incentive to stepping down and that foreign aid is mostly to the benefit of propping them up whatever the intent (Smith seems to think that the only pressure dictators really bow too is the reduction of the cashflow they redirect to their core base).

https://soundcloud.com/war_college/how-spreading-democracy-keeps

It's a very cold, cynical and simplistic-sounding approach (though obviously an interview in a podcast is gonna be reductive by essence), but Smith mentions some interesting facts in his own defense : he claims that data show that nations that get elected to the UN security council (the 10 rotating seats) will see consistently their aid go up and their economic growth go down for the duration of the mandate.

The other thing I found interesting is that he explains that defining regimes by how small (or large) a coalition they must keep happy allows for grading them on a continuous scale instead of just opposing "democracies" and "autocracies".

It's a short listen so give it a try.

[VomKriege]

So there was a big debate with the 5 main candidates to the French election yesterday. Best zinger goes to Mélenchon who exclaimed "Internal debate in the Socialist Party is a good thing !" when Hamon and Macron went into an argument.

Otherwise
Macron was put in a difficult place when Hamon mentioned some of his big campaign donors. Le Pen did her thing and presented some graph on how globalization tanked French jobs. Apparently quite a bit of "fair play" as Fillon didn't get hammered by remarks about his ongoing scandals (but he was very shy in the part of the debate about moralizing the tenure of public offices). Everyone played to their crowds.

[VomKriege]

French Interior Ministry Bruno Le Roux left his position in an hurry, less than a day after the press unearthed the fact he hired -as a MP- his two daughters for jobs (starting at age 15 !) paid in total 55k euros and an inquiry has been opened.

The scope of the investigation targeting Fillon has been widened to include forgery & falsification, serious fraud.

[chronovore]

http://resistancereport.com/world/man-thrown-fourth-floor/

https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/844279337620832257

[T-Short]

[T-Short]

https://twitter.com/ahmetasabanci/status/844574465572921345

[Raist]

(Image removed from quote.)

It's actually kool aid.

[Syph]

media falling over themselves to point out the terrorist was born in the UK
smh

if anything doesn't that just reinforce the lack of assimilation?
fuck

[Cerveza mas fina]

dude was deranged for like 3 decades

[Raist]

The UK has some issues with extremists. Never got used to see "protests" calling for shariah law etc going on openly.

[Madrun Badrun]

https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/14/abuse-of-power/

[VomKriege]

So I watched a few of Mélenchon's videos on his Youtube channel, because I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth and he is my tentative vote this April.

The man is on top of his new media game, hosting not only his full rallies but also doing a weekly op-ed (this is what I ended up watching) where he often gushes on the numbers of subscribers going up and asking people to give "blue thumbs up" if they liked it. He always appear very active (one of the episodes is shot on the train as he is going to Marseille for a meeting on women's rights).

He's also very, very good at coming across as authentic in his "working class" persona (He's fond of using the word "you people" to adress the audience, "the lads" & "the friends" for his collaborators and followers and to use mildly vulgar language), and he's clearly enamored by the idea of being a modern day Roman tribune. I'm not one to judge his actual credentials and really that's not the point because he is selling this with his sincerity on understated social issues (he had segments dedicated to the homeless who die on the streets, water shortages in French Mayotte or public offices obstructing the access to showers provided to refugees by the Catholic Relief in Calais).

Otherwise, and unsurprisingly, there's a lot of old and familiar rhetoric from the progressive camp being repackaged here. He's insisting a lot on an Europe made for peace in opposition to "European defence" and NATO, with some echos to the naive optimism of Jaurés and Soviet arguments that the West is the one with the agressive posture (and the spending to match). He's very adamant that French armed forces and strategy are made for defending French borders exclusively (likewise, not unheard of in yer olde communist rhetoric). He's worried of the current arms race and is a partisan of nuclear disarmement (though stating with the biggest owners). He'll sometimes use that old ambiguous favorite of vaguely defined "Financial / money powers that be" pulling the strings (of international free trade deals for instance). He probably wouldn't like to hear it, but there's sometimes a wee slight bit of conspiracy undertones to his patterns (notably on the "Théo scandal", a big item recently where a young man was sodomized by a police baton despite only passing by cops on intervention. Mélenchon ends his bit on the apparent increase of police brutality by wondering if "there's something weird going on").

