16 Comments

France, s'il vous plait: not least as a distraction from concerns such as -- https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/04/ann-telnaes-cartoon-donald-trump-south-korea//. Merci bien.

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The most important thing to me—by a long shot—is what I call GLIDE: Global LIberal DEmocracy. This encompasses not just America, Canada, etc., and "western" Europe, but South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, etc. It is a global culture/civilization that transcends nation states.

There is a scene in "The Exorcist" when the old priest (played by Max von Sydow) shows up, and the younger priest, a psychiatrist, says something like, "I've observer three different personalities . . .". And the old priest cuts him off and says, "There is only one personality" (to wit, the Devil's).

Just so, we need to wake up to the fact that there's not a war in Ukraine, and a war in Gaza, and a war in Syria. There is only one war: the war against global liberal democracy by four countries that have—in the words of Zbigniew Brzeziński—"complementary grievances" against the west. This is what we need to focus on.

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Exactly so.

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If you know of any credible organization(s) that has this as a focus and is working to bolster global liberal democracy, I would very much appreciate knowing about it. I'd be happy to donate both time and money. Thanks.

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I chose France but am also most eager to read Claire about what's going on in the Baltics. i read

# more Russian ships than "normal", looks like number will increase further says 🇩🇪kind of BBC

# Chinese cargo ships intentionally damaging www-data-cables at least twice.

Could the Baltic become a Sarajevo - negligible and explosive?

Russia has a harbour in Königsberg (enclave)

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I voted for Global Eyes, which I assume would include something on the election in Romania. But something on France would be good too. What a mess that is! I wonder if Macron regrets calling for the snap election now.

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You are on the spot, and we in what’s left of the USA have no clue. What’s going on, and is there a Russia and/or Trump connection? Looking forward to some Claire clarity.

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You know, I should have read this sooner. I didn't even mention the Russia connection because I've written so much about it before, but of course there is. If after reading what I wrote it isn't obvious, read this:

https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/dramatis-personae

But especially, read this: https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/france-goes-to-the-polls.

Macron has wised up quite a bit since I wrote that. But Le Pen and Mélenchon remain devoted (and indebted to) Moscow. The Kremlin is of course is salivating at the thought of a Le Pen-Mélenchon presidential contest.

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Thanks so much for the links. I knew a bit about Dreyfus and Petain but others in this rogues’ gallery are new to me.

Btw, if my comment seemed flippant, I do apologize. I meant only that I was looking forward to your reliably high level of clarification.

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But will they riot?

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Always.

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Tis the season of falling governments. I am very much interested in the drivers and failures, particularly in light of your background and proximity.

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France, for now.

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It says it right there in the masthead, Claire, immediately below The Cosmopolitan Globalist...

"Where beggars get to be choosers"

I choose both [options]. Just saying... er, begging! :-)

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You know more about Feance than the vast majority of your readers. Your take on the collapse of the Government would be invaluable. My suggestion would be to not focus exclusively on the current turmoil; the press is full of that type of information. What nobody tells us is why this turmoil has occurred and what the prospects are for overcoming it. Does France have a future as a consequential world power or has its time passed? For this loyal reader, at least, your thoughts on that would be very welcome.

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Although the France developments are of interest, with all that is going on globally right now, your wider analysis in Global Eyes is always appreciated and perhaps more useful from the broader perspective -- at least to me! Thank you!

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