Tag: france

France to distribute ‘survival manual’ to prepare households for emergencies – including armed conflict


France is preparing to distribute a “survival manual” to every household to help citizens prepare for “imminent threats” – including armed conflict on French soil.

“The survival manual aims to encourage citizens to develop their resilience in the face of different crises,” a spokeswoman for Prime Minister François Bayrou told CNN on Wednesday.

“This includes natural disasters, technological and cyber incidents, health crises like Covid-19, and security crises like terrorist attacks and armed conflict,” she said.

If approved by Bayrou, the 20-page booklet will be delivered to households before the summer.

The French plan follows updates to similar booklets issued to millions of households in Sweden and Finland, which include instructions on how to prepare for the effects of military conflicts, communications outages and power cuts, as well as extreme weather events.

The new booklet will be similar in content to a French government website, launched in 2022, that provides advice on how to prepare for an emergency.

The manual will be divided into three sections, offering practical advice on how to protect yourself and loved ones in the face of immediate danger.

Among the recommendations will be having a list of emergency contacts (fire service, police and ambulance); knowing which radio channels to tune into; and ensuring that all doors are shut in the event of a nuclear accident.

The manual will also outline ways to contribute to the defense of the community, such as volunteering for reserve units or local fire-fighting groups.

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France To Expand Its Nuclear Deterrent With New Air Base

France has said it will establish another nuclear-capable air base — its fourth — that will be equipped with two squadrons of the latest version of the homegrown Dassault Rafale multirole fighter. The change in fortunes for the base, Luxeuil Air Base in eastern France — once threatened with closure — comes as European NATO members, including France, look at bolstering their nuclear deterrence capabilities independent of the United States.

The announcements were made today by French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to Luxeuil — locally known as Base Aérienne 116. As a nuclear-capable base, Luxeuil is planned to host the new ASN4G hypersonic missile by 2035. The weapon will arm two squadrons of the most advanced F5-standard Rafales — a total of 40 aircraft. All in all, France will invest around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) into the installation.

Pointing to the fact that the war in Ukraine “has changed the situation,” Cédric Perrin, the senator for the region in which the air base is located, confirmed that the first Rafale squadron will touch down at Luxeuil in 2032, becoming operational the following year. The second squadron will become operational in 2036.

It appears that these 40 advanced versions of the Rafale will be in addition to the 42 examples ordered earlier this year. As well as being compatible with the ASN4G missile, the F5-standard Rafales will also be able to work in conjunction with ‘loyal wingman’-type drones.

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French MEP Throws Temper Tantrum: Wants Statue of Liberty Back Because America Supports Trump

A French leftist politician is demanding that the United States return the Statue of Liberty—claiming that America no longer upholds the values for which France originally gifted the monument in 1886.

At a gathering of his Place Publique movement, Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament (MEP), launched an unhinged attack on the U.S., criticizing President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, defense of scientific freedom, and budgetary decisions.

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demonstrating scientific freedom, ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty. We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,’” Glucksmann told supporters.

“The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is ‘if you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,’” he added.

Glucksmann also addressed the dismissal of American researchers advocating for scientific freedom, expressing France’s willingness to welcome these scientists. He further criticized right-wing French parliamentarians who support Trump and Elon Musk, labeling them a “fan club.”

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WTH? State Department Paid Big Money to Put Hillary Clinton Up at 5 Star Hotel in France in 2024

Why did the State Department (taxpayers) pay for Hillary Clinton’s 5-star hotel room and rental vehicles in France in 2024?

Hillary Clinton traveled to Bordeaux, France, on February 23, 2024 and the American taxpayer paid for her lavish retreat.

Clinton reportedly traveled to Bordeaux to promote climate change garbage at the World Impact Summit to benefit the Clinton Foundation.

The twice-failed presidential hopeful stayed at the 5-star Mondrian Hotel (a Clinton favorite).

The total cost for the luxury hotel ($16,759.18) and transportation ($22,570.19) set taxpayers back $39,329.37.

Clinton also took a few “personal visits to the city” according to French media,

With US Secret Service detail, luxury hotel accommodations, transportation, food and other demands, who knows what the total cost was for the American taxpayer.

“Hillary Clinton stayed at the five-star Mondrian Hotel in Bordeaux with the utmost discretion. Prior to her arrival, U.S. security services conducted several reconnaissance missions of the premises in close collaboration with their French counterparts. This coordination required considerable logistics, demonstrating the scale of the security efforts deployed to ensure the former U.S. presidential candidate’s safety,” Too Bordeaux reported.

