Emmanuel Clinton and the Revolt of the Elites

[Y_Participant 4591]

Emmanuel Clinton and the Revolt of the Elites

Pepe Escobar for the Asia Times
19th May 2017

Pepe Escobar (1954 -) is a Brazilian journalist. He writes a column – The Roving Eye – for Asia Times Online, and works as an analyst for RT, Sputnik News, and Press TV as well as formerly for Al Jazeera. Escobar has focused on Central Asia and the Middle East, and has covered Iran on a continuous basis since the late 1990s

A Victory – of Sorts

So in the end the West was saved by the election of Emmanuel Macron as President of France: relief in Brussels, a buoyant eurozone, rallies in Asian markets.

That was always a no-brainer. After all, Macron was endorsed by the EU, Goddess of the Market, and Barack Obama. And he was fully backed by the French ruling class.

This was a referendum on the EU – and the EU, in its current set-up, won.

Cyberwar had to be part of the picture. No one knows where the MacronLeaks came from – a last minute, massive online dump of Macron campaign hacked emails. WikiLeaks certified the documents it had time to review as legitimate.

That did not stop the Macron galaxy from immediately blaming it on Russia. Le Monde, a once-great paper now owned by three [2] influential Macron backers, faithfully mirrored his campaign’s denunciation of RT and Sputnik, information technology attacks and, in general, the interference of Russia in the elections.

The Macron Russophobia in the French media-sphere also happens to include Liberation, once the paper of Jean-Paul Sartre.

Edouard de Rothschild, the previous head of Rothschild & Cie Banque, bought a 37% controlling stake in the paper in 2005. Three years later, an unknown Emmanuel Macron started to rise in the mergers and acquisitions department, soon acquiring a reputation as “the Mozart of finance.”

After a brief stint at the Ministry of Finance, a movement, En Marche! was set up for him by a network of powerful players and think tanks. Now, the presidency. Welcome to the revolving door, Moet & Chandon-style.

See You on the Barricades, Babe

In the last TV face-off with Marine Le Pen, Macron did not shy from displaying condescending/rude streaks and even raked some extra percentage points by hammering “Marine” as a misinformed, corrupt, “hate-filled” nationalist liar who “feeds off France’s misery” and would precipitate “civil war.”

That may in fact come back to haunt him. Macron is bound to be a carrier of France’s internal devaluation; a champion of wage “rigor,” whose counterpoint will be a boom of under-employment; and a champion of increasing precariousness on the road to boost competitiveness.

Big Business lauds his idea of cutting corporate tax from 33% to 25% (the European average). But overall, what Macron has sold is a recipe for a “see you on the barricades” scenario:

severe cuts in health spending, unemployment benefits and local government budgets; at least 120,000 layoffs from the public sector; and abrogation of some key workers’ rights. He wants to advance the “reform” of the French work code – opposed by 67% of French voters – ruling by decree.

On Europe, the only thing “Marine” said during the campaign that was closer to the truth was that “France will be led by a woman, either me or Mrs Merkel.”

Macron is more likely to be the new Tony Blair or, in a more disastrous vein, the new [former Italian PM Matteo] Renzi.

The real game starts now. Only 4 in 10 voters backed him. Abstention reached 25% – about one-third if spoilt ballots are counted. It will be virtually impossible for Macron to come up with a parliamentary majority in the upcoming elections.

France is now viciously divided into five blocks – with very little uniting them: Macron’s En Marche! movement; Marine Le Pen’s National Front, which will be recomposed and expanded; Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Disobedient France, which is bound to lead a New Left; the shattered Republicans, or the traditional French Right, which badly needs a new leader after the François Fillon debacle; and the virtually destroyed Socialists post-Hollande.

An Orwellian shock of the New

Contrary to global perceptions, the biggest issue in this election was not immigration, it was actually deep resentment toward the French deep state (police, justice, administration) – perceived as oppressive, corrupt and even violent.

Even before the vote, the always sharp and delightfully provocative philosopher Michel Onfray, author of Decadence, the best book of the year and founder of the Popular University of Caen, identified some of the main players behind the Macron bandwagon: the “bellicose” philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy; Le Monde’s Pierre Bergé; Jacques Attali – who almost single-handedly turned the Soclalists into hardcore neoliberals; eminence grise Alain Minc; former MSF head Bernard Kouchner; and former May 1968 stalwart Daniel Cohn-Bendit – “In other words, the feral promoters of a liberal policy that allowed Marine Le Pen to hit her highest score ever.”

All of the above are faithful servants of the French deep state. I have outlined in Asia Times how the Macron hologram was manufactured. But to see how the deep state managed to sell him, it’s essential to refer to philosopher Jean-Claude Michea, a disciple of George Orwell and Christopher Lasch, and author of the recently published Notre Ennemi, Le Capital.

Michea studies in detail how the Left has adopted all the values of what Karl Popper dubbed “open society.” And how media spin doctors molded the term “populism” to stigmatize the contemporary form of Absolute Evil. Marine Le Pen was ostracized as “populist” – while media propaganda always refused to note that National Front voters (now 11 million) come from the “popular classes.”

