Europe’s New Pro-Putin Coalition: the (far right) Parties of ‘No’

[pampango]

With the formation in June of the Europe of Nations and Freedom group in the European Parliament, Marine Le Pen created a new force willing to back the interests of the Kremlin in the EU. Although ENF accounts for only 5 percent of all MEPs (751), by gathering more than 25 members the faction received certain rights and powers, as well as a significant budget, which will allow it to boost the existing institutional and lobbying power of Putin-friendly representatives.

In total, up to 20 percent of all MEPs currently vote at times in the interests of Putin’s Russia. At the same time as these groups advance Kremlin interests, they accuse their pro-European opponents of being puppets of the United States, thereby bolstering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cause of trying to undermine Euro-Atlantic relations.

ENF was created on June 15 and currently its caucus consists of 38 members representing 8 different nationalities. More than half of them hail from France and are members of Le Pen’s National Front party. Other members represent various Eurosceptic far-right parties across Europe, including the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), the Belgian Vlaams Belang (“Flemish Interest”), the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), the Polish Congress of the New Right (KNP), and the Italian Lega Nord.

It would therefore be logical to conclude, as others have done before, that there is a pro-Putin coalition in the European Parliament consisting of anti-EU and radical far-right parties. This is not only because opposition parties generally go against mainstream decisions. For example, the Green Party is not a member of the grand coalition, but they voted “no” only in 15 percent of Russia-related votes. David Cameron’s softly Eurosceptic alliance ECR voted “no” in only 5 percent of cases, while mainstream parties—the social democratic S&D, the liberal ALDE, and the center-right EPP—did so in 3 percent, 3 percent and 1 percent of cases, respectively.

http://imrussia.org/en/analysis/world/2368-europes-new-pro-putin-coalition-the-parties-of-no

[DFW]

1. Putin the KGB man and his far right friends

One more instance of a case showing that extremists of whatever side have more in common than moderates.

As always, under the guise of "tolerance (i.e. we're too lazy to tackle social issues)," the European armchair left would rather spew out slogans than execute a hands-on program that a genuine truly liberal movement would take the time and effort to formulate.

"Helping" Moroccans and Gypsies does not mean letting hundreds of thousands of them into (for example) Belgium, throwing money at them, giving them immunity from prosecution for violent crime, reminding them to vote for the party that invited them in, and then ignoring them completely. Schools? Affordable housing? Medical care? What's that? So, of course, the new arrivals make the best of things the only way they know how. But if "the only way they know how" happens to mean bad news for the rest of the country, then what?

The left has no other option than to continue their "tolerance" line, and who is licking their chops in anticipation? The Le Pens and similar radical-right movements of Europe. This is what they have been waiting for all these decades--the same thing the American radical right was waiting for in 9-11: the bogey man. Cheneybush had their "terrrrists," and the European far right has their "foreigners." Putin has his Muslims and his gays, but now he has the big bad west again, too.

Göring is proven right yet again. The people don't WANT war, but if you provide them with an enemy, you can get away with anything.