Macron to Netanyahu: Defending civilization is not about sowing barbarism

Macron to Netanyahu: Defending civilization is not about sowing barbarism

    Saturday, October 26, 2024   No comments

10/25/2024 : French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's description of the war on Gaza and Lebanon as a "war of civilization," saying that "defending civilization is not done by sowing barbarism."

The tension between Netanyahu and Macron continues to escalate after the latter called for an arms embargo on Israel.

In a speech he delivered in Paris during the opening of the international conference in support of the people and sovereignty of Lebanon, on Thursday, Macron responded to Netanyahu's description of the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon as a "war of civilization against barbarism."

Macron said: "Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the war of civilizations or civilizations that must be defended, but I do not believe that civilization is defended by sowing barbarism."

In an interview with French media on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that "Israel is waging a war of civilization against barbarism."

He continued: "We are not only fighting for ourselves, but for you as well."

Previously, Macron called on Israel to stop killing Gaza's women and babies.

Related, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, warned the world of a "big fire, after losing its humanity by ignoring the conflicts in the Middle East." Borrell said that "the world is on the brink of a big fire, and as long as the war continues in Gaza and Lebanon, we will remain on the edge of a spark that ignites a bigger fire."

Borrell's statement came to the Spanish radio "RNE", commenting on the genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip for more than a year, and its aggression on Lebanon since September 23. The European official pointed out that the United Nations confirms that the Gaza Strip is witnessing the most violent and dangerous humanitarian crisis the world has witnessed since World War II. Borrell added, "What is happening in the Middle East shows that we have lost our humanity."

An Arab country with a peace treaty with Israel just blasted the government of Israel for statements made by one of its ministers. Jordan condemned, the extremist efforts of the Israeli government to change the status of the occupied Palestinian territories, the latest of which was the call by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to apply Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday evening (Oct. 27), Smotrich called during a conference held in occupied Jerusalem to apply Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

He said in a video clip he shared on Monday via the "X" platform that "the land division agreements did not succeed and will not succeed, simply because they want the whole country," referring to the Palestinians.

He added that "Palestinians who agree to adopt the decision (annexing the West Bank and Gaza) will be granted the benefits of Israeli citizens," and "whoever refuses this will be displaced, and whoever refuses both will be treated as a terrorist."

In response, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it "condemns in the strongest terms the extremist racist provocative statements made by Smotrich, calling for the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, expanding settlements therein, and displacing Palestinians from them."

The ministry considered these statements "a flagrant violation of international law and the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital."

It stressed "the Kingdom's rejection and condemnation of these provocative settlement calls, in a blatant violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at changing the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem."

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry stressed that "the racist ideology evident in the statements of the Israeli Finance Minister is an extension of the extremist policy of the Israeli government, which continues its aggression on Gaza, besieges the northern part of the Strip and prevents the entry of food and medicine to its residents in an attempt to displace them from their homes."

 [This news story was update to include related developments]

Is this what self-defense looks like?

Is this what self-defense looks like?

    Wednesday, September 25, 2024   No comments

 France's Macron to Israel: stop killing babies

If these are the images and characterization of what Israeli "self-defense" looks like, then what basis is there to condemn other "self-defenses"?

If Israel can kill babies and women, starve two million people, throw injured persons off rooftops, kills medical doctors and aid workers, sexually abuse Palestinian prisoners, and torture detained Palestinians, then what basis is there to condemn others if they do it?

Former French Prime Minister: Gaza is the biggest historical scandal

Former French Prime Minister: Gaza is the biggest historical scandal

    Friday, September 20, 2024   No comments

 Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, on Gaza:

"No longer has a voice on the international scene", because (among other things) of its "double-standards" and lack of action with regards to Gaza. 

He calls France's internal silencing of what's happening in Gaza a "real scandal in terms of democracy", making France live in "absurdity" and resulting in it "fading away". He says that we (France and the West in general) would have many levers to stop the war - in terms of armament or economic sanctions - "but we refuse to use these levers with arguments which are absolutely unreal culturally or intellectually speaking. Saying 'we need to let Israel fight its war to the end': but what end? What is the end?".

As a consequence, he says, France and the West will "foot the bill" for what's happening in terms of loss of credibility and legitimacy.