There's some new stuff there, though, for sure. Mélenchon is very much at the forefront of the climate change issue, wants to get France out of nuclear plants and aim for "100% renewables in 2050". As an example of the kind of things his party is looking into, he made a small expose on using soil / earth as a construction material (something incredibly mundane in many places of the world and not that uncommon in France) for houses instead of cement or concrete. It's scientifically sounder, less taxing on resources, "can't be shipped overseas" and "create more jobs for humans". He's also been very vocal on animal suffering within food production (a rather unconventional stance, esp. in France where grotesquely abused livers from poultry are a delicacy). He sometimes veers into weird territory though, like when he goes on about using grown algua as a major food protein supply "with production units that can be set up within cities" hinting at some very retro science fiction stuff.

Overall he's adept at selling his project as both big picture and coherent (we have to draft a new constitution for a 6th republic in order to change the production paradigm in order to switch to a more sustainable model for nature and in order to approach foreign policy under the two principle of peace and solidarity) all the while having tons of actionable, concrete, propositions "that can be put in place fairly quickly". Problem is there's an unspoken contradiction : he wants the new republic to be much less of a top down, monarchy-with-a-term, affair. Yet calling for a new Constituent Assembly will probably be a drawn out affair over at least a couple years and in the meantime he'll very much have to direct all of those big projects from the top if he wants them to get going day-1.

I'm also too cynical to buy into his foreign policy stances, I honestly can't see leaving NATO (which is not the same as being aloof to it like France was up until recently) and possibly the EU altogether as beneficial, no matter how good natured the intentions are -though for the EU, I guess the threat of leaving is the only real chip France have if you want to negociate a social and political Europe-. All the talk of Peace is admirable, but does not inform a realistic day to day foreign policy. Especially since at one point in the video, he comments on the Franco-Swiss Lafarge cement group admitting having paid "protection money" to Daesh in Syria to keep business open there as "aiding the enemy". Thus I take it there's such a thing to him as real enemies that may warrant the use of force. I'm not sure how he reconciles any sort of armed intervention in Sahel, Libya, Syria or Irak (as France is conducting now) against jihadist groups with the whole Peace / exit NATO spiel, to be honest.

[VomKriege]

Former Socialist Primer Minister Valls just said he would vote Macron. There's other high profile defections (Le Drian, loyal defence minister of Hollande, for instance). Rumor is that, besides better ideological affinities, they're betting on Macron winning but his nascent party not getting a majority in the Assembly. I guess that's possible but it's a rather risky position to take : "Do you think the French are dense enough to elect me in May and yet refuse me the majority I need to be able to govern in June ?" said late Mitterrand back then and up to this point it has always held true in the Vth Republic...

Fillon's wife was indicted, too. It's the sad clown act that keeps on giving.

Huge strike in French Guyana ongoing and the Franco-Asian community in Paris has taken to the streets again after a fifty years old was killed by police during a domestic disturbance. I think I mentioned that a year ago they were already protesting after a man was killed by three bag snatchers. The Asian community in Paris, often seen as quiet if not secluded, feels the police is not providing them with the same level of safety.

[Kara]

So I watched a few of Mélenchon's videos on his Youtube channel, because I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth and he is my tentative vote this April.

I'm so proud of you VK. When you decided to join a union awhile back I knew you'd end up here.  :')

[T-Short]

https://twitter.com/JoeTwyman/status/847017907800412160

death penalty with a narrow lead over blue passports

[Rufus]

This is what they imagine 'freedom' buys, huh. A "back in my day" wishlist full of feelgood nonsense.

Here's the entire thing (pdf):
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/tl8kg6q3i9/InternalResults_170222_AfterBrexit_W.pdf

[Raist]

In her letter May mentioned already beginning future trade agreement talks. She was immediately told to fuck off

[benjipwns]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-30/venezuela-s-supreme-court-takes-over-national-assembly-duties

the country’s Supreme Court gutted the only opposition-run institution -- the Congress -- seizing its powers and declaring the elected body invalid

In Wednesday’s ruling, the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber declared the National Assembly was operating “outside the rule of law” after long standing claims that the legislature was in contempt of previous legal statements.