Michea emphasizes the original, historical meaning of “populism” in Czarist Russia within the socialist movement – much admired by Marx and Engels – where peasants, artisans and small entrepreneurs would have their place of honour in a developed socialist economy.

During May 1968 [4] in France nobody would have thought that populism could be equated with fascism. That only happened in the beginning of the 1980s – as part of the new Orwellian language of neoliberalism.

Michea also notes that now it’s much easier to be a Left neoliberal than a Right neoliberal; in France, these Left neoliberals belong to the very closed circuit of the “Young Leaders” adopted by the French American Foundation. French Big Business and high finance – essentially, the French ruling class – immediately understood that an Old Catholic Right candidate like François Fillon would never fly and they needed a new brand name for the same bottle.

Hence Macron: a brilliant repackaging sold as a change that France can believe in, as in a relatively soft approach to the “reforms” essential to the survival of the neoliberal project.

What French voters have – sort of – endorsed is the unity of the neoliberal economy and cultural liberalism. Call it, like Michea, “integrated liberalism.” Or, with all the Orwellian overtones, “post-democratic capitalism.” A true revolt of the elites. And “peasants” buy it willingly. Let them eat overpriced croissants.

Once again, France is leading the West.

<< Postnotes by Y

May 1968 is an important reference point in French politics, representing for some the possibility of liberation and for others the dangers of anarchy. For some, May 1968 meant the end of traditional collective action and the beginning of a new era to be dominated mainly by the so-called new social movements.[4]

The critical issues Macron needs to tackle can be seen as

– uniting the French as a people under the current political quagmire
– 10% unemployment, and nearly one in four among under-25s
– Low economic growth (partly from the Russian embargo as part of the EU)
– Refugee and terrorist attacks and the open-migration policy
– Re-engaging the Russian Federation on a wide variety of fronts
– Engaging the United States and NATO
– Bloated public spending (56% of GDP compared with 44% in Germany and 39% in the UK and close to the 60% limit required by the ECB)

His twin aims are to boost investment and set up a “new growth model” that is both good for social mobility and the environment.

However as the agent of the globalist neocons he is tasked to remove independent action by the French government and privatise as much assets as possible. He has done this before in Hollande’s government.

One aspect that is not talked about and which Marine Le Pen made an exceptional error in not capitalisng on as a political cudgel is the high exposure of French banks underwriting Italian and Greek debt and which is not recorded as high risk loans or Non-Performing Assets (NPA’s) in the French banking system. Le Pen was never an economic powerhouse and perhaps that was one of her perceived failings that could not be ignored – regardless of her stated policies, affiliations and intent.

If and when the Italian banking system comes unravelled – then the French banks will be the hardest hit and the contagion on French financial institutions may be extreme – causing bail-ins to occur.

These are subjects for other detailed posts when the economic landscape of the EU stablises to some degree.

Thanks for reading -Y>>

Citations
[1] http://www.atimes.com/article/emmanuel-clinton-revolt-elites/
[2] http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2010/06/le_monde_sale
[3] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39845905
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_events_in_France#Legacy

[Anonymous 14]

“On Europe, the only thing “Marine” said during the campaign that was closer to the truth was that “France will be led by a woman, either me or Mrs Merkel.””

Ha, so true. The Brits are trying to uncuck themselves, maybe the French will try to do the same next time around.

[Y_Participant 4591]

Anonymous wrote:

“On Europe, the only thing “Marine” said during the campaign that was closer to the truth was that “France will be led by a woman, either me or Mrs Merkel.””

Ha, so true. The Brits are trying to uncuck themselves, maybe the French will try to do the same next time around.

Without a strong PM or party the future of the UK looks bleak either way. The problem is endemic in the UK more than anywhere else from extreme amounts of migration. I have fond memories of London but do not want to visit Londonstan anytime soon.

[,Participant 1301]

Thanks Yumbo.
it was either read or go get a bacon wrapped Twinkie and watch Springer.

Marco Polo Rerun

Pepe Escobar – AT

Emanual Clinton Revolt Elites

Hard for me to follow completely but I’ll likely have to pick an advertised drummer, pop her in the back and then go the other way.
Populism doesn’t seem to last long in the West, but its a pretty effective reset.Then again, the push back is 5 times stronger.
History, the ironic Sequel.

Thousands of years mates! Thousands.
Doesn’t Camus get assassinated by the kgbDeep State from rejecting the Elites?

“Sea Monsters” protected the INCA for thousands of years too.

“Do I look fat? after reading these links?”

with joy/without hate

[Y_Participant 4591]

, wrote:

“Do I look fat? after reading these links?”

The links dinna do anything for me. It’s all in your head matee.

, wrote:

Hard for me to follow completely but I’ll likely have to pick an advertised drummer, pop her in the back and then go the other way.
Populism doesn’t seem to last long in the West, but its a pretty effective reset.Then again, the push back is 5 times stronger.

It takes some time to read I agree.

To get pushback it’s usually very late in the day and then something drastic has to happen with a lot of very angry p~~~ed off people.

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