Today is the first round of presidential elections in France. The two candidates who receive the most votes will meet again on 7 may. And all of Europe is nervously chewing his nails — though for different reasons.
“If Le Pen loses, I will require the money back” — ironically writes a satirical account of Darth Putin in Twitter.
At present Putin, too, have reason to monitor the counting of votes. The Kremlin has invested heavily in the victory of the extreme right.
11 million euros
Three years ago it became clear that the party of marine Le Pen’s front national received a “loan” of 11 million euros directly from the Russian side, which is approximately 100 million SEK. But support is not limited, the Russian state media and a professional web activists spent several months on praising Le Pen and making the rest of the candidates.
Vladimir Putin himself appeared on the photos with Len Pen as an equal world leader. Emmanuel macron also published a photo where he’s on the phone with Barack Obama.
© RIA Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev | go to Photobacterium of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and presidential candidate in France, marine Le Pen
In politics, you can focus on different samples.
“Patriotic spring”
It was assumed that elections in France will be the culmination of the “Patriotic spring”, which the European extreme right declared after Breccia and the election of Donald trump. Country after country would fall like dominoes, rebelling against the elite.
But the irony decided to confuse things even more. This week the Prime Minister of great Britain Theresa may (Theresa May) announced that new elections will be held on June 8 —almost exactly a month after the French elections.
Paris and London again decide the fate of Europe.
Of course, according to opinion polls, Le Pen won’t become President. It seems right populist wave in time stopped.
But, it seems that our scrying balls don’t work as expected: the half-life projections and results of the opinion polls tends to zero. Universal truth instantly lie.
A “state of war”
The events in the background of the election in France, constantly taking a new turn. The attack, which happened on Thursday on the main street of Paris Champs Elysees, immediately caused speculation around the fact that ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia — approx. ed.) is actively trying to achieve the election of Le Pen.
“France is at war,” said Le Pen after the attack and blamed it on the current government.
Donald trump a few apocalyptic said on Twitter that the French people are already pretty, and that the attacks will affect the election. Not too well hidden wink in the direction of Le Pen.
Will there be more attacks closer to the election day on 7 may?
Blew up the train
We must prepare for the worst. At the extreme of the jihadists — the same black-and-white picture of the world that right-wing extremists and marine Le Pen would be for them a much better opponent than spineless moderate politicians. Terror influenced elections before.
Three days before Spanish elections in 2004, Islamist terrorists blew up several rail cars in Madrid and killed nearly 200 people. The government, which was then in power, lost. The terrorist group Hamas, to influence the elections in Israel also blew up buses with civilians who were traveling to work.
Nationalism and terrorism
The modern world revolves around the vicious axis supporting each other nationalism and terrorism. “The clash of civilizations” increasingly determines our everyday life.
The notion of The Clash of Civilizations (“the Clash of civilizations”) was introduced by the political scientist Samuel Huntington (Samuel P. Huntington) in the article from 1993. During the cold war, communism was opposed to democracy and market economy. In fact it was a struggle between various Western ideas, says Huntington. But after the fall of the Berlin wall, the conflicts of the future will be between civilizations, the Christian world and the Islamic world, Muslim and Hindu and so on.
After September 11, Huntington’s ideas have become in the Western world a real religion, and without them it is difficult to imagine world leaders like Donald trump, Jimmi the Devil (Jimmie Åkesson) and marine Le Pen.
© flickr.com Per PetterssonЛидер of the party “Democrats of Sweden” Jimmi devil
And just as Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, they need continuous conflict in order to legitimize his rhetoric the day of judgment. The war against terrorism after September 11 will never end.
Constant war
Although not very good to be reminded of, but the idea that now again rise from the quagmire of history already manifested itself in the not too distant past.
Apocalyptic picture of the world in which our society is on the verge of destruction, ultra-nationalism and dream of reviving the pure nation was the main hallmarks of classical fascism.
As a constant war against internal and external enemies.
But modern Europe is not able to learn these ideas, except that they are dressed in uniform and will have the name Benito Mussolini. We, against all common sense, ceased to call a spade a spade.
The intensity of the light of Europe
Still, there is hope.
In the global conflict between liberal democracy and authoritarian nationalism there is much that speaks for our social model. People fled from Chile of Pinochet and Franco’s Spain — and not Vice versa. They run out of modern Russia and Erdogan’s Turkey.
European power light is not only beautiful houses and big cars, it’s about the freedom. To be entitled to have an opinion and to think, to believe and to love as you want. To be able, in the words of Branching to (Hjalmar Branting), achieve their best and most secret desires.
It is the struggle for freedom motivated the development of parliamentarism in Britain and led to the revolution in France. It generated trade unions, democracy and the welfare state. And created the best in history of the state of the lives of ordinary people.
Fascism is the opposite of freedom, no matter what shade of brown it is.