Not only did Hillary Clinton enjoy a taxpayer-funded stay at a 5-star hotel, she demanded to be treated like royalty – or a Hollywood actress and restricted media access.

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French (Government-Owned!) Media: ‘How Could You Not’ Compare Trump to Hitler?

France 24 is a state-owned, taxpayer-funded TV news station that broadcasts French propaganda. That’s its explicit, intended purpose: In the leadup to its 2006 launch, then-President Jacques Chirac proclaimed, “We must have the ambition of a big, round-the-clock news channel in French, equal to the BBC or CNN for the English-speaking world. It is essential for the influence of our country.”

Which means, it’s not like a Fox News, an ABC News, or an MSNBC — i.e. a privately-held news organization that expresses the opinions (and promotes the causes) of its corporate owners. France 24 is a subsidiary of the French government. Its opinions and causes are reflective of France.

Or, more specifically, the French political leadership.

That’s an important point to keep in mind, because three days ago, a méchant news story appeared on France 24: What parallels do historians see between the Trump administration and the Nazi regime?

The story began with one of the mainstream media’s favorite tricks: They repeat a lie over and over again, and then they do a story about it because “everyone’s talking about it.” You know the dealio:

Since the start of Trump’s second term as US president, comparisons between his administration and the Nazi regime are back in the spotlight.  

Yeah, that’s sort of true… because you’re repeating it!

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Poland & Baltic Nations Welcome Macron’s Words Of Nuclear Escalation Aimed At Russia

Poland as well as Baltic nations have expressed approval of Wednesday’s ultra-provocative words by French President Emmanuel Macron which floated the idea of using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the European continent from Russian threats.

Macron said he is opening a “strategic debate” on possibly extending France’s nuclear umbrella to all of Europe – a role currently played by US nukes stationed in NATO countries. He claimed in the televised address that unless Putin is defeated in Ukraine, he will threaten other European countries with invasion. 

Throughout the more than three-year long Ukraine war the tiny Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been outsized in their hawkish anti-Moscow rhetoric.

France remains the only nuclear power in the European Union, and it possesses some 290 nuclear warheads – according to media estimates – which is why Russian leaders quickly slammed the Macron comments as “extremely confrontational”

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Macron Announces New Global Order, Aggression Toward Russia & US, Repeatedly References His Nuclear Weapons

On Wednesday French President Emmanuel Macron addressed his nation to announce a new global order characterized by Western European aggression toward Russia without the backing of the United States. Macron repeatedly referenced his nuclear weapons as a valuable tool against Russia, although he did not comment on deploying them as a deterrent against the U.S. like a Canadian Prime Minister candidate recently spoke of.

“You are quite rightly concerned about the historical events that are taking place right now and that are shaking up the world order….Support to Ukraine is uncertain, and yet at the same time the United States of America [is] striving to implement tariffs on products being sent out from Europe…It is with clarity that I can say that we are moving into a new era,” Macron said, referencing the end of the post-WWII era.

Macron laid out the battlefield of this new era.

“The Russian threat is ever-present and is on European borders, it is affecting all of us. Russia has already turned the war in Ukraine into a global conflict,” the French leader said. “Russia is crossing borders to influence what is happening in Moldova, in Romania, they are impeding the operations of our hospitals, they are spreading lies on social media, and they are pushing our limits.”

He went on to detail Russian military metrics and figures, then predicted that one day Europe will have peace with Russia, but said now is the time to mobilize against it.

“Given the world of danger that we live in, standing idly by would be madness, so we have to make decisions now for Ukraine, for the security of French people, for Europe,” Macron said.

Surprisingly, Macron did say that peace initiatives with Russia over Ukraine are heading in the right direction, but he then contradicted himself.

“We need to continue enabling Ukrainians to resist so that they can end up in a stable situation for themselves but stability for us as well, and that is why peace cannot be achieved by abandoning Ukraine,” he said, saying Russia cannot dictate the terms of peace.

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France’s Encryption Crackdown Could Break Secure Messaging for Everyone

France is attempting to pass a new surveillance law requiring the inclusion of secret encryption backdoors by providers, to serve intelligence agencies and police.

Critics say this attack on secure communications is the worst of its kind in the European Union (EU) and are urging citizens to put pressure on lawmakers to prevent the adoption of the so-called Narcotrafic law, which has cleared the country’s Senate and is now in the National Assembly.

Among those raising the alarm over the law is the well-known end-to-end encrypted email service Tuta, which reiterates the fundamental argument against building any backdoors into any encrypted app – something that French legislators now need to hear: once broken for one, encryption is broken for all.

