Stupendous premise of a presidential campaign in France! Have you seen all these transparent candidates, chin up, look like matamores, pander, flail around in the media jar like turkeys or fairground turkeys! For some people it is necessary to throw out the baby and the bathwater with it, for others it is better to seduce in order to scare and manipulate the opinion with pipe dreams or gloomy fantasies. What is sure, for all in any case, it is not to take into account the realities, and pretend to ignore the impressive suites of successful reforms and the good state of the economy conducted and obtained since 2017 under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
Really, really young man, you are exaggerating, hustling and bustling French political microcosm is of such incongruity!
We did not see him coming in 2016, this fiery and spruce young Secretary of the treasury and digital then (he was 39), newcomer in the political arena and not apartment to the so-called elite. For that is the problem, to succeed in France, you have to be “son of” or endorsed. Such was not his case and the baronies of all camps sharpened their knives, partly within the Socialist Party which became more divided than ever, a fairground for petty trifling and assured downfall ! What’s more, he had made a career in the world of finance, which doesn’t appeal to our jansenist and progressive France. Moreover, he was (he is) a very brilliant intellectual, passionate about literature and theater, a seasoned Anglicist, and a former assistant of the renowned philosopher Paul Ricoeur, author of Soi-même comme un autre, a title he would endorse and fit wonderfully.
He was not Bonaparte аt Arcole, but not far from resembling him and that was good! Bonaparte of the Republic, of course! The reality in fact is more simply prosaic and somewhat psychoanalytical, the success of Emmanuel Macron is in hollow and mirror the reflection of the impotence and mediocrity of others. In France in particular, one never forgives intelligence and talent! Our long national history is moreover there to attest to this!
Oeuvre de Shepard Fairey, alias Obey
Sérigraphie, Palais de l’Élysée
Shaking up feudalities and structures, reaching for the future but rooted in a national history and with values, making France reborn in the world, as we can see today for what it will offer in show for the next Olympic Games of 2024 in Paris. A conquering France, generous, dynamic, bringing together the generations, and open to the world. We didn’t dare to believe it anymore and yet he wanted it and he did it.
The time of dual ideologies and the cold war was over, the time of dogmas and divisions. Let us recall then their guilty incapacity to modernize, to energize, to create and consider legislative infrastructures to give strength and vigor to the reforms. Unable as they were to install, to strengthen in our beautiful country, the industries and the jobs of tomorrow, and to seduce in the same time (the now famous en-même temps/ in the meantime), the international investors. A France of then, that of relocation, loss of hope and impoverishment for men and women as well as for territories that were losing their substance. The curve of unemployment did not stop growing, and the political parties of government became empty shells, looking more аs syndics of elected officials, only concerned to preserve their private interests and their small powers and privileges! For both of them a Manichaean vision of society, more land than sea as Fernand Braudel would have put it. Then he came and changed the deal .
A person who is very dear to me had reported to me a few years ago just back from the USA that she discovered in her young age, a badge of the American presidential campaign at the time where was written ” Vote Republican! it’s easier than thinking! “ . I keep this pin with that slogan, а subtly chosen and witty phrase, on a shelf in my library. It is the French equivalent of: “Ne vous en faites pas, je pense pour vous! That’s the problem! We could use this same formula now here in France when listening to these little petty gentlemen and blonde ladies of the oppositions debating!
In the past, “the other”( Mélenchon) dreamt about Nicaragua or Venezuela regimes he took for models, Waooh! From the other side one leered (without any ophthalmological allusion of course to Le Pen) towards policies of incantation and incapacity to make society and modernize our educational and productive systems. An old fashion France in a way, but in the wrong sense of the word! In short a shared blindness and lack of will. A free field alas for the extremists who were refining their strategies of infiltration of the society. We saw it perfectly in action with the so-called “yellow vests“ crisis, when Trotskyites, fascists and other black blocs gathered to provoke the chaos of the state, the poor people alas were manipulated to serve them as a backup force.
The economic positive figures are there now and it is certain, not only is France no longer losing jobs but it is now creating them with growth, with the paradoxical corollary that some professional sectors are currently unable to find employees to meet their needs. The specter of unemployment is receding, something that all those who harangue, criticize and pontificate in opposition have all globally been incapable of resolving.
Perhaps it is also time for some employers to have the courage to re-examine their remuneration policy towards their employees and not to implore the government which, as everyone knows in France, is inevitably responsible for the rain and the sunshine, for the melting of the snow and the speed of the wind in the sails! Ah, the good times of liberalism without duties and constraints, the good times of socialism, without courage or intellectual stimulation. Beautiful souls, aren’t they! They would be almost touching if they were not pathological and ridiculous!
And then the start-ups, this strategy to invent the future, to be present in emerging industrial, technological and research fields, so that our intellectual and academic elites remain in France and also to give attractiveness directed toward foreign researchers so that they come in order to settle and work here with good jobs and opportunities.
