Forget Biden-Trump; watch Macron-Erdogan instead

I've been predicting the imminent demise of the wily Erdogan for about nine years now. I'll be right eventually.

I thought he was a goner in 2016, but apparently Putin saved his ass that time around. He's less likely to be as brotherly next time, what with Erdogan mucking up his various efforts in Syria, Libya, and now Nagorno- Karabakh.

Meanwhile, Sultan-in-waiting Fethullah Gulen hopes his handlers at Foggy Bottom give him another chance. While Turkey is indeed a NATO member, it's likely that those handlers are well aware that it would be a far more reliable (read pliable) ally under a President Gulen.

Enter NATO member Macron, a man with enough arrogance, chutzpah, and self-regard to give Erdogan a run for his money. Macron has troubles aplenty himself; Yellow Vests, Black Death, and a six-million strong Islamist underclass seething with resentments.

 One of the most cherished values of the NATO nations is freedom of speech. In France this freedom is held in especially high regard when it comes to freedom to mock the religion of that aforementioned seething underclass. This has bubbled into the open once again due largely to the folks at Charlie Hebdo reprinting their infamous cartoons of The Prophet to mark the trial of the crazed fanatics who shot up their offices when they were originally published.

This has given Erdogan the opening to pose as the guardian of Islam world-wide. For better or worse, his message is sure to gain traction in the banlieues. How far will white France go to defend its right to mock the religion of its non-white underclass?

There you have it. In this corner, NATO member France. In that corner, NATO member Turkey...

Something's got to give eventually!

Macron gives up saving France, will save Lebanon instead

Finally acknowledging that the French are beyond redemption, Jupiter has thrown in the towel. He will henceforth focus His attention on countries where His efforts are more likely to be appreciated, like Lebanon, and perhaps Mali as well.

Who can blame Him? The Yellow Vesters have been poking sticks in the spokes for what, three years now? The ingrates have no clue how good they have it. Maybe they should move to Lebanon if they hate their country so much.

The Algerian hordes in the banlieues are even worse. You'd think the brown bastards would be grateful to live among the civilized, but noooo... Perhaps they can be given tickets to Mali if they miss Africa so much.

And if that's not enough, the irascible racists at Charlie Hebdo just announced an anniversary reprint of their famed "Blasphemous Cartoons of The Prophet" edition, which could set off a bigger explosion than what thirty tons of ammonia nitrate just did in Beirut.


So goodbye and godspeed, Macron... just make sure you take the unctuous imbecile BHL with you. There can be no redemption for France so long as that charlatan haunts the corridors of power.

Why anti-government riots are good in Hong Kong but bad in France

Because in France, they have human rights and freedom and democracy.

Whereas in HK, they have no human rights, no freedom, and no democracy.

Rioters in France are obviously Putin-funded fascists who just hate immigrants and want to retain their white privilege, but in reality, they have nothing to complain about.

Whereas in HK, the NED and Soros-funded protesters are trying to throw off the yoke of a communist dictatorship.

France is a member of the EU and NATO, and a charter member of the Nations of Virtue coalition, whereas China is the enemy.

Therefore, the HK rioters deserve our unreserved support, whereas the rioters in France deserve only our contempt.


Got it?

Putin against the world

Our corporate media had a good week of it moaning about Putin's latest aggression against the hapless Ukrainians, so anything I read in Doug Saunders me-too column in the Globe today I'd already read several times. I guess Doug is down to one weekend column due to his employer finding efficiencies. Don't sweat it, Doug, the new Amazon warehouse in Vaughn will be hiring soon!

You'll be fine.

Anyway, taking a break from sowing generic chaos and instability around the world, Putin has once again gone out of his way to pay special attention to the immediate threat on Russia's doorstep, Poroshenko's model democracy next door. That's because he's afraid that the Russian people will sooner or later realize that life is so much better there, and they too will demand a Nuland/Payette democratic transfer of power to someone more amenable to taking direction from Washington than the habitually recalcitrant Putin.

Then life will be good!

This line of reasoning, and it is certainly not original to Doug Saunders, as his contemporaries in other major media outlets have been beating this drum all week and Doug had to wait for his weekend slot, contains an inherent contradiction that the apologists for American exceptionalism tend to avoid addressing, which is this; if Putin is indeed "weak and isolated," as we are continuously led to believe, then how does he manage to sow all that global chaos and instability? And not only that, he manages to sow world-wide mayhem with a war chest not 10% of the USA military budget!

Clearly, the man is a genius!


Either that, or our mainstream pundits are full of shit.

The crux of Saunders' imaginary thesis is that Putin is at his most dangerous when cornered, as he is now. How do we know we've got Putin cornered? His approval rating is down to 60%.