“The Constitutional Chamber shall ensure that the parliamentary powers are exercised directly by this Chamber or by the body it appoints to ensure the rule of law,” the decision said.

Venezuela’s dueling political factions have been at loggerheads since opponents of President Nicolas Maduro took control of the legislature last year. Since then, the Supreme Court, largely loyal to Maduro government, has curbed congress’s powers and overturned almost every piece of legislation passed. Until Wednesday though, it hadn’t gone as far as directly assuming congress’s functions.

Maduro’s opponents quickly condemned the ruling as an illegal power grab.

“This is a dictatorship, and this was a coup,” Julio Borges, president of the National Assembly, said at press conference in Caracas. “The world has to help us and set off alarms.”

The legal dispute stems from accusations of fraud in the 2015 congressional elections, where the opposition won a landslide victory amid a wave of anger over widespread food shortages and skyrocketing inflation. Three opposition lawmakers were accused of foul play, and the Supreme Court says any decision taken by the National Assembly is null while they remain in the chamber.

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez took to her Twitter account to respond by denouncing what she called “a concert of the regional right-wing to attack Venezuela’s democratic system built on its popular base.”

nothing about Russians?!?

[benjipwns]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/04/01/russian-foreign-ministry-pokes-april-fools-fun-hacking-scandal/99904194/

In a cheeky bout of April Fools' Day fun, the Russian foreign ministry has posted a proposed voicemail message for its embassy answering machines to help callers seeking Russian hackers or requesting interference in elections.

The "pilot" audio was posted Saturday on the foreign ministry's Facebook page among legitimate posts about bilateral discussions with Kyrgyzstan and daily briefings.

The post is billed as an answering machine message, in Russian and English, being tried out for Russian embassies and consulates.

“To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press 1,” the recording begins. Press 2 “to use the services of Russian hackers,” and 3 “to request election interference.”

[Brehvolution]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-metro-idUSKBN17519G

It's starting

[Rufus]

Continuing, you mean.

[Kara]

Venezuela's pro-government Supreme Court revoked its takeover of the opposition-led Congress on Saturday after it drew international condemnation and protests against socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

"This controversy is over," Maduro said just after midnight at a specially convened state security committee.

The committee ordered the top court to reconsider Wednesday's court ruling, which effectively nullified the legislature . . . The tribunal duly erased two controversial judgments and its president, Maikel Moreno, met with both foreign envoys and journalists to explain the decision, insisting there had never been any intention to strip the National Assembly of its powers.

What a dictatorship.

[VomKriege]

Fifteen or so people have been fined 68 euros for clapping cooking pans in front of the entrance of a Fillon meeting at Calais. "(Dragging) a cooking pan" (Casserole) is a slang term for stuff (like scandals) that sticks to someone and the cooking pan concert is an old form of protest.

[Kara]

Ecuador elected Lenin president. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lenin Moreno

[close]

[Syph]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali tour cancelled.....

[I'm a Puppy!]

Venezuela's pro-government Supreme Court revoked its takeover of the opposition-led Congress on Saturday after it drew international condemnation and protests against socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

"This controversy is over," Maduro said just after midnight at a specially convened state security committee.

The committee ordered the top court to reconsider Wednesday's court ruling, which effectively nullified the legislature . . . The tribunal duly erased two controversial judgments and its president, Maikel Moreno, met with both foreign envoys and journalists to explain the decision, insisting there had never been any intention to strip the National Assembly of its powers.

What a dictatorship.

See Bolivar? See? THIS is what happens when you start the party insisting that there must be centralized power.

[Syph]

German boy beaten, kicked by Muslim schoolmates after telling them he is Jewish

The 14-year-old, who cannot be named under child protection laws, was beaten, kicked and threatened with a replica gun after he revealed to fellow pupils that he was Jewish.
He endured a campaign of intimidation by Muslim pupils who told him “Muslims hate Jews. All Jews are murderers.”

smfh

[Cerveza mas fina]

And people say muslims have trouble adapting to their new countries culture

[Fifstar]

 

[VomKriege]

The French Presidential Election : comedy edition

So this year the candidates had to make a statement of their revenues. Those declarations can't really be cross checked by fiscal authorities because that would be "interfering with the campaign" and the relevant body hasn't finished yet processing those of the MPs filled a couple years ago anyway  So it's all really just a bit of showmanship and we have to trust the candidates are being honest in the process.

