Politics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – France’s parliamentary elections witnessed an upset, with centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s party, La République En Marche and its Ensemble coalition losing its absolute parliamentary majority. A majority requires 289 seats, and Macron’s party gained 245 seats. Among the beneficiaries are the Left and the Greens, who joined together in the […]

Donald Trump

Why the Oath Keepers looks an Awful lot like al-Qaeda and Trump is its Usama Bin Laden

Juan Cole

Revised. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although the Congressional inquiry into the Jan. 6 insurrection is releasing new information about the ties between the White House and the insurrectionists, that the attack on the Capitol that day was a well-planned paramilitary operation was clear from Department of Justice indictments already released. Below, I revisit one […]

Far Right

Let’s avoid the Other F-Word: If it is Democracies versus Fascism, We’re Stuck in Forever Wars

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Timothy Snyder, Levin Professor of History at Yale University, is a scholar of surpassing brilliance. His 2010 book Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin chronicles in harrowing detail the de facto collaboration of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union that resulted in the murder of millions of innocents. On any […]

Inequality

One-Off Demonstrations are not Enough: Progressives need Standing Mass Organizations

Tomdispatch

By Beverly Gologorsky | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – To begin, an anecdote. This past summer, a pigeon walked through my open balcony door while my attention was elsewhere. I shooed it out, but when I turned around two more pigeons walked out of my bedroom. In the 20 years I’ve lived in my apartment, […]

Democracy

France: Macron’s Pyrrhic Victory — Is his Neoliberalism Producing the Far Right?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Romain Brunet at France 24 termed Emannuel Macron’s win in the presidential election a “Pyrrhic victory.” In 280-275 BC, Pyrrhus, the King of Epirus on the west coast of Greece, launched a war against the Roman Republic. He won some battles, but at such great cost that he may as […]

Far Right

Putin and Le Pen: The History of an Alliance between Russia and France’s far Right

The Conversation

By Marlene Laruelle, George Washington University | – Days before the second round of the French presidential elections, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National, RN) spelled out some of her foreign policy priorities: limit military support to Ukraine and steer clear from voting new sanctions against Russia; leave NATO’s integrated command; and relaunch […]

Algeria

Why the French Election is Haunted by the Ghost of Colonialism in Algeria: Roots of Far-Right Le Pen

Middle East Monitor

By Mustafa Fetouri | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Whether France is voting, commemorating D-day or debating French identity in terms of Republic Values, Algeria is always present in some way. It is almost impossible to discuss anything of substance in France in which Algeria does not feature and, sometimes, dominates the debate. […]

Climate Crisis

France’s Macron: “I am combating the Project of the extreme Right … which is to put an End to Renewable Energy”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The two frontrunners in France’s presidential election who now face a run-off election against one another, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, have diametrically opposed stances on the climate emergency and renewable energy. Le Pen, the far right demagogue known for ugly hate speech and having a soft corner for […]

Left Politics

The Left has to Recognize Russian Imperialism in Ukraine or it is Trapped in Americocentrism

Foreign Policy in Focus

By David Ost | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – It is tough for leftists to be on the same side as the mainstream. We can easily feel at those times that we’re missing something, that we’re letting down the struggle, that by ganging up even on an admittedly bad actor we’re helping […]