Decision Time For France

Today's preliminary elections for President of France have grave significance for the future of the European Union, the western alliance, and Russia's ambitions. Of the four leading candidates, Emmanuel Macron represents s steady, center- left model for governing who would maintain France's position in the EU. His leading opponent, the far-right xenophobic Marine Le Pen, is the Donald Trump of France: far right bluster, extreme rhetoric, and a threat to isolate France from Europe. He's barged into their election by endorsing her, too. All of this pleases none other than Russia's kleptocratic thug Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin, who has been trying to fragment the EU and the western alliance through election meddling and propagating disinformation. His goal would be advanced by the election of Le Pen, who has visited him in the Kremlin and who (like Trump) has spoken warmly of the Russian autocrat.

We'll know later this afternoon who the top two candidates will be to face each other in a runoff election on May 7.

A Key Vote In The Netherlands: Fascism Or Democracy? [UPDATED]

The parliamentary elections in the Netherlands pit the incumbent center/right Prime Minister Mark Rutte's party against the neo-fascist, anti-immigrant, anti-EU party of demagogue Geert Wilders, who has become a hero to the far- right in the U.S. (see bigoted shitpile Rep. Steve "Cantaloupe Calves" King for example). It's the first electoral test of an active white nationalist movement in western Europe, a movement backed by Russian autocrat Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin, who want western democracies to decline into fragmented isolationism as his expansionist kleptocracy expands beyonds its borders. However, with 15 parties in the Netherlands, Wilders' chances of gaining even 20% of the seats are slim, and should he win a small plurality of seats, other major parties in the Netherlands have vowed not to form a government with his far-right party. Polls in the Netherlands close at 4 o'clock Eastern time, so preliminary indications of the Dutch vote should be available later today.

France goes to the polls in April to elect a new government. Far-right candidate Marine LePen has pledged to "liberate" France from the European Union (something that delights Putin) and to roll back laws favorable to immigration. Ominously, Le Pen's party has received financial backing from Russia and would be beholden to the Kremlin if they succeed in the elections.

When Russia intervened in the 2016 elections on behalf of their neo-fascist poodle Donald "Rump" Trump, they succeeded in their wildest dreams: deny Secretary Clinton the election, and install a man in the White House that has been compromised by them or bought by their oligarchs' money. Now, they're pushing to topple liberal democracies in western Europe, thereby threatening the NATO alliance and the European Union. It's not to late for the voters in the Netherlands, France and other democracies to spoil their election plans, even if it's too late for the U.S.

UPDATE:  Exit polls indicate that Prime Minister Mark Rutte's party has won the election, defeating far-right demagogue Geert Wilders' insurgents by a substantial margin.

UPDATE II: Here's PM Mark Rutte (emphasis added):

“This night is a night for the Netherlands — after Brexit, after the American elections — where we said, ‘Stop it, stop it,’ to the wrong kind of populism,” Rutte told cheering supporters at his election-night party.

The French and German foreign ministries chimed in as well:

Large majority of Dutch voters have rejected anti European populists. That's good news. We need you for a strong #Europe! #tk2017 @MinBZ

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) March 15, 2017

Félicitations aux Néerlandais d'avoir enrayé la montée de l'extrême droite. Volonté de travailler à une Europe plus forte.

— Jean-Marc Ayrault (@jeanmarcayrault) March 15, 2017

(Which translates to, “Congratulations to the Netherlands for halting the advance of the far right. Willingness to work for a stronger Europe.”)

Far-Right "Values" In Europe -- And Here

Anne Applebaum writes in today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle about the convergence of far-right "values," expressed in recent European Parliament elections, with those of Russian homophobe/ autocrat/ czar Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin:

Indeed, on the same day that Ukrainians voted for “European values” — and almost exactly a quarter-century after the Poles voted for “European values” — another landmark, landslide election propelled an unusually virulent group of anti-Europeans into prominence. Millions of French citizens voted the National Front, an anti-European party with anti-Semitic roots, to the top of France’s European parliamentary election list. A few days earlier, millions of British voters opted for the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), another anti-European organization composed of a charismatic leader, Nigel Farage, and a strange coalition of cranks, cheats and open racists. Dutch, Danish, Italian, Austrian and Hungarian voters sent similarly inclined candidates to the European Parliament, so much so that they may be able to form a full-fledged far-right voting bloc. 

Not only do the leaders of these two parties reject “European values,” they also have gone out of their way to declare their solidarity with a man who symbolizes everything that Poles and Ukrainians have been trying to escape. During a trip to Moscow, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, declared her admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “patriotism.” UKIP’s Farage has also named Putin as the world leader he “most admires.” Le Pen and Farage aren’t alone in admiring the Russian “model” — corruption, media manipulation, disregard for borders and the rule of law, all included. What Ukraine is desperate to escape, in other words, Europe’s far right is now desperate to become.

Not mentioned unfortunately, but not unexpectedly (this is the Bezos Bugle, after all), is the crush the American far-right has for Putin.  As authoritarians at heart, they admire the "strong man," as they perceive the strutting Putin to be.  In fact, the vertically-challenged Putin is acting out, as has every over-compensating tyrant with a personal and national inferiority complex.  The chronically paranoid, phobic right in Europe and America naturally see him as kindred in spirit, someone who has the "will" to turn back the tide of change that they fear so much.