Tag: france

Macron Wants To Go Full “Ministry Of Truth” With Draconian Censorship Grab

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing fierce pushback from conservative voices within France over his renewed drive to grant the state sweeping new censorship powers, Barron’s reports.

On Friday, Macron once again raised the alarm about so-called “disinformation” spreading on social media, insisting that parliament grant authorities the ability to immediately block content deemed “false information.” As if the existing arsenal of censorship tools weren’t enough, the left-wing president now wants to establish a “professional certification” system that would effectively create an official, state-approved class of media outlets—separating those that toe the government’s ethical line from those that refuse to do so.

France’s right-wing press has reacted with outrage, with Vincent Bolloré’s Journal du Dimanche denouncing Macron’s “totalitarian drift” on free speech and warning of “the temptation of a ministry of truth.”

Bolloré-owned CNews and Europe 1 were equally scathing, with popular presenter Pascal Praud accusing the president of acting out of personal resentment, declaring the initiative comes from a “president unhappy with his treatment by the media and who wants to impose a single narrative.”

National Rally leader Jordan Bardella also delivered a blistering rebuke, saying in a statement, “Tampering with freedom of expression is an authoritarian temptation, which corresponds to the solitude of a man… who has lost power and seeks to maintain it by controlling information.”

Bruno Retailleau, head of the Republicans in the Senate, echoed the warning on X: “[N]o government has the right to filter the media or dictate the truth.”

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France & UK Still Insist On Sending Troops To Ukraine, In Effort To Sabotage Trump Peace Plan

As we reported earlier, the important Miami meeting wherein American and Ukrainian delegations hammered out a revised ceasefire draft for some five hours on Sunday did not have European participation. But this is where the real deal-making is taking place. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is en route to Moscow, where he’s expected to meet with President Putin on Tuesday, in order to present where things stand on the peace plan.

The Miami meeting reportedly focused on where the new de facto border would be in the east, after the 19-point plan featured significant territorial concessions in the Donbass and Crimea. As for Europe, is still touting a “coalition of the willing” which are vowing ongoing military support to the Zelensky government.

At this moment, France and the United Kingdom especially are continuing to push for the deployment of troops from NATO-member states to Ukraine as part of their version of peace settlement, despite this being very obviously unacceptable to Moscow. 

Last week Politico reported that when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined a discussion involving the coalition of the willing via phone call, he made clear to all that the White House wants a peace agreement in place before committing to any long-term security guarantees for Kiev.

But UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer tried to push back, arguing that a “multinational force” would be essential for ensuring Ukraine’s future security.

Bloomberg then followed with a report saying that UK officials have already selected the military units they plan to deploy, based on several reconnaissance trips to Ukraine.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron proposed that such troops could operate in the capital area or western regions of the country, far from the front lines. But this would flagrantly cross all Russia’s red lines. NATO troops on its doorstep was key Putin’s decision-making in launching the ‘special military operation’ in the first place.

It must be recalled that the original US-drafted 28-point peace plan, which leaked to the press and more recently was condensed down to 19 points, included an explicit prohibition on deploying NATO troops to Ukraine.

The European-proposed counter-plan, which was also quickly leaked to the media, greatly softened that stance and laid out that instead of a blanket ban, NATO would not “permanently station troops under its command in Ukraine in peacetime.”

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France Follows Germany with New (Voluntary) Military Conscription Plan

If you want peace, prepare for war. French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be the latest European leader embracing that ancient maxim, launching a new national military service plan Thursday as France seeks to address shortfalls in its armed forces amidst growing concerns over Russia’s geographical ambitions beyond the war in Ukraine.

Macron announced volunteers – not forced conscripts – aged 18 and 19 will start serving next year in a 10-month new military service programme alongside 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in extra military spending in the next two years, AP reports.

Germany has already announced it hopes to use the same method to boost its enlistments, as Breitbart News reported. Berlin’s plan remains to be approved by parliament.