Let's apply that logic to the cornered career criminals in the Nations of Virtue. Macron and Merkel are under 30%. The greatest leader since Moses is in the high 30s. Trump is in the low 40s. Our own PM Fluffy is barely over 50%.


But Putin is on the brink because he's only got a 60% approval rating?

Warmongers gather to celebrate failure of Great War to end all wars

Just what is that hand-holding thing Trump and Macron like to do when they get together?



I think the Trumpenstein gets a bad rap sometimes... doesn't look too homophobic in that shot.

And doesn't our "Sunny Daze" Trudeau looked chuffed to be seated in the front row, next to the greatest leader since Moses and his boss Sara?



I'm surprised there's not a conspiracy theory yet about Sara and Brigitte Macron having been separated at birth...



Maybe if I have time this afternoon I'll cook one up.

So while we're remembering the millions who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Great War, including 60,000 Canadians, let's not forget that war was Greatly Profitable for the captains of industry and titans of finance on all sides.

Macron the Magnificent promises more opportunities for youth... in Africa!

While there are plenty of naysayers who claim that France has "helped" Africa way too much over the last 500 years or so, that's not holding back the great Macron.

Here he is in Nigeria the other day, shaking his booty in a local club and promising hope for the youth of Africa.

Seriously?

Meanwhile, as he offers hope to the youth of Africa, the youth of the French banlieues are once again rioting in the streets, as they seem to do on a regular basis.

Why are they so pissed off?

They want hope!

They want opportunities!

Macron presides over an economy with 25% youth unemployment overall, and double that in the "migrant ghettos," the banlieues where the brown folks live.

Except they're not migrants. They're more often born in France and therefore, in theory, every bit as French as Mr. Macron himself.

They are the legacy of French colonialism in Africa.

So do Africa a favour, Mr. Macron; shut-up and go home.

Do something for the youth of France instead.


France has done enough for Africa.

Globe and Mail tells you twice, in case you missed it the first time

The folks on the bridge of the Good Ship Globe & Mail want you to believe that the USA was a benign hegemon from 1945 till January 20 of this year. Sure, those Yanks may have made a misstep here or there once or twice, but that's to be expected when the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and besides, even those missteps were clearly cases of good intentions gone sour - through no fault of America, of course.

Yup, for over seventy years the planet basked in an unprecedented era of peace and freedom and democracy and prosperity, thanks to America's leadership.

Then Donald ascended to the oval office and darkness descended on the planet.

Just how dark is it?

Oh, dark enough to give Doug Saunders some prime Focus section real estate in today's paper. Chances are if you're a regular G&M reader you already know Doug's opinion on Trump, so there's nothing new here.

Maybe that's why the guys who make the big decisions at 351 King decided to commission an article by an actual history professor from U of T to run right beside Doug's rant saying more or less the same stuff.

See! Doug's not full of shit; real live history professors from Canada's number one university agree with him!

In fairness, Doug does see a bit of a silver lining; "the West may regroup," whereas our U of T historian claims "the fracturing of the transatlantic relationship is a disaster for the world."

What's been a disaster for much of the world has been the last seventy plus years of American leadership. Sure, Western Europe has enjoyed relative peace and prosperity, but there's more to the world than Western Europe.

How has Southeast Asia enjoyed these last seventy years of US leadership?

Or Central America?

Or Afghanistan or Iraq or Libya?

How are our European allies enjoying the refugee crisis that US foreign policy has gifted them?

How are the people of Greece enjoying the austerity enema that our idol Angela has been forcing on them for the past few years?

Yes, great things will happen if the West "regroups" behind the leadership of big-bank toadies Merkel and Macron!

Doug, I fear you are sadly mistaken.

Night did not fall on the 20th of January. In much of the world, it's been getting darker for a long time.

Trump is a mere symptom.

"American exceptionalism" is the disease.

Macron will have his hands full, and his trousers too

Interesting story out of France today about workers taking over a car parts plant. That just doesn't happen here, does it?

Remember when the GM Diesel plant in London was shut down by Caterpillar and hundreds of $30 an hour jobs turned into $12 an hour jobs in one of America's "right to work for less" states? Remember what their union did for them?

Negotiated an improvement in the severance package, and that's about all.

Over in France there's still a working class who see themselves as working class and don't mind letting their bosses know it.

Here's a shout-out and a tip of the cap to the lads and lassies at the GM&S plant who are fighting to save their jobs, something we rarely get around to doing on this side of the Atlantic.

The class struggle is far from over, regardless of how we the workers have been dissed and dismissed by mainstream media here. There's still life in the working class in France.

They still know how to stand up for their rights in China.

Not that threatening to throw yourself from the factory roof is going to get you far here in North America. To the ground for sure, but that's about it.

So we'll see how the new bum-boy of the bosses, the new Prime Minister of France, tackles this little hiccup in Creuse.