The right wing’s gains in the European elections are a logical pushback against leaders that care more for Kiev than their own citizens
By Rachel Marsden, a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English.
By Rachel Marsden, a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English.
rachelmarsden.com On June 9, 2024, the leader of the French far-right party Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, addressed her party members at an evening meeting. © JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP Arguably, nowhere were the results of Zelensky’s efforts more obvious than in France, where Macron’s establishment party took the biggest electoral beating, against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, whose candidate list was headed up for the EU vote by Jordan Bardella. The 28-year-old grew up in the Parisian suburb of Saint Denis, which now stands as a shining example of how establishment policies can transform a real life place into something out of a ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video game. Thanks to Zelensky, no one in charge cares though, because Saint Denis isn’t in Ukraine. It didn’t take French President Emmanuel Macron walking around the Élysée Palace in a Zelensky-style hoodie to telegraph his priorities, though he did it anyway for anyone who may not be well-versed in jackhammer-grade subtlety. And now for the ‘pièce de résistance’ – or final death-blow, depending on how you look at it. On the last day in the French parliament before the European parliamentary elections, Macron invited Zelensky to monopolize the floor of the National Assembly. So forget any debate about all the damage that Macron’s policies have done to France. Zelensky was there to speak, totally unopposed, about his own needs and those of Ukraine, which isn’t actually in the EU, even though Europeans are paying for it like it is. Hear that, French voters? The ‘President Emeritus’ of Ukraine says Macron is awesome. He can’t be bothered to renew his own now-expired democratic legitimacy through an election of his own, and fresh off from hanging out with the Western elites on the Normandy landing beaches, celebrating the nonexistent Ukrainian regiment that we’re probably now supposed to believe stormed the beaches alongside its Western allies (the one that wasn’t working with the Nazis, like the one that Zelensky cheered in the Canadian parliament last year), and telling you all how great you should feel about what Macron is doing – “for Ukraine.” Excuse us, sir, but this is a Wendy’s! Or rather an election that has nothing to do with you. But Macron and his establishment cronies insisted on letting Zelensky’s foreign interests walk right in and place their order, hijacking the final stretch of the election campaign. Read more In contrast, Macron’s office had said that “the conditions weren’t reunited” for Russia to be involved – not even in anything to do with French parliament, mind you, but just in D-Day commemorations that same week. If the Soviet Union and the Red Army had said the same during World War II – that the conditions weren’t ‘reunited’ for their involvement on the side of the allies – then Macron, as president of France, would probably be issuing his official statements in German right now. Zelensky’s 11th-hour appearance was another establishment-sponsored smokescreen to mask reality for the French people with pure ideology. It was one final insult to voters before they had the opportunity to make themselves heard. Just the last of many insults that are now far too numerous to count. But frankly, voters didn’t even need this particular last straw. Where to even start? Perhaps with the most obvious price that French and European voters are paying – the one that impacts every single day of their lives. The cost of everything has skyrocketed with no end in sight, all because Brussels decided that the special interests of European and American elites in Ukraine superseded those of the average person’s ability to make ends meet. So out went cheap Russian gas in favor of pricier American fuel, and in came cheap and duty-free Ukrainian farm products that effectively decimated the revenues of European farmers already struggling with EU climate change diktats and spy satellites to ensure their paperwork compliance. “For Ukraine,” a bloc-wide censorship regime was also implemented. Not only for Russian media platforms offering information and analysis typically marginalized by the ideological handmaidens of the mainstream establishment French press, where freedom of expression has objectively declined recently, according to a recent NGO report – but demands were also made of online platforms, such as Rumble, that refused to censor content from those same Russian outlets. The new Berlin Wall was being built around Europe online. Then, as Zelensky demanded that his guys on the battlefield be allowed to use their Western weapons to hit Russia, Macron went over to Germany and held up a little sheet of paper with a map on it, as if that would convince both German and French voters to let Zelensky off the leash at the risk of dragging Western citizens into an escalating conflict as he sees fit. Like backup singers, Western leaders started singing a tune of mobilization, which has gone over about as well as one might expect. Read more Zelensky’s demands, and Macron’s catering to them, has even freaked out some of the French establishment. Take Macron’s idea of sending French ‘trainers’ into Ukraine, which makes it sound like they’d just be going over there to teach the guys shoved into vans on the streets of Kiev how to fight Russians by perfecting their air squats and kettlebell swings. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s former adviser, Henri Guaino, knows exactly what sending ‘instructors’ means. He pointed out in a TV discussion that the Vietnam War started with a handful of American ‘instructors’. Yeah, and that turned out so well for Washington that it’s now virtually synonymous with failure. The gist of Guaino’s comment is that it’s fine for the president to authorize troops on specific missions like a hostage rescue or something, but if this ruse is going to drag France into a war, which it risks doing, then there really should be a national debate and a vote on it. Well, the French people just voted. And before heading to the polls, 38% of them said that sending Macron a message with their vote was their top priority, according to an Ipsos poll, even though Macron wasn’t even running for anything himself. Mission accomplie! Macron didn’t waste time after the electoral rout in announcing a double-or-nothing bet, calling a national election for the end of June to see if voters really meant it. Maybe he can invite Zelensky back again for that campaign, too. Not that he even needs to when the French, and Europeans in general, are apparently acutely aware of the role of Ukrainian influence, and the complicity of establishment elites, in destroying their countries and their lives. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