Do we need to remind the history of Sony in Japan which, from merely nothing in the 50’s, and after having bought the Motorola transistor patent, became the giant that everybody knows! The problem is that the word “start-up”is English, or more precisely American, and it arouses a Pavlovian reflex of rejection from our progressives, our putative ones! Yet this is the heart of our newfound dynamism. It is also the fusion so difficult to obtain in our country, between our highly academic and educated youth with highly praised diplomas and the core of the country. The figures are there and obvious, the jobs created, the international positioning obtained, the patents developped, the new products put on the market, a positif growth. This is all part of this spectacular success. France is now on changing of scale!
Certainly of course, not everything is rosy, but the prospect of the much-needed transformations and modernizations made in the country since 2017 is impressive. “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds,” Voltaire would say cynically mocking Leibnitz. Thus аs the Lisbon fire of yesterday, has succeeded global warming. And frankly, we have to get to the bottom of all these demagogues and morons from right as well ast the left wing who show their impotence in pretention and vacuities and who have never done anything for the country but self-celebratingr or say anything!
Health crisis, yes of course, but what have they not built hospitals during their time in power, these ladies and gentlemen, candidates and opposition parties of today. What have they not transformed the school and developed the craftsman sector. This is especially true when we know that from the political decision to build an hospital until its opening to receive patients, it takes a period of time that can vary between 5 and 10 years!
The same problem when recruiting medical and nursing staffs (10 years minimum to train a doctor). The salaries, it is Emmanuel Macron, it should be noted that wanted the reassess salaries of hospital staff. In this case, it is not a question of a one-time bonus because overwork, but a real substantial increase in salary up going up for some employees to nearly 450Ђ each month! This is the culmination of the Ségur de la Santé. The end of the numerus clausus for medecine studies having been decided since 2018! It is useful to precise that all the salary increases in the health sector represent nearly 9 billion euros additional per year.
I love the socialism of Mr. Mélenchon, who likes to travel in first class on Air France long-haul flights … or Madame Pécresse, whose knowledge of sovereign issues has been reduced to a trickle! For the one it is the stroke of the chin, the comminatory tone and the intellectual pretension that he proudly trades, for the other whose political arrival in the race for the presidency is the direct consequence of the emergence in the political and media tumult of the candidacy of Éric Zemmour ,and not of her aura for governing, it is especially the total and abysmal vagueness and political rapprochements to say the least doubtful! As for the Greens, some have become gray, when others are ridiculous in their pseudo natural demagogueries
Our showmen of today in the big debate in search of recognition and power, seek in the microcosm to prevent the synthesis of rational and facts. And then, and then, and then ( you noticed, 3 times!), when we have nothing to say, we always say it a little louder. Old technique of taking power, “the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed“, said a certain Joseph Goebbels … This is alas ( 3 times too), all the more true when the information strategies use the information channels of the social networks that have become the omega point of political demagogy and conceptual vacuum.
Pragmatic Emmanuel Macron, very certainly, effective in any case, listening, we discovered him in The big Debate, his tour of France after the crisis of the yellow vests, a president young, dynamic, but is not that better than being doctrinaire and stuck. What forces the admiration in him is his singularity and ability to process very complicated datas and topics, to assimilate them, to synthesize them in order to release and find effective and relevant solutions.
How funny it is to hear today these hoarse tenors of the opposition, choking аt the announcement of the pesence of Emmanuel Macron on TF1 as in the medias. But to what they would like to reduce the presidential function, the chrysanthиmes it is only for All Saints’ Day and still!
They would like him to be inert, he is always on the move, they would like him to be obsidional, withdrawn in the Elysée Palace, he shuffles the cards and goes out to meet the living forces of the country, they denigrate him and slander him, their words slide over him as over the feathers of a teal from the Bay of Somme!
If there is a master word in the art of governing, it is sovereignty
Wouldn’t an electoral program be fundamentally based on this supreme concept of sovereignty in all its variations, starting with the most regal of all, that of defense. But in France, and this for ages, both on the left and on the right, the political parties seem to hover over the subject. From the Big War of 14-18 and its terrific toll of dead men, to the Munich agreements, and finally to the felony and the attempted coup d’état of a part of the Army against General de Gaulle, they constitute perhaps in the collective political unconscious a “soft-underbelly” that allows for all kinds of turpitudes and pretenses, especially in the field of defense budgets, which until then had been constituted as adjustment budgets.
The Left, yielding to the ill winds coming from the extreme-left, was particularly anti-militaristic, in a context of cold war, influenced by a communist party that looking Eastwards. As a result and time went by, our military apparatus aged.
Shortly after the election of Emmanuel Macron, and at the time of the first arbitrations in terms of budget devoted to the armies, the Army Chief of staff, General Pierre de Villiers in 2017 saw fit to make public remonstrances to the new head of state, head of the armies by the way and just elected. He lost his kepi. “War! It is too serious a thing to entrust to the military”, Clémenceau said in his time.