“A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” Macron said in a speech at the Varces military base, in the French Alps.

Young volunteers will serve in France’s mainland and oversea territories only, not in France’s military operations abroad, Macron said.

The AP report notes France’s military currently comprises around 200,000 active personnel and over 40,000 reservists, making it the second largest in the European Union, just behind Poland. France wants to increase the number of reservists to 100,000 by 2030.

Macron’s announcement follows the French Chief of Defence Staff warning earlier this month that to present a credible deterrence against Russian aggression in Europe, France’s civilians must stand behind the military, be “prepared to accept losing its children” and “prepared to suffer economically.”

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GrapheneOS Quits France, Citing Unsafe Climate for Open Source Tech

GrapheneOS, the privacy-focused Android operating system, has ended all operations in France, saying the country is no longer a safe place for open source privacy projects.

Although French users will still be able to install and use the software, the project is moving every related service, including its website, forums, and discussion servers, outside French territory.

Until now, GrapheneOS used OVH Bearharnois, a hosting provider based in France, for some of its infrastructure. That setup is being dismantled.

The Mastodon, Discourse, and Matrix servers will operate from Toronto on a mix of local and shared systems. These changes are designed to remove any dependency on French service providers.

The developers said their systems do not collect or retain confidential user data and that no critical security infrastructure was ever stored in France. Because of that, the migration will not affect features such as update verification, digital signature checks, or downgrade protection.

The decision also applies to travel and work policies. Team members have been told not to enter France, citing both personal safety concerns and the government’s endorsement of the European Union’s Chat Control proposal.

That measure would allow authorities to scan private communications for illegal material, something privacy developers see as incompatible with secure digital design.

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Candace Owens Alleges There is an Active Assassination Plot Against Her Led by French President Emmanuel Macron

Conservative commentator Candace Owens has made a startling claim on social media, accusing French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, of orchestrating a plot to assassinate her.

Owens currently has the number one podcast in the world.

In a post on X on Friday evening, Owens stated that she was contacted by a high-ranking French government employee who provided what she described as credible information about the alleged scheme.

The post, which has garnered significant attention with over 66,000 likes and millions of views within hours, calls for widespread sharing and urges U.S. authorities to investigate.

Owens wrote: “Two days ago I was contacted by a high-ranking employee of the French Government. After determining this person’s position and proximity to the French couple, I have deemed the information they gave me to be credible enough to share publicly in the event that something happens. In short, this person claims that the Macrons have executed upon and paid for my assassination. Yes, you read that correctly. More specifically, that the green light was given to a small team in National Gendarmerie Intervention Group. I am told there is one Israeli that is on this assassination squad and the plans were formalized.”

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Sacrifice your children for Ukraine, France’s army chief tells the plebs

France must be prepared “to accept losing its children” at a time where Emmanuel Macron and his intrusive touch have forged an unsuspected spiritual bond with his Ukrainian counterpart.

The French president has achieved the almost mystical feat of making France and Ukraine one and the same.

While the European Union has no say in the Russo-American chess game, Macron and Zelensky are lost together in a ballet of gesticulations and waking dreams. Zelensky displays faith in victory amid corruption cases, and it must be admitted that the French government is perhaps the last bastion of illusions in Europe to maintain this mirage.

The promised arms deliveries? A veritable fable, they won’t happen for a decade. Economic exchanges? A tale whose tangible ending no one will ever see. As for the “vital strategy” regarding a landlocked Kiev 2,400 km away from Paris, it is more of a geopolitical fairy tale than a concrete plan for the future of France and its people. Ukrainian lands have been unknown to French interests for two millennia, except for having given Henry I a wife and for a bloody expedition under Napoleon III, when France, supporting an Ottoman and British project, lost 95,000 men in the Crimean War.

Emmanuel Macron is an ultra-presidential figure with a record-low popularity of about 11% as of October 2025. No question of resigning; he will remain comfortably installed until 2027. While his 9th government (in 8 years in office) is rocking in the darkest political, economic and social storm ever seen, Macron is playing the international card, distancing himself from French worries.