“A backdoor for the good guys only is not possible,” says a blog post on Tuta’s site.

It adds that the idea to give law enforcement the ability to remotely activate cameras and microphones, expand “black boxes” authorization, and further facilitate online censorship (allegedly only related to the use and sale of drugs) might be presented by those behind the proposed law as needed to fight organized crime – but that, at the same time, it goes against a number of existing laws.

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LGBT Activist Arrested As Ringleader Of International Pedophile Network

In November 2023, the French National Police inaugurated its Office Of Minors (L’OFMIN) in an effort to dedicate much needed resources to tackling child abuse in the country that has been mired in social decay since President Emmanuel Macron took office in 2017. Just one month into its existence, L’OFMIN spearheaded a European-wide operation that resulted in the identification of hundreds of pedophiles, leading to dozens of arrested. The department has continued on in that mission with the arrests of several members of a human trafficking network of pedophiles based out of France.

The criminal syndicate had been operating between the northern French province of Loire-Atlantique across the country’s border with Belgium. Its horrific crimes are reminiscent of the Dutroux affair, one of the most infamous episodes of child sex abuse to ever come to light in modern European history. 20 years after Marc Dutroux was sentenced to life in prison for his child sex crimes, the prominent LGBT activist that authorities have alleged is the ring leader of the pedophile ring uncovered by L’OFMIN is poised to supplant Dutroux as the face of those heinous crimes.

French newspaper La Parisien reported that a “32 year-old family assistant in Loire-Atlantique” was arrested as the leader of the pedophile ring. While the suspects arrested have yet to be officially identified in the press, law enforcement officials who analyzed the child sex abuse videos posted on the dark web by the pedophile ring were able to identify them, leading to their arrests. L’OFMIN and Dutch authorities were tipped off after the videos were reported on the messaging platform Telegram. Those reports led to a forensic examination of the evidence that identified a medical bed being used in the torture of one of the children. They were then able to trace the purchase of the particular type of bed, which led them to the suspected ring leader of the network, Pierre-Alain Cottineau.

Cottineau gained notoriety in France for his activism as a pro-LGBT advocate. His rise in France’s far-left politic landscape took off in 2021 when he ran in departmental elections as part of the La France Insoumise party (LFI). His political ascendancy was shaped by years of LGBT advocacy, in which he founded several activist groups including the Oudon Solidarity and Mutual Aid Collective and the LGBTQI+ Association of Ancenis after being elected president of The Rainbow Shelter, a nascent LGBT rights organization working to combat homophobia and transphobia throughout France.

However, Cottineau’s reputation would not be defined by his political advocacy. In September 2024, the LGBT activist was arrested on sexual assault charges for the abuse of 4 year-old disabled child. Cottineau’s 2024 arrest came after videos of the abuse were uncovered by French authorities in the city of Nantes. The victim of the rape had been under the care of Cottineau, who was working as the caregiver of the disabled child after authorities placed her in his custody at his home. The victim was placed in Cottineau’s custody just 1 week after Child Welfare Services approved his application to become a foster parent, in which he specifically sought a license to take custody of children 6 years of age and younger.

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France Eyeing Deployment Of Nuclear-Armed Rafale Fighters To Germany: Report

France is apparently looking at the possibility of deploying air-launched nuclear weapons to Germany, a consideration that’s being made amid growing concerns that the United States will no longer guarantee European security under NATO. Broader discussions about nuclear deterrence among European leaders point very clearly to the deepening crisis in the transatlantic alliance under U.S. President Donald Trump, emphasized by calls from German leader-in-waiting Friedrich Merz for talks with his British and French colleagues about European “nuclear sharing or at least nuclear security.”

According to a report in the British newspaper The Telegraph, which cites an unnamed French official, “Posting a few French nuclear jet fighters in Germany should not be difficult and would send a strong message” to Russia, which would aim to bolster Europe’s nuclear deterrent.

While it’s unclear how seriously the proposal is being discussed at the highest levels in France, there is a logic behind raising the idea at this point in public.

In France, there is now an increasing focus on building up Europe’s capacity to provide a defensive bulwark against Russia, as Trump shifts to embrace Moscow. The result has been a growing rift between the United States and its European NATO allies, with differing positions on the continued provision of support for Ukraine looming large.

Evidence of this fractious relationship was provided in a meeting between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington yesterday, in which Ukraine was again atop the agenda. Trump refused to provide security guarantees to Ukraine once a potential peace deal is signed.

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