The decisions of the President of the Republic in matters of Defense were clear and powerful, a budget was consistent, and a Military Programming Law (LPM) 2019-2025, was put in place that is “295 billion euros, over 7 years, dedicated а the renovation and а modernization of infrastructure and equipment of the armed forces. The LPM is resolutely focused on innovation and operational capabilities. ( Ministry of Defense). Never before seen!
Even more impressive, and well done, is the fact that the defense budget was sanctuarized, expressing both a will and action in the service of a controlled French strategic and diplomatic plan.
Under the leadership of a small woman of character and conviction, Florence Parly, appointed Defense Secretary, the LPM is being implemented in good order, equipment orders are being placed on schedule, or even accelerated (especially in the Navy, FREM), the PANG (New Generation Aircraft Carrier) has been decided and its construction already started, the SCORPION program is being integrated into the various units. An Army of the Republic, an Army that recovers and regains hope for the service of the nation, today modern, committed, present in the field of operations, feared and respected by all.
About Defence space policy
France is seeking to acquire strategic autonomy, and its policy in this regard is in line with a Gaullian vision. This poor De Gaulle being today mocked by the ultras who in their time sought, it should be remembered, to kill him! So Marine Le Pen is not going to Colombey-les-deux églises ( a small village where De Gaulle lived and is buried), it would have been scandalous, an outrage, but to Bayeux to pay tribute to the founder of the Vth Republic.
But let’s come back to the subject and let’s observe in passing the lack of interest of our major media, all media included, for our scientific excellence in this field, which raises questions!
First of all, the launch of the SYRACUSE 4A, a military telecommunications satellite. A huge success and a recipe resulting from the collaboration of the Direction Générale de l’Armement, industrialists and major research laboratories. This system will give France greater autonomy of decision and action. It is coupled with the ARES system dedicated to space surveillance and satellite defense systems, and the implementation of the new Space Command. All space capabilities for observation, communication and electromagnetic intelligence (to detect radar sources) have also been strengthened with the successful launch of three CERES satellites.
Let’s quote the Secretary of Defense
As the first system in Europe capable of detecting radar and communications from space, CERES will significantly increase the intelligence capabilities of the French armed forces and provide France with greater autonomy in situation assessment and decision-making.
With this launch, France joins the very closed club of countries mastering the collection of electromagnetic intelligence from space, and reinforces its position as European leader in this field.
In short, there is no area where the head of state since his йlection in 2017 has not brought his gaze to find solutions to problems. The long time, yes, is essential to implement policies and develop strategies. It is the future of France that is now at stake. There is no doubt that in the next few weeks his decision to run again to solicit the votes of the French people will be announced, it is then with pleasure, strength and will that we will welcome him.
The launch of the SYRACUSE 4A satellite initiates the renewal of military satellite telecommunications capabilities, provided for in the 2019-2025 military programming law. During the period, all space capabilities for observation, communication and electromagnetic intelligence will be renewed and strengthened to respond to new threats and allow France to preserve the freedom of access to and use of space, which is indispensable to our strategic independence. The evolution of operational engagement modes (rapid deployments over very large areas) and the digitization of the battle space generate a growing need for connectivity.
In this context, the Ministry of the Secretary of Defense has launched the replacement of the SYRACUSE III telecommunications system (2 satellites currently in service, complemented by the Franco-Italian SICRAL 2 satellite), in order to extend the capabilities to the three armies, to face new threats and to accelerate information sharing.
The new SYRACUSE IV constellation will gradually replace the assets deployed under the SYRACUSE III program. More flexible in use and more resistant to various attacks, such as jamming or cyber attacks, this new generation system will allow the armed forces to communicate а very long distance with an overall data rate 3 times higher. Thanks to its performance, users will be able to а exchange larger volumes of data, faster, а all levels of the chain оf command. With SYRACUSE IV, the renewal of user stations (on the ground) is also underway. More than 400 ground stations will be deployed in all three services. More powerful, more secure and mobile, they will offer the possibility of connecting a greater number of users simultaneously and will allow forces to communicate in the most isolated areas. They will arrive in the French Navy and Army by 2023 to equip the main surface ships, the “Suffren” submarines and many of the vehicles in the SCORPION program. The deployment is massive: 4 а 5 times as many Army vehicles will be equipped with upgraded stations. And for the first time, aircraft will have a sovereign military satellite communications capability, starting with the Phoenix MRTT tanker. The SYRACUSE 4A satellite will be fully qualified in 9 months. After 7 months to reach its geostationary orbit at 36,000 km, it will then undergo a series of tests lasting 2 months. It will then be able to receive the first links to the user ground stations and be declared operational. The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) is leading the SYRACUSE IV program as an integrated team with the Space Command (CDE). DGA is the project manager for the entire system and also relies on the expertise of the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES). Industrial prime contracting for the SYRACUSE IV satellites is handled by the Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence & Space consortium. Arianespace will provide launch services. The total cost of the SYRACUSE IV program is 3.6 billion euros. (Ministry of Defence press release, 24/10/21 )
