Month: July 2022
Uber files: The French mainstream media appears to abandon Macron
Emmanuel Macron was defeated Tuesday night in the National Assembly on his plan to extend the ability of his government to arbitrarily impose a health pass to enter France after the end of the current state of health emergency on July 31. He has also been widely attacked in the media over the role of lobbyist he had for the U.S. company Uber while he was socialist President François Hollande’s economy minister.
On July 10, several media outlets, working together in the Consortium of Investigative Journalists, published the results of their investigation into leaked papers showing how Emmanuel Macron worked in 2015 to help Uber break the monopoly of French cabs against the will of the socialist government headed by Prime Minister Manuel Valls and in particular of Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who was faced with a taxi protest movement. Macron’s action was also going against court rulings regarding Uber’s violations of competition and labor laws.
The development of Uber on the French market with Emmanuel Macron’s help caused taxi drivers to lose at least half the value of their licenses, which they had bought at a high price (sometimes several hundred thousand euros) but which allowed them to charge higher rates due to the scarcity of licenses and thereby of cabs, and which they also treated as their retirement capital, since such licenses can be resold when leaving the job.
Pressed by reporters’ questions, Macron has said this week he is proud to have helped the U.S. company, and he assured that if he had to do it again, he would do it “tomorrow and the day after.”
The “Uber files” are a collection of 124,000 company documents that were shown to The Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In France, the newspaper Le Monde and the public radio station Radio France belong to this consortium and were the first to publish these revelations, which were then picked up by numerous media outlets.
This attitude contrasts with how the same media had passed over in silence the numerous meals paid for by taxpayers where Macron — while serving as minister — had offered to various personalities, and in particular business executives, in preparation for his campaign for the 2017 presidential election. Macron has never been challenged for having spent public money for his own political purposes, while his main rival François Fillon, the center-right candidate who was heading the polls at the time, had his campaign derailed, including through the use of illegal leaks to the press, by the financial prosecutor’s office being in the hands of the socialists for deeds that were probably less serious: the largely fictitious nature of the job of parliamentary assistant that Fillon had given to his wife, which was also paid for with taxpayers’ money.
Even worse, the French mainstream media, which is mostly in the hands of a small number of big oligarchs, many of whom then Economy Minister Macron had been courting, all passed off Macron as a newcomer to French politics, independent of the party system, through massive propaganda during the 2017 presidential campaign, in order to help him win the election.
Similarly, the French mainstream media have remained overwhelmingly silent on Emmanuel Macron’s role, first as deputy secretary-general to President François Hollande, and then as minister of the economy, in the sale of Alstom’s energy business to America’s General Electrics in 2014-2015. Alstom is the manufacturer of the TGV, the high-speed trains the French are so proud of, and its energy branch, sold to the Americans with the support of Macron, was an important player in the French civil and military nuclear sector.
Thus, since 2014, the maintenance and renewal of the turbo-alternators in the 19 French nuclear power plants (with 58 reactors in total), the production of Arabelle turbines for the EPR reactors, and the supply of propulsion turbines for the four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines and the Charles-de-Gaulle nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, have been in American hands.
Alstom’s executives, for their part, received millions of euros in bonuses for the transaction.
In the case of Uber, it is leaked internal company documents dating back to the years 2014-2016 that have revealed the young Economy Minister Macron’s extraordinary commitment to the U.S. company, at a time when it continued to operate its UberPop service in France despite court rulings that had ordered its closure. Those court decisions were followed by a law passed by parliament that came into effect on Oct. 1, 2014, which de facto banned UberPop after a protest movement by taxi drivers.
Here is what the newspaper Le Monde, which had been in the past very complacent with Macron, wrote about what happened on the day that law took effect:
“At 8:30 a.m. that morning [of Oct. 1, 2014], it was a rather unusual Uber vehicle that parked in front of 145 Rue de Bercy – the entrance to the Ministry of Economy and Finance used by guests visiting Emmanuel Macron, who had been appointed to head the ministry one month earlier.”
Inside the Mercedes Viano van were four Uber heavyweights: Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, the Western Europe director, now in charge of Uber Eats; Mark MacGann, the chief lobbyist for Europe-Africa-Middle East; David Plouffe, the former Barack Obama advisor newly appointed as Uber’s vice president; and the company’s founder and CEO himself, Travis Kalanick.
An hour later, the hardcore lobbying team emerged stunned from Macron’s office.
‘In one word: spectacular. Unheard of. Lots of work ahead, but we’ll be dancing soon ;)’ wrote