PUTIN'S OTHER PUPPETS: 1. FRANCE'S MARINE LE PEN

   
     American President Donald Trump's affinity for Vladimir Putin is a strange thing, (maybe due to treasonous activities, maybe we'll find out soon), but he's not the only prominent western political figure to feel this way. In France there is a Presidential election coming up, and Putin has a fan in the right wing populist Marine Le Pen. Its an odd thing to me that she would have any political support at all. European unity in the face of Russian aggression has secured Europe from attack for decades. Why would anyone want to disband the EU now, or at any time is an odd thing indeed. So, to answer that question, I thought I'd do a quick review of who these individuals are, and what they stand for.

     In France, the election is to be held on April 23rd and May 7th. They have a two part election, which you can read more about in the Telegraph article below. There are favorites to win of course and right now, Marine Le Pen is polling at 26% in the first round, which is enough to send her on to the second and final round. The polling says that she will be easily beaten by either Emmanuel Macron or Francois Fillon in the final round, but if you paid attention to the American presidential election, you know that polling can be wrong. So, why should France, Europe and the world be concerned about a possible President Le Pen? Lets take a look.....
     I've translated her website to English via my computer as I'm not that cool, and can't speak French. Yo hablo un pequeno Espanol, pero no frances. Thanks Duolingo! Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Under the "my project" tab on her website is a list of issues that she supports:

1. She wants a referendum of Frances membership within the European Union. If you've been following Brexit, you've seen how the Pound has fallen from being worth a $1.48 on 6/23/16 to $1.25 today on 2/14/17. You'll notice that 6/23/16 was the Brexit referendum date. Also, Britain lost its AAA credit rating, and directly after the vote, Brexit wiped out 3 trillion dollars. That's a lot of money, and for more read the money CNN article below (its from June 2016) and the BBC business article from January. Seems like a bad idea. Wouldn't it be wiser to at least see how things work out all the way for the U.K. before France plunges ahead with a French Exit? So why the rush?

2. She wants to leave NATO. That's point 118, and pretty scary. Oh don't worry though, she wants to increase military spending from 2 percent to 3 percent, because that will make up for no longer being partners with the USA anymore in NATO.

3. So why is Marine Le Pen so bent on leaving the EU and NATO? Hmmm.....A. her party has borrowed money from the first Czech-Russian bank in Moscow (with links to the Kremlin) after EU sanctions were put in place, does that equate to Putin funding her party? I'll leave that to you to decide. For more see the Time article below. B. Shes okay with Russia just waltzing in and taking Crimea away from the Ukraine. See the Independent article below. C. She has called for sanctions against the Kremlin over Russia's invasion of the Ukraine to be done away with D. She denies that Russia hacked the 2016 US election. E. She has called Vladimir Putin "a Bulwark for traditional European values."

4. Conclusion: Marine Le Pen has been bought and paid for by Vladimir Putin. I hope that the French have more sense than my fellow Americans did. We've elected President Trump***, and now we're wondering how much classified information has already been given to Putin from his puppets in the White House, Trump and General Flynn. With President Trumps*** world view, we've already shrunk back from being a world leader by pulling out of TPP and ceding leadership in the Pacific to China. Now he wants us to get out of NAFTA, which will hurt our economy and world relations even more. America shrinking from the world stage doesn't benefit America, it benefits Putin's Russia. Please, France, learn from America's mistake, don't vote for the right wing Populist Marine Le Pen.


https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-01-05/le-pen-shouldn-t-count-on-putin-s-money
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/07/why-marine-le-pen-wont-admit-that-russia-hacked-the-us-election/?utm_term=.eedd0389758a
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-front-national-russian-kremlin-putin-invasion-annexation-crimea-ukraine-2014-a7566196.html
http://www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-wins-putins-champion-award/
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/europe-s-far-right-enjoys-backing-russia-s-putin-n718926
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/21/marine-le-pens-russian-links-us-scrutiny/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-crimea-russia-putin-ukraine-illegal-annexation-france-front-national-fn-a7507361.html
http://time.com/4627780/russia-national-front-marine-le-pen-putin/
http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/27/investing/brexit-consequences-2-trillion-lost/
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36956418
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887
https://www.marine2017.fr/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-poll-idUSKBN15S1GP?il=0
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/french-presidential-election-2017-does-work-candidates/