Posted on 12/29/2016 10:54:44 AM PST by Beautiful_Gracious_Skies
When France elects a new president in the spring, Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely gain an ally in the heart of Europe.
The two leading candidates, François Fillon and Marine Le Pen, are both avowed opponents of sanctions meant to punish Moscow for its annexation of part of Ukraine and its support for rebels in the country’s east.
Russia’s bombing of Syria’s... Aleppo—called a war crime by France’s current leaders—hasn’t deterred either politician from urging closer ties between Paris and Moscow.
The victory of either candidate in the May election threatens to blow a hole in Europe’s sanctions against Moscow, which are a centerpiece of the Continent’s strategy for containing Russia’s military assertiveness. ...Trump also promising friendlier relations with Moscow, Western agreement on sanctions against Russia could crumble.
The rise of pro-Russia leaders in France could also soften European opposition to Syrian President al-Assad. Under President Hollande, France has led calls for the Syrian leader to step aside. That has escalated tensions with Mr. Putin, who has deployed forces to keep Mr. Assad in power.
Shortly before Mr. Fillon swept to victory in France’s center-right presidential primary last month, the 62-year-old former prime minister delivered a stinging critique of the sanctions....-snip-
Since Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, ... Merkel and Mr. Hollande have led the push to impose ...EU sanctions on Moscow.... Europe may have an additional incentive to drop the measures if Mr. Trump decides to scrap U.S. sanctions, which have largely mirrored those adopted by the EU.
Of the two candidates, Ms. Le Pen is the more strident supporter of Mr. Putin. Mr. Fillon, however, is more likely to become president. Polls show him winning easily in a runoff against Ms. Le Pen.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
This smells of Bammy legacy.
My Brit friends, when I was working over there, would tell me that the Russians weren’t the bad guys; it was the French. Just sayin’.
Seriously, I think it was a case of penis envy.
In the mean time, vietnamese vet ketchup boy and the magical muslim mullato marxist are burning every single diplomatic bridge that they skulk across at a furious pace.
Kerry’s plastic surgery and botox has served him well. He looks younger today than he did in 2004. There! I finally said one nice thing about him.
It may be cathartic to rag on GWB from time to time, can you begin to imagine how horrible a president we’d have had in John F Kerry. We seriously dodged a bullet with Bush.
And Soros was mad as hell since he had bought up several of the Sec. of States with the intent to push through massive election fraud for Kerry. Kerry would have been basically the same as BHO except that he would not have been off playing golf.
How do you say “VICHY - PART DEUX?”
Placemark.
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