There's a couple of funny bits though :

Fillon values his own "big individual house" (actually a manor of 3000+ m2 of superficy with 14 bedrooms + its park) in the Sarthe at 750k euros 

Despite earning respectively 20k a month for Fillon and over a million a year for Macron, they both say they have put next to nothing in savings and investments. And those people claims they will straighten French treasury 

The actual dialogue in the talk show hosted by Bourdin

- Bourdin : "Are you able to put some of your money in savings?"
- Fillon : "Me ?"
- B. : "Yes."
- F. : "Personally, no. No."
- B. : "35% of French citizens manage to, I don't know if you're aware of that fact."
- F. : "Hmmmmm"

Hmmmm indeed.

Meanwhile Marine Le Pen said "France was not responsible" for the 1942 Vél' d'Hiv' Raid where French police carried & arrested 13000 jews who later were almost all killed in German run camps (and added stuff about how French/whites are being shamed unfairly, no apologies, yadda yadda you know the drill). The consensual position since 1995 and a Chirac statement has been that France was complicit and guilty in that instance. At the time, Jean-Marie Le Pen, then leader of FN and father of Marine, stated that Chirac was "paying back an electoral debt" to Jews
 

[Syph]

Wow
Not to mention emulating her father is not going to win her any more votes in the first place smh

[benjipwns]

You can do the French Presidential iSideWith quiz in English and stuff now. (It hadn't been updated a few months ago and still had Sarkozy and Hollande as the only possible results.) I mostly just went with yes and no answers and didn't weight anything. I especially only did yes or no on French specific things that I had to google and still didn't really know what it was asking. Also increasingly as it asked me five thousand foreign policy questions.

Code: [Select]

Candidates you side with...
48% UNSUBMISSIVE FRANCE - Jean-Luc Mélenchon
48% SOCIALIST PARTY - Benoît Hamon
44% EN MARCHE! - Emmanuel Macron
41% THE GREENS - Yannick Jadot
33% THE REPUBLICANS - François Fillon
28% NATIONAL FRONT - Marine Le Pen
21% FRANCE ARISE - Nicolas Dupont-AignanIs there a Submissive France I can vote for?

I agree with Le Pen on Transportation apparently.

[archnemesis]

65% Macron
63% Dupont-Aignan
62% Fillon

The rest are very close between 51 and 56%. I doubt this is accurate for me. They probably started at 50% and then couldn't get much overlap between my position and the candidates.

The US poll seemed more accurate.

[headwalk]

I agree with Le Pen on Transportation apparently.

more one way cattle trains to remote polish villages?

i see you spicer.

[benjipwns]

that just sounds like one of those public-private partnership cronyist scams to me, there's free movement within the EU, they can pay for their own transportation

[Madrun Badrun]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39569993

[chronovore]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39569993

I wish your country luck.

Home growing seems like it should be the best option; eliminate the sale/reward for it, let people treat it like home-brewed beer, and let people do what they want. Trying to regulate it is theoretically great, but crime can move in the same way they have with legal shops in Colorado and WA. Or the say that the mexican mafia has co-opted legal stuff like avocados.

If only outlaws can control avocadoes, only the outlaws can supply guacamole. ¡LIVE MAS!

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39612562

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed victory in the referendum on granting him sweeping new powers, saying it was won by a clear majority.

He was speaking in Istanbul as the count neared completion. With more than 99% of ballots counted, "Yes" was on 51.36% and "No" on 48.64%.