On Gaza specifically he calls it "undoubtedly the biggest historical scandal since... I don't even dare to find a reference", calling it a war "not like the others since it is civilian populations that die". 

He also rebukes the journalist for using the usual term "according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health" with regards to the number of death: "There's not only the Ministry of Health from Hamas which says that there are 40,000 dead. And there are probably many more, MANY more! So from this basis let's not give the feeling that it would be a number like that, unreliable. No!"

Dominique de Villepin: "In Gaza bodies are torn into pieces, Hearts are in pieces! Souls are in pieces! Heads are in pieces!" ("À Gaza les corps sont en morceaux! Les coeurs sont en morceaux! Les âmes sont en morceaux! Les têtes sont en morceaux!")

He says that ""Israel has no political objective and when you have no political objective the only thing you can do is war... There is a security objective, there is an identity objective, there is a messianic madness and that explains the catastrophe that we're witnessing."

French artist Corinne Raye, known as "Coco" publishes a cartoon in the newspaper "Liberation" mocking Muslims in Gaza, who are being starved to death

French artist Corinne Raye, known as "Coco" publishes a cartoon in the newspaper "Liberation" mocking Muslims in Gaza, who are being starved to death

    Wednesday, March 13, 2024   No comments

Freedom of expression has no limits in the West, when the freedom of expression is used to attack Muslims, and now Muslims who are subjected starvation. The left-wing newspaper Liberation in France published a racist cartoon about the month of Ramadan in Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a murderous, destructive Israeli war since last October 7.

 The French artist wanted to depict the scene of hunger in the Strip, so she showed the man chasing rats in search of food to satisfy his hunger.

Liberation newspaper's editor-in-chief is Dov Alfon, who formerly worked for Israel's military intelligence unit 8200. The newspaper is owned by French-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi.

This happens at a time when UN agencies gave reported catastrophic conditions in Gaza due to US government repeated vetoes that prevented UNSC resolutions from being adopted, and thanks to Western governments lack of concern for the deaths among civilians, 31,000 at this point, 72% are children and women. 

 

In Gaza, thousands of children have been injured and killed, more are losing their lives to malnutrition and diseases, hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

All children in Gaza are exposed to widespread destruction, deeply distressing events and trauma. ~ UNICEF, Mar. 12, 2024.

  

Media reports: Ukraine's allies proposed striking “Iranian drone production factories in Iran, Syria and Russia”

Media reports: Ukraine's allies proposed striking “Iranian drone production factories in Iran, Syria and Russia”

    Friday, October 06, 2023   No comments

Days after the British newspaper published in a report, details obtained from a secret document submitted by Ukraine to its Western allies in the Group of Seven, which included a proposal to target "Iranian drone production factories in Iran, Syria and Russia", a drone attack hit Syria killed more than 80 people and injured hundreds more.

The British newspaper "The Guardian" revealed a secret document that indicated that Ukraine's Western allies had proposed launching missile strikes on drone production factories in Iran, Syria, and Russia.

In the context of a newspaper report on “European components in Iranian drones,” The Guardian revealed a 47-page document that the Ukrainian government submitted to the G7 governments last August.

As part of the discussion to take measures against Iranian drones, the newspaper revealed, citing the document, that among the proposals presented by Ukraine’s Western allies “launch missile strikes on the production factories of these drones in Iran and Syria, as well as on a potential production site located on the territory of the Russian Federation.” ".

The newspaper indicated in its report that such a measure “is likely to be refrained from by Western powers,” quoting from the document that “the Ukrainian Defense Forces can implement what was mentioned above, if the partners provide the necessary means of destruction.”

According to the secret document that Kiev sent to its Western allies, it called for “the use of long-range missiles to attack production sites in Iran, Syria, and Russia.”

It is noteworthy that, in mid-February, “The Guardian” had quoted American officials as saying that Iran had become a “global superpower in the field of drones.”

Analysts at the US Intelligence Agency also said that Iran “has emerged as a global leader in producing effective drones at an affordable price.”

Dozens dead in a drone attack on a military college in Homs

The Syrian Minister of Health, Hassan Al-Ghobash, announced Thursday that the initial toll was not final, amounting to 80 martyrs, including 6 women and 6 children, and about 240 injuries as a result of the terrorist attack on the Military College in Homs.