As French public debt soars to 115% of GDP, every last citizen, including newborns, is drowning in €50,000 of debt. Covid-19 is in the past, but they had to find a new pretext to distract the plebs, and mobilization against Russia is the new refrain.

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France’s Censors Release Their Favorite Captive

French authorities have lifted the travel ban that had confined Telegram founder Pavel Durov to France for more than a year.

The restriction, imposed after his arrest in Paris last August, had prevented him from leaving the country while prosecutors pursued charges tied not to his own actions but to what users on his platform were allegedly doing.

The order, signed on Monday, and reported by Bloomberg, also cancels the obligation for Durov to report regularly to a local police station.

The decision restores his freedom of movement, though the investigation into Telegram itself continues.

Prosecutors have not clarified why the head of a communications service is being held legally responsible for user activity, an approach that raises questions about how far governments are willing to go in policing online speech.

According to France’s Prosecutor’s Office, Durov faces preliminary charges for “facilitating a platform that enables illicit transactions.”

If convicted, he could face up to ten years in prison and a fine of roughly $550,000.

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Macron Commits to Send Ukraine 100 Fighter Jets After Zelensky Meeting

France has agreed for the first time to provide Ukraine with fighter jets, as part of an deal struck between President Emmanuel Macron and President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Monday.

Ukraine will purchase “around 100 Rafale fighter jets, with their associated weapons” from France over the next decade, the Élysée Palace announced on Monday. The deal will also see Kyiv provided with next-generation air defence systems, drones, and bombs from French sources.

It comes amid a tour of European capitals by President Zelensky, who is seeking to shore up support from allies as the war with Russia continues to grind on. The Ukrainian leader already secured a deal in Athens on Sunday to receive American liquid natural gas shipments through Greece to ensure energy supplies during the harsh winter, and plans on visiting Spain on Tuesday.

In a Paris press conference on Monday afternoon, President Macron said that the arms deal represents a “new step” in French commitment to Ukraine, which he described as “Europe’s first line of defence”.

“This agreement demonstrates France’s commitment to placing its industrial and technological excellence at the heart of Ukraine and Europe,” Macron said per Le Figaro, while at the same time expressing a desire for a “fair and sustainable” peace.

“Russia alone has chosen war. Everything is ready for peace; Russia alone refuses to accept it,” he said, continuing: “Russia is pursuing the objective of taking control of Ukraine.”

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France to help Palestinians draft constitution for future state, says Macron

France will help the Palestinian Authority draft a constitution for a future state, President Emmanuel Macron said on Nov 11 after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.

A number of major Western nations including France 

formally recognised a Palestinian state in September, a move driven by frustration with Israel over its devastating war in Gaza and a wish to promote a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

A US-brokered, Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in October, but Israel again rejected any prospect of Palestinian statehood.

Mr Macron said France and the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank, would set up a joint committee to work on drawing up a new Palestinian constitution.

“This committee will be responsible for working on all legal aspects: constitutional, institutional and organisational,” he told reporters.

“It will contribute to the work of developing a new constitution, a draft of which President Abbas has presented to me, and will aim to finalise all the conditions for such a State of Palestine,” Mr Macron said.

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Ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy to be released from prison less than 3 weeks into 5-year sentence

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be released from prison and placed under judicial supervision, a Paris appeals court ruled Monday, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence over a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.

Sarkozy, 70, was expected to leave Paris’ La Santé prison in the afternoon.

He will be banned from leaving the French territory and from being in touch with key people including co-defendants and witnesses in the case, the court said. An appeals trial is expected to take place later, possibly in the spring.

Sarkozy became the first former French head of state in modern times to be sent behind bars after his conviction on Sept. 25. He denies wrongdoing. He was jailed on Oct. 21 pending appeal but immediately filed for early release.

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