[VomKriege]

Somewhat hilarious to listen to the guests of a mostly liberal radio show (on public radio) melt down as the French election approaches and everytime they mentioned Mélenchon (to be fair, one of the guest is a Figaro -the biggest right wing newspaper- editorialist). Usually it's a pretty good show though with its clear preferences, but the latest one was really a textbook example of opposing the so-called good "reformists" to the bad "populists" without really commenting on the substance (also lots of mentions to Mélenchon being a French Chavez, etc). Hopefully Lionel Zinsou, the former prime minister of Bénin, was a breath of fresh air by offering a more candid and optimist perspective : Is it really bad that the bipartism has blown up ? Isn't the question of how to tackle the inequalities of globalisation a more pertinent debate now than rehashing some of the tired debates from said bipartism ? Doesn't the fact that four candidates are running strong proof that the political debate has actually opened ? Also the legislative election might at last gain back some of its importance and not just be the afterthought it became since the Presidential mandate has been put in sync with it, without any "midterm" at that level.

Most everyone agreed that this election was under the international spotlight (and a major talking point in any African establishment dinner according to Zinsou) all while producing a more confusing response by the French voters themselves. Polls are murky but it seems only 66% of voters are sure they will participate at this point (Traditionally, the Vth Republic Presidential Election is a high turnout affair). People are both, according to studies, interested in the campaign but also state they didn't learn much and that they're sick of parties and certain debates. There's also a growing sentiment that primaries were a mistake, nothing but trash, participated in making the campaign longer and (maybe) to designate poor candidates... but the "wisdom" will probaby change shapes depending on the actual result of the vote.

Polls haven't changed that much since last time I posted one, the only thing of note is that according to some of them, the four leading candidates (Macron, Le Pen, Fillon, Mélenchon) could all be within the margin of error (22% for the two favorites and 19-20% for the next two) and thus the Le Pen / Macron duel could not be that foregone.

I still suspect Mélenchon may have inflated numbers (though I will most likely vote for him, find him energizing and eloquent, and am navigating in circles where he is very popular) and that some will come back home to the Socialist Party in the end even if Hamon is apparently hopelessly behind. But who knows ? Maybe now is the time. If he ever gets through I hope I won't regret casting my vote for him.

[Kara]

Is this about la République or the Imperium of Man.

[VomKriege]

Arguably France has always done the middle one.

[Raist]

[benjipwns]

Oh thank god, finally there's some indepth coverage of the French elections to post in this thread:


Off to give strong and forceful opinions on French politics.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

#2 on Trending

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think PoliGAF didn't get a joke I made about Robespierre once.

[close]

[Raist]

That's what I posted above. Just realized the account was taken down.


Anyway.

Theresa May then: "The prime minister has said she does not want to call a snap election before 2020 because she believes the UK needs stability."

Theresa May today: "UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to call a snap general election on 8 June. She said Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership following the EU referendum."



Corbyn is all excited. Of course, he's going to get obliterated. Again.

[benjipwns]

They need a two-thirds majority now because of those fixed terms they implemented back in 2011 but Corbyn is on board.

This Times poll from last Friday has it 46% Con - 25% Lab - 11% LD - 9% UKIP with the preferred PM at 50% May - 28% None - 14% Corbyn - 11% Not Sure.

Fuckery

[Cerveza mas fina]

Brilliant move from May

[Kara]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think PoliGAF didn't get a joke I made about Robespierre once.

[close]

La plus extravagante idée qui puisse naître dans la tête d'un politique est de croire qu'il suffise à un peuple d'entrer à main armée chez un peuple étranger, pour lui faire adopter ses lois et sa constitution.

[VomKriege]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think PoliGAF didn't get a joke I made about Robespierre once.

[close]

La plus extravagante idée qui puisse naître dans la tête d'un politique est de croire qu'il suffise à un peuple d'entrer à main armée chez un peuple étranger, pour lui faire adopter ses lois et sa constitution.

...And then France went on doing just that for 2 centuries and a half.

I'm not surprised and I understand why it is, but the John Oliver bit was really, really superficial.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Venezuela in uprising. Things have been such a mess. I wish I was there to help. I just hope it does something this time. Chavez coming to power was a lot like Trump here. Kept on telling everyone "Guys, it's a bad idea. A BAD IDEA." And they were like "Nah man! We need to burn it all down rather than keep it the same!" And now we see what a country is like when it does get burnt all the way down. Not the first time protests like this have started, but it's never gotten this bad before. Here's to hoping.