On Friday morning, Syrian official media counted the deaths of 89 people and the wounding of 277 others.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government organization, reported on Friday that the death toll had risen to 123, including 54 civilians, including 39 children and a woman related to officers. It was also estimated that 150 others were injured.

After the incident, the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced its condemnation of the "heinous crime" committed by "terrorist organizations." It stressed that it expresses the perpetrators’ persistence in their “brutal terrorist approach,” due to which the Syrian people have suffered over the past years.

It added, in her statement, that this attack “will not deter” Syria from moving forward in its effort to “eradicate the scourge of terrorism and its sponsors.”

The Syrian government declared three days of official mourning for the souls of the martyrs of the terrorist attack.

Media reports: the technology used in the attack originated in France; and Syria's army responds

The Syrian army launched artillery and missile bombardment, mainly targeting the headquarters of the Turkestan Party and the Migrant Brigade, in Jericho, Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib, Binnish, and Sarmin, in response to the terrorist attack that targeted the Military College in Homs.

According to media reports, the Turkestan Party and the Muhajireen Brigade "are the two factions that possess drone technology."

The information also indicated that parts of advanced drones “were transferred to the two factions three months ago, and France was the one that provided them with this technology.”

According to media sources, the information confirmed that a drone had been launched from areas under the control of the Turkestan Party, prior to targeting the Military College in Homs.

Early Warning

It hsould be noted that on October 4, Deputy Head of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, Admiral Vadim Collet, reported that “terrorist groups are preparing to launch attacks on military sites belonging to both Moscow and Damascus.”

According to Collet, these groups are active in the provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, and Latakia.

Collet explained that the data the center received from Syrian intelligence agencies showed that the groups “Turkistan Islamic Party” and “Ansar al-Tawhid” were preparing to carry out “attacks on Russian and Syrian military bases using locally made drones.”

The two groups will use "long-range multiple missile launch systems," according to Collett.

The Deputy Head of the Russian Reconciliation Center added that the leadership of the Russian group and the Syrian Armed Forces "will take the necessary proactive measures in order to prevent armed provocations by terrorists."

The center's announcement comes after statements made by the head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, Sergei Naryshkin, to the effect that the United States of America is "preparing to assist militants to carry out terrorist attacks in Syria."

According to Naryshkin, these attacks affect "crowded public places and Syrian government institutions."

Over time, the conenctions among many of the otherwise seemingly isolated armed conflicts or coups, in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Niger, Mali, and other places,  become more evident.

For instance, it has been reported that Ukrainian special forces have been conducting operations outside Ukraine, including in Africa.

Since the start of the armed conflict in that country, Ukraine used drones very well, first to stop Russian troops advances toward Kyiv, using Turkish made drone, and there after using drone for attacks beyond the frontline, including attacks on Moscow. Ukrainian drone in Sudan last month reveals that Ukraine is now operating beyond its borders.

  

France expels a Sri Lankan student who is fluent in French under the pretext of not integrating

France expels a Sri Lankan student who is fluent in French under the pretext of not integrating

    Monday, October 02, 2023   No comments

The French authorities issued a deportation order for a high school student who came from Sri Lanka, under the pretext of not integrating into French society, despite her surroundings praising her and her fluency in the French language.

The French media reported the story of Shanaya Fernando, 18 years old, who came from Sri Lanka 4 years ago with her family to study in the city of Bordeaux. She received a deportation order and a grace period until the end of the month, claiming that she had not integrated well with French society and had no connection with the French.

The decision issued on September 21, by the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information, affiliated with the French Prime Minister, recommended that the student leave the country, after refusing to issue her a residence permit.

Shanaya's story began at the end of 2019, when she fled Sri Lanka with her parents following "death threats due to the father's political opposition to an elected Sri Lankan official." The family arrived in France, then to Bordeaux a few weeks later.

Shanaya has been attending secondary school in Majendie since 2020. She is currently in her final year and speaks French fluently. According to Sandrine Nibot, a teacher at Majendie School, “Shania also got a 15/20 in oral French a few months ago, and she is a very serious and interested student.” ".

The teacher added, "This situation is very unfair. This family has given up everything in their country to protect their child. It also means ignoring everything that Shanaya has been able to achieve since her arrival, and everything that we can offer our students."

