(Nov 22, 2020 08:49 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: Islam seems a little bit different, try and denounce/eliminate it and they throw you to the lions. Different times. Romans might not back down however. Macron sounds like he would love to see it gone altogether. Do you think if he was a Roman Emperor and now was then that he’d use force against Muslims?
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Often described by observers as 'ambitious', the French media has regularly compared Macron to Napoleon Bonaparte and Macron has described himself as a “Jupiterian” president."
I do recollect the French press (back then, not now) issuing sighs of relief that the harmless poseur moderate, a lackey, had won. Could Biden evolve in this direction? Doubtful.
Emmanuel Macron: From celebrated centrist to divisive ruler
https://hyderabadmorningpost.com/middle-...ce-news-2/
EXCERPTS: Macron had beaten far-right Marine Le Pen to the Elysee Palace in a second round, bucking a rising populist trend in the West which had served up two political earthquakes – the election of US President Donald Trump and the pro-Brexit referendum.
At the grand party on the esplanade of the Louvre Museum, French Muslims with North African ancestry and Syrian refugees danced and celebrated alongside gay couples and African immigrants, all joyously chanting “Macron, president!”
[...] For one night, people revelled in the far right’s loss, even though many had held their noses as they voted for Macron – a centrist, former investment banker, the economy minister under President Francois Hollande, and sometimes described as a “soft populist”.
Days after the result, Rokhaya Diallo, a writer and activist, offered a prescient observation, telling Al Jazeera in Paris, “Le Pen supporters who are in fragile situations and facing economic challenges could become poorer under Macron, and have more reason to support her. Macron is trying to dismantle social laws, the labour laws. He will face many protests on the streets.”
[...] As the recent anti-France protests swelled, Macron briefly went on the defensive. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he backed down, saying he understood Muslims’ concerns about the caricatures but was responsible for protecting freedom of expression.
But in recent days, he has, in a Trump-like manner, been picking fights with the world’s media, blaming them for “legitimising” violence by analysing France’s fragile relationship with its Muslims – moves that appear contrary to the ideals of free speech.
The Financial Times pulled a column titled, Macron’s war on Islamic separatism only divides France further, after the French president made a complaint – Macron insisted he was against “Islamist”, rather than Islamic, separatism.
He has also called New York Times media columnist Ben Smith to share his views, saying, “When I see them (English-language media) legitimising this violence, and saying that the heart of the problem is that France is racist and Islamophobic, then I say the founding principles have been lost.”
[...] in a section titled, Caring for France, he admitted that France has not managed to “find a place for Islam”, unlike other religions. But in that same chapter, he wrote, “Let us be honest. While extremism may be at work in other religions, the issue that concerns society today involves Islam.”
[...] This sentiment, that the existing legal structures were strong enough to stem the spread of dangerous ideologies, was repeated throughout the younger Macron’s book. Little more than three years later, however, Macron is indeed pushing to “table a new law”. “Speaking as a human right activist, Emmanuel Macron has called for the right to violate the French constitution and impose state sanctions and exceptional measures when it comes to Muslims,” said Louati.
[...] Often described by observers as “ambitious”, the French media has regularly compared Macron to Napoleon Bonaparte and Macron has described himself as a “Jupiterian” president. “I won’t let anything pass,” he said, after admitting an awkward, battle-of-the-alpha-males handshake with US President Donald Trump in 2017 was not entirely innocent. He regularly clashes with Erdogan, has said NATO was experiencing “brain death” and recently claimed the UN Security Council was out of “useful solutions”.
“He thinks he is the one who can move forward from 20 years of international politics status quo, or inaction,” said Krimi, the LREM politician. “He thinks that he is a young, elected man who is the perfect balance between liberals and conservatives. This could be seen as arrogant, but it is what it is. Deal with it.”
“France must become a great power again,” he said. “That’s a necessity. The West has got lost in an untimely moral interventionism in the Middle East and North Africa over the past 10 years. It’s allowed authoritarian regimes to emerge which it didn’t see coming: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Iran.”