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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 25, 2024 17:22:11 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 25, 2024 17:54:49 GMT
Yes, it's true that we went back up to red alert today. There will be more soldiers in the street but I don't think we will go back up to bag checks in places like shopping malls until "something" happens.
Bag checks have never stopped in theatres or concert venues or to enter hospitals.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 25, 2024 21:50:19 GMT
Is there any connection between France and Haiti these days?
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 25, 2024 22:37:13 GMT
Not since the Duvaliers took refuge in France, as far as I know. They were never given asylum status but had stolen so much money from Haiti that they lived in luxury. Jean-Claude Duvalier (son of Papa Doc) finally returned to Haiti to face the music but died before his trial was completed in 2014. Now Haiti is the baby of the United States.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 27, 2024 12:01:31 GMT
This video (Why France Is Preparing for War) is extremely thorough (but also too long) for anybody interested in French military capabilities as certain countries try to downplay the situation. It has had 3 million views in just 3 days, so somebody must be interested. For lighter entertainment, the movie The Wolf's Call from 2019 is a rare French movie about current military situations and has a pretty impressive cast with François Civil, Mathieu Kassovitz, Omar Sy, Reda Kateb and Paula Beer among others. Things become extremely tense and unpredictable. Are things already heating up? Macron angered US officialsWhat’s behind Macron’s ‘hardened stance’ on the Russia-Ukraine war?
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Post by kerouac2 on May 5, 2024 5:46:18 GMT
Xi Jinping is arriving in France today for his first state visit in Europe in 5 years. Who knows what will come of it? Ursula von der Leyen will come to Paris for the festivities on Monday. On Tuesday, Macron and Xi are going to the Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrénées. This is Xi's privte desire. Is he a fan of the Tour de France?
Xi is also going to Serbia and Hungary. That makes a strange trio.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 5, 2024 6:38:55 GMT
I find it fascinating how Xi Jinping is so willing to communicate with western world leaders known for their contentious stance on China, trade, and security. There has been a recent flurry of such communication with the US, but this face-to-face with Macron and von der Leyen is really putting his head in the lion's mouth.
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Post by bjd on May 5, 2024 6:47:03 GMT
I'm sure Xi feels like the biggest lion so is just showing his power. It's mostly the US which has the biggest showdown with China, so relations are certainly a bit easier with the EU and elsewhere, allowing Xi to show off in public and assert Chinese importance.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 5, 2024 7:05:27 GMT
That's why von der Leyen is coming, because the entire EU does weigh quite a bit facing China.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 5, 2024 7:18:09 GMT
I'm sure Xi feels like the biggest lion so is just showing his power. I don't know about that. If it were so, I doubt he'd bother carrying out this kind of diplomatic visit. Macron has never ceased to press him about Ukraine & meeting him in tandem with Van Leyen would seem a pretty clear statement of France's solidarity with the rest of "free" Europe and its interests.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 5, 2024 7:21:30 GMT
I'm sure that's why Xi is also going to Serbia and Hungary, two countries that still like Russia.
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Post by whatagain on May 5, 2024 9:48:29 GMT
China is the power in being. Only US fail to acknoowledge this. China is 1.5 billion people, US is about 350 millions. China is 'producing' about one million enginneers per year. China is a world power in terms of manufacturing, services. China has the biggest army and is switching from big battalions to high tech. Did you see that they put at sea à carrier vessel this week ? Manufactured in China... Not as good as a US one but ...
As for coming to Europe, China has always been able to talk in all circumstances. They can talk, apply pressure, cajole, ignore human right, do business and threaten all at the same time.
We must play that they never get a leader like Trump.
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Post by patricklondon on May 5, 2024 11:53:09 GMT
I'm sure that's why Xi is also going to Serbia and Hungary, two countries that still like Russia. I don't suppose it's escaped notice in Beijing that the next Presidency of the EU (for the second half of this year) is to be held by..... Hungary.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 5, 2024 18:02:39 GMT
I saw that Xi Jinping was welcomed at the airport by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal rather than by Emmanuel Macron. That is already a bit of a snub.
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Post by bjd on May 5, 2024 18:17:23 GMT
Is that a snub? How many presidents go to the airport to meet important visitors? Macron would have lost face if he had gone, I suppose.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 5, 2024 19:06:34 GMT
Presidents meet important presidents all the time. You are supposed to be met by someone of equal rank. When an underling is sent, it is a snub. (Macron has been snubbed, too.)
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Post by kerouac2 on May 6, 2024 15:43:46 GMT
The usual bla bla bla. This will never end.
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