In excellent French, Shanaya says that she dreams of being a veterinarian, and she does not have much time left to knock on university doors, adding that she found a special association for the protection of cats in which she practices her passion.

Rights matters: Muslims right to education is superseded by France's commitment to secularism

Rights matters: Muslims right to education is superseded by France's commitment to secularism

    Tuesday, September 05, 2023   No comments

As the new academic year starts, Muslims’ right to education in Europe is denied in order to uphold and enforce secularism. This seems to be the logical conclusion of the events taking place in France this week: Muslim men and women who are wearing traditional clothes are denied entry to schools unless they take off such clothes and wear French style clothes; many refused to do so.

Agence French Presse reports the latest display of European religious tolerance in France with the banning of 67 girls from attending school for wearing the abaya on the first day of the school year. 

300 girls defied a ban on the wearing of the religious garment in protest to the recent ruling by the French government that the long robe worn by some Muslims breached rules on secularism in schools. 

French President Macron had earlier sought to link the wearing of religious dress with the murder of school teacher, Samuel Paty three years ago, saying "we cannot act as if the terrorist attack, the murder of Samuel Paty, had not happened". 

67 of the girls refused to change and were banned from attending classes, ensuring the safety of the Republic from modestly dressed observant school children.

  

Girls in a defiant scene wear abayas in schools despite the ban on the abaya in France..and the authorities send them back to their homes..and the French Council for the Islamic Religion considers banning the abaya an “arbitrary” decision

Late Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron defended this measure, stressing that it aims to defend secularism and the principles of the republic. He also mentioned the terrorist attacks that the country witnessed, especially the killing of Professor Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by a jihadist near his school.

In an interview with YouTuber Ugo Decrypt on his channel, Macron said, "We also live in our society with a minority, with people who change the direction of a religion and come to challenge the Republic and secularism." "Sometimes the worst happened," Macron added. We cannot act as if there had been no terrorist attack and there was no Samuel Paty."

On October 16, 2020, Professor of History and Geography Samuel Paty (47 years old) was stabbed to death in front of his school in the Parisian region, by the Chechen jihadist Abdullah Anzorov, who beheaded the teacher before the police shot him dead. This professor was killed days after he showed his students, during a class on freedom of expression, caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The jihadist said in an audio recording that he had committed his act "in retaliation for the Prophet."

An association representing Muslims has applied to the Council of State, France's highest court for complaints against state authorities, to issue an injunction against the ban on the abaya and chemise, the equivalent dress for men.

The "Action for Muslim Rights" memorandum will be considered later Tuesday.

According to the law of March 15, 2004, which prohibits the wearing of signs or clothes that show religious affiliation, students in violation are allowed to enter the school, not the classroom, provided that a dialogue takes place between the family and the Ministry of Education. This includes Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps and Islamic headscarves.

However, unlike the veil, the abaya was not clearly defined within this law.

For its part, the official body representing Islam in France considered on Tuesday that the recent ban on the cloak in schools in France is "arbitrary" and creates "high risks of discrimination" against Muslims.

In the name of the principle of secularism, the French government announced at the end of August the ban on wearing the abaya in schools because of its controversial religious nature. In France, it is forbidden to wear religious symbols in schools under a law passed in 2004.

The French Council for the Islamic Religion considered that the absence of "a clear definition of this dress creates, in fact, an ambiguous situation and judicial insecurity."

This body noted in particular that the abaya can sometimes be considered “Islamic” – and thus prohibited – and at other times “un-Islamic” and therefore permitted.

As a result, the council expressed its fear of “arbitrary control,” as the criteria for evaluating girls’ dress are based on “presumed origin, last name, or skin color.”

Therefore, the authority warns that it reserves the right to take legal action “if the concrete application of this prohibition leads to forms of discrimination.” She added that the cloak "was never a garment or a religious guide."

About 300 female students out of 12 million who started the school year wearing the abaya this week attended schools on Monday, and 67 of them were sent home because of their refusal to comply with the government decision, according to figures announced by the Ministry of National Education on Tuesday.

Banning the abaya in schools is controversial in France, where the left asserts that this measure hides more pressing problems in national education, such as a shortage of teachers.

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Media Review: Africa's French-backed governments are falling one after the other, is Senegal Next?

Media Review: Africa's French-backed governments are falling one after the other, is Senegal Next?

    Monday, September 04, 2023   No comments

Der Spiegel asked the same question: Another pro-French regime is shaking... Will Senegal be next?

The German newspaper "Der Spiegel" indicated that France Afrique's regime had reached the stage of its demise, expecting that Senegal, located in western Africa, and France's last remaining partner in the region, would be the next country to turn against French exploitation of it.

The newspaper said that young people in Senegal "are moving away from France, because they are tired of the clique surrounding President Macky Sall," noting that "he will not run for re-election next year."

The newspaper pointed out that the Senegalese view Sal as a French puppet, and a key element in France's policies in Africa.

And it used to be that the close relations between the candidate and Paris helped in the elections, so that the newspaper indicated that these relations almost guarantee the failure of the ballot boxes in the West African region.

Since last June, the Senegalese opposition has staged mass protests, primarily against the criminal conviction of its leader, Ousmane Sonko, with thousands taking to the streets earlier this month.

The marches have sometimes turned violent, with several people killed since the protests began. Far from simply showing support for Sonko, the demonstrators also targeted French supermarket chains and service stations of French oil giant Total.

And the German newspaper "Der Spiegel" revealed that in European diplomatic circles, there is "a fair amount of ambiguity about the French approach."

In this regard, one of the diplomats said that "Paris does not have mechanisms to deal with the current rejection of everything that is French," stressing that the member states of the European Union have failed to agree on a common position.

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Media review: Islamic dress front and center in France again... He who wears a cape or a shirt will not enter his classroom on Mondays

Media review: Islamic dress front and center in France again... He who wears a cape or a shirt will not enter his classroom on Mondays

    Thursday, August 31, 2023   No comments

On Sunday, French Education Minister Gabriel Atal announced that he would ban the wearing of the "cloak" in French schools, indicating that wearing this Islamic dress is a violation of the strict secular laws applied in the field of education in the country.

"Wearing the abaya in school will no longer be possible," Atal said during an interview with French TV TF1. And he stressed his endeavor to set "clear rules at the national level" to be followed by school principals before the start of the new academic year in all parts of France, starting from September 4 next. 

Clearly, the universal values that Macron instructed his diplomats to promote exclude Muslims' rights to dress. 

Here are some of what the French media outlets have said about these issues and the topics they covered.

The French newspaper Le Figaro revealed that the Minister of Education, Gabriel Atal, confirmed today that students who wear the “abaya” for females and the “shirt” for males will not enter their classrooms with the start of the school season on Monday.

The newspaper pointed out that the minister made it clear - in an interview with Radio France International today - that these students will be allowed to enter only the schools that accept their reception and bear the responsibility of clarifying the goals of this government decision to them.

"Behind the cloak and the shirt, there are young girls and boys and families, people with whom we must dialogue through a clear pedagogical method," the minister said.

The French minister was keen to stress that French secularism is one of the main values for the French school, adding that his delay in announcing the details of the implementation of this decision is due to the fact that he entered into discussions and dialogues with directors of educational institutions who were waiting for a clear detail from the government on how to implement it.

The French newspaper stated that some schools include a number of students concerned with this decision, and therefore school officials were in need to clarify the government's position, to provide them with all guarantees for the implementation of the decision.

Le Figaro added that Minister Gabriel Atal confirmed that his ministry will send explanatory notes and a guide to all schools explaining how to implement the decision, along with messages that are supposed to be sent to families.

According to the French newspaper, the new decision to ban gowns and shirts is a continuation of the implementation of the March 15, 2004 law banning the wearing of clothes or symbols that show religious affiliation in French educational institutions.

Prominent French left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon strongly criticized the decision, and called on officials to avoid provoking conflicts of a religious nature.

Le Figaro also quoted Manuel Bombard, coordinator of the France Fatherland Party - which is led by Melenchon - as saying that he would propose to the party's parliamentary group to reject this decision, which he described as dangerous and harsh, and to put it up for review before the Council of State with the aim of proving that it is a decision contrary to the constitution.

And in July of last year, Le Figaro published an investigation that revealed that despite the application of the 2004 law, there is a significant increase in the abayas worn by girls and shirts worn by males, so that they doubled in secondary schools, especially when Ramadan comes, so that some principals They expressed their dissatisfaction and began to wonder why such clothes were so popular.

An official French book defending French secularism had previously spoken of gowns and shirts, and said that the ban was not only related to “symbols or clothing that by nature show religious affiliation,” such as the veil, the Jewish skullcap, and the large cross, but rather related to all symbols or clothing that “do not indicate religious affiliation.” directly to religion, but wearing it is to clearly show religious affiliation.

And the French newspaper Le Point considered - two days ago - that the decision of the Minister of Education, Gabriel Atal, is not an easy decision from a legal point of view, and wondered on what legal basis this ban would be built and what risks could be taken in the event of an appeal before the administrative court.

The anthropologist of religions, Anne-Laure Zwilling, believed that the cloak is not associated with Muslim worship, but rather with "culture", while university professor Claire Geville denounced President Emmanuel Macron's vision regarding education, and saw that "the measure against the cloak may cause more conflict than it will solve a problem," and he said, " From my point of view, this issue, which comes to the fore and dominates everything else, is more a matter of a political agenda than a real educational issue.

For his part, Abdullah Zakry, Vice President of the French Islamic Council, expressed his surprise at the decision to ban the wearing of the abaya in French schools, and called on the French Ministry of Education to issue a statement explaining the reasons that prompted the decision to ban the abaya in schools, and denied that this dress is a religious symbol.

Abdullah Zakry said that the abaya is a form of "fashion" and not a religious garment, expressing his hope that the French Minister of Education had consulted religious authorities before making a decision to ban it.

Macron admits the Western dominated global order is being challenged, calls for revised strategies

Macron admits the Western dominated global order is being challenged, calls for revised strategies

    Monday, August 28, 2023   No comments

In his annual address to French ambassadors, French President Emmanuel Macron admits the Western dominated global order is being challenged, calls for strengthening of France's diplomatic on Monday.

Macron stated that: "The situation in the international arena is becoming more complicated, which threatens the risk of weakening the West and, in particular, Europe. We need to take a sober approach to this, without falling into excessive pessimism ... There is a revision of the world order, its principles, various forms of its organization, where the West has occupied and occupies a dominant position.”

France needs to consolidate its diplomatic strategies as the international context has become more “complex”, Macron told French ambassadors at a meeting in Paris on Monday.

“Our international order is being challenged,” said Macron. “War has returned to European soil, anti-French sentiment is rife, fueled by anti-colonialism or a perceived anti-colonialism that a double standard is being employed,” he said.

“We need to be clear, without being excessively pessimistic,” he said, citing the rise of “new forms of protectionism” and democratic backsliding due to a rise in illiberal powers.

Faced with these risks, Macron said France’s diplomatic efforts should focus on security policy in the context of the war in Ukraine and in bolstering European independence and strategic interests.

The French president also stressed the need to “avoid partitioning the world” over the Ukraine war, at a time when many countries from the Global South have refused to condemn Russian aggression. We must “avoid a narrative that claims, ‘this is Europe’s war, it doesn't concern us’”, he said.

France also seeks to be a “trusted partner” on the geopolitical front, “our diplomatic efforts should keep it simple. We should protect our interests. We should also stand for our principles and our values, which are universal,” said Macron.

 

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Algeria's president, Tebboune, signs a decree requiring the full performance of the Algerian national anthem

Algeria's president, Tebboune, signs a decree requiring the full performance of the Algerian national anthem

    Tuesday, June 13, 2023   No comments

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently signed a decree imposing the full performance of the national anthem with its five stanzas, to include a stanza containing words bearing a threat to France, and this stanza had angered Paris earlier.

It is noteworthy that Algeria wrested its independence from France in 1962 after 132 years of struggle against French colonialism, as that period was considered bloody in the history of the Arab country and remained a deep wound in the heart of every Algerian despite the passage of generations.

The Algerian national anthem is the only one that mentions another country in its lyrics, as one of its stanzas includes these sentences:

Oh France, the time for admonition has passed,

and we folded it as the book is folded,

O France, the day of reckoning,

prepare and take from us the answer,

in our revolution Separate the speech, and 

we resolved that Algeria would live.

so bear witness, 

bear witness, 

bear witness.

 

The section was sometimes sung, and at other times the Algerian authorities were satisfied with showing only part of the anthem to shorten it, but Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune signed the decree imposing the full performance of the anthem with its five sections.

The abbreviated version can be performed on certain occasions, such as receiving heads of state during official visits, or speeches addressed by the president to the nation, military decrees at the Ministry of Defense, and others.

The clip had aroused "France's anger", and the French negotiating delegation objected to it prior to the signing of the "Evian" treaty with the then interim Algerian government, which recognized Algeria's independence, but its request was rejected.

The clip was deleted during the reign of President Chadli Ben Jedid during the eighties of the last century, after that the former Algerian President Liamine Zeroual decided to restore it finally in 1995.

In 2007, the section of the Algerian national anthem was removed from school books, which caused great discontent in Algeria at the time.

Indeed, the video of Tebboune's inauguration ceremony and his taking the constitutional oath, in 2019, shows the full performance of the Algerian national anthem, including the passage that mentions France.

It is noteworthy that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was scheduled to visit France last May, but he postponed his visit without giving reasons.

 

Without including a condemnation of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, a statement by Macron and Xi urge the “return of peace” in Kiev

Without including a condemnation of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, a statement by Macron and Xi urge the “return of peace” in Kiev

    Friday, April 07, 2023   No comments

Without including a condemnation of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, a statement by Macron and Xi urge the “return of peace” in Kiev

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged in a joint declaration on Friday to "support all efforts aimed at restoring peace to Ukraine."

The joint declaration was issued at the end of the French President's visit to China.

The declaration stressed that the two countries “oppose armed attacks on nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear facilities” and support the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency “to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.”

The text did not mention Russia, nor did it include a condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine.

The joint declaration stressed the “importance” that “all parties to the conflict” respect international humanitarian law “strictly”.

On Thursday, the French president urged his Chinese counterpart to "bring Russia back to its senses" with regard to Ukraine, and implored him not to supply Moscow with weapons, in a meeting at which the two presidents called for peace talks.

According to Paris, the Chinese president expressed, during his meeting with Macron, his readiness to contact Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the appropriate time.

None of the Chinese reports or the French-Chinese joint declaration mentioned this initiative.

In February, Beijing published a 12-point document urging Moscow and Kiev to enter into peace negotiations.

China did not recognize Moscow's unilateral annexation of four Ukrainian regions to the Russian Federation in September, nor did it recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

China's time to become a global powerhouse is now, how will it manage its new role?

China's time to become a global powerhouse is now, how will it manage its new role?

    Wednesday, April 05, 2023   No comments

The West’s unlimited military support to Ukraine, its unbalanced Middle East relations, its ambiguous stance on the status of Taiwan, and its failure to honor its nuclear deal with Iran are propelling China to become a global leader. These three news stories should make the case for the role China will play in this decade.

_____________

How China sees the expansion of NATO? 

This editorial in a Chinese media outlet close to the ruling class of China provides the answer.

 Finland joins NATO; Europe's overall security landscape more 'precarious'

With a Finnish flag rising first time outside the NATO headquarters, the Nordic nation officially became NATO's 31st member country at a meeting of the US-led bloc's foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on Tuesday in Brussels, a historic shift away from the Nordic nation's traditional policy of neutrality, which Chinese experts believe now pushes Finland to the forefront against Russia and may spur Moscow to boost its nuclear deployment, thus making Europe's overall security landscape even more precarious.

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Political division in Taiwan regarding the position of Beijing and Washington

While Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was visiting the United States, her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou was in China, where the country's two main parties were debating which superpower would side with her.

 

During a long overseas trip to the United States, the Taiwanese president delivered a consistent and blunt message about countering Chinese threats: Taiwan needs the United States to be supportive, the newspaper reported.

 

But while she was garnering American support, her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, was working on a very different agenda, and is currently on a tour of China, the first former president to ever make such a visit, according to the newspaper.

 

She noted that the symbolism of Ma Ying-jeou's visit to China was "amazing" and stood in stark contrast to Tsai's travels.

 

"Strongly echoing the rhetoric used by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ma Jiu invoked the memory of China's past humiliation at the hands of foreign invaders, during a visit last week to the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China who overthrew the last emperor in 1911," she added.

 

Speaking of a delegation of Taiwanese youths he was accompanying, Ma Jiu said that they "will strive peacefully to revitalize the relationship with China, and sincerely hope that the two sides of the Strait will make joint efforts to achieve peace and prevent war."

 

According to the newspaper, the conflicting flights indicate that the question of Taiwan's belonging in the world may reach a point of crisis, amid the most intense hostility between China and the United States.

 

Earlier in the day, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration in Fujian announced that military authorities had begun patrolling the Taiwan Strait, following reports of a meeting between Taiwan's President and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

 

And Tsai arrived, on Tuesday evening, in Los Angeles, USA, to hold this meeting, after a diplomatic tour in Central America.

 

McCarthy had planned to follow the example of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who visited Taiwan last August, angering China.

 

Yesterday, Chinese diplomacy saw that the meeting between the two parties would "cause more damage" to relations between Beijing and Washington.

 

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Macron: China can play a major role in achieving peace in Ukraine

 

French President Emmanuel Macron said today, Wednesday, at the start of a three-day state visit to China that Beijing can "play a major role" in finding a "path leading to peace" in Ukraine.

 

Macron told the French community in the Chinese capital: "China has proposed a peace plan, thus showing a will to take responsibility and try to forge a path leading to peace."

 

Macron added, "This war has trampled many of the principles of the United Nations Charter, which we, as members of the Security Council, must firmly defend."

He continued, "I see that defending it also means progressing together, and trying to find a path that leads to peace."

 

Last February, China proposed its plan for peace in Ukraine, which consists of 12 clauses that include calls for a cease-fire, respect for the legitimate interests of all countries in the field of security, and a settlement of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

 

It is noteworthy that French President Emmanuel Macron arrived, today, Wednesday, in China for a 3-day visit, according to what was announced by the Elysee Palace, on his first trip to this country since 2019.

 

Macron will hold talks, tomorrow, Thursday, with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will participate in part, and will move to Canton in southern China on Friday.

 

Before leaving for China, the French President held a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Joe Biden. During which they expressed their hope that "China will engage in joint efforts to accelerate an end to the war in Ukraine and establish a sustainable peace," according to French officials.

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Reuters: The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing tomorrow

An Iranian official and a Saudi-owned newspaper reported that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing tomorrow, as the two regional powers seek to arrange the next steps for their diplomatic rapprochement, under a Chinese-brokered deal.

 "The two chief envoys agreed to meet on April 6 in Beijing, because China facilitated the agreement," a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

   

France: Millions of people demonstrate against Macron's pension amendments... and strikes continue

France: Millions of people demonstrate against Macron's pension amendments... and strikes continue

    Wednesday, March 29, 2023   No comments

The French CGT (General Confederation of Labor) union said today, Tuesday, that two million French people participated in the demonstrations in various French regions.

Meanwhile, the French Ministry of the Interior reported that about 740,000 participated in France's protests today.

According to the Al-Mayadeen delegate to Paris, the demonstrations today included 240 cities, and some of them were crowded in major cities, such as Marseille and Lyon, while the French police spoke of about 100,000 demonstrators in Paris.

Our envoy pointed to the outbreak of confrontations with police officers during the Paris demonstrations, in light of the police's use of tear gas, pointing out that the French unions called for the eleventh day of "strike and demonstration", next Thursday.

Iran condemns the suppression of demonstrators in France... and calls for non-use of violence

Iran condemns the suppression of demonstrators in France... and calls for non-use of violence

    Friday, March 24, 2023   No comments

 Today, Friday, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the suppression of peaceful demonstrators in the demonstrations taking place in the French streets.

In the details, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian wrote in a "tweet" on his account: "We strongly condemn the suppression of peaceful demonstrators and call on the French government to respect human rights and not use violence."

Simultaneously, the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, posted a new tweet to him on Twitter, in which he demanded that Paris speak to the French people and listen to their voice.

In his tweet, Kanaani attached a videotape that included footage of French protesters who set fire to the municipality of Bordeaux, and firefighters joined the protesters, noting that "whoever sows the wind reaps the storm."

The Iranian diplomat stressed that this kind of violence has nothing to do with sitting on the chair of morality and proselytizing to others, adding that the French protesters are waiting to watch the group clip of the European, Australian and Canadian ministers who support the French protest.