Emmanuel Macron dissolves French parliament and calls snap elections

Where's Sarkozy? He's still trying to keep himself out of prison after being convicted of corruption charges.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230517-french-appeals-court-to-give-verdict-in-sarkozy-wiretapping-corruption-case

I remember a time when Jean Marie Le Pen was considered a total joke … a relic of the Nazi era and more in tune with Vichy France than modern France …. Marine Le Pen has channelled her father's rhetoric and toned down some of it …. but if I was French I would not vote for her or trust her … surely there are other people to vote for if one was not to vote for Macron ….

Putin's Russia has moved very much to the far right in recent years too … Putin himself yes … but more notable in others …. and in Medvedev in particular ….. the current Russian regime can do business with far right regimes in Europe …. and will support them …. this is a more likely situation than the much touted verge of WW3 …. there are more than 1 way to take over your enemies !! ….

But while Putin/Medvedev/Russia can desire and support far right …. it is also true that not everything can be blamed on Russia …. electorates misguided want them or think they do …. far right populists are well able to market themselves and make promises they cannot keep …. and voter apathy has allowed far right regimes into power all over Europe, as well as the US and Iran …. because while others do not vote the far right voters will very much vote !! ….

It is possible … very likely … we could see far right politicians like Le Pen, Jalili and Trump do very well in upcoming elections and become presidents/prime ministers of their countries …. less likely is a Farage win in the UK but who knows? Anything is now possible !! …

Georgia Meloni has moderated her stance for now …. and Wilders too …. but I cannot help but feel they will be emboldened if more of them come into prominence and then they will begin their real agenda …. the only good thing is they become unpopular the more they gain power and the people turn against them ….

By right though the US people should by now be 100% against Trump …. sadly the whole system over there cannot move past this candidate despite how mad and bad he is …. I only hope that common sense prevails ….

The point you raise here is good one — i.e. the right wingers like Le Pen and Meloni softening over time in contrast to Putin who has consolidated hard power.

The reason for that is that the closer you get to power in a liberal representative democracy the more you are forced to soften. That's because running a democratic country invariably means navigating competing interests and trying to find the right balance. That almost always means that your policies have to be churned through a machine which produces a very diluted version of what you might have sought.

That exists in autocratic systems too, but there's more scope to browbeat and force your wishes upon others — to crush competing interests where you can rather than appease them. In the democratic world, it can make politicians look useless, foolish, deceitful and ineffective — giving room for populists to mock them when it's often the case that the effectiveness of mainstream politics is the victim of the necessary drawbacks of democracy and the Western model of individual rights.

This is why modern populism, of the Trump / Brexit kind etc, has demonstrated that it is at its most potent outside of power — where you can make dramatic promises for radical change. Le Pen has softened because she has gotten closer to power, and if you talk Frexit you have to be seen to walk Frexit, so she has softened on that, and on other things — and likely will have to soften further if and when she gets power

I have no idea, where are you taking this information from. Maybe from Polish propaganda TV.

Where do you see this massive growth?

But you can't imagine how much money they borrowed outside budget, which grand-grand children will pay for…

Also how much public money they used for their private campaigns, increasing salaries, generally stealing them.

I got the information from the world bank.

GDP Per capita in 2015 dollars in Poland in 2014 was $12,024

In 2022 that figure had grown to $17,117

Pretty impressive growth in such a short period of time, a 42% rise.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?end=2022&locations=PL&start=1990&view=chart

Figures for Czechia go from $16,951 in 2014 to $20,237 in 2022 (19% rise)

Figures of Slovakia go from $15,600 in 2014 to $18,878 in 2022 (21% rise)

So they've massively outperformed two of their neighbouring countries in that period

Poland's External Debt per capita is $9,500

Less than Ireland at $63,000

And less than Czechia at €19282 and Slovakia at €15,900

Polands Government Debt per capita is $14,829

Less than Ireland at $47,822

And Less than Slovakia at $16,798 , but more than Czechia which is at $12,208

Again looks like Poland is doing very well.

France lurches to the right

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jun/30/france-election-live-polls-close-marine-le-pen-national-rally-emmanuel-macron

France is a country that still has a low key 18th century attitude to colonialism. The Russians have threatened and damaged their colonial empire in Africa. Macron talking tough on Ukraine was little to do with concern for Ukraine and more about him tapping into his inner Napoleon.

if its true that France exploit their trading relationship with some African countries, they deserve everything coming their way

This is complete nonsense. where is the evidence that Macron has ever had any designs on invading eastern Europe, never mind that he would start with Ukraine of all places?

As for their "colonial empire" in Africa, what you mean is that Russia sent in Wagner troops to exploit African resources. In SOME of those cases France had - at the request of the governments concerned - previously sent in some units of the French army to shore up the existing government from mostly islamist threats, but to protray that as France's "empire" is ridiculous.

he certainly has created a mess technically he didnt have to call an election till 2027

now le pen's party have gone from about 4 million votes 2 years ago to

7 million votes at EU elections 3 weeks ago to

10 million votes in the latest election

its clear the french voters want change and have enough of macron's party

Macron again proving he a a gigantic dope.

His sense of himself is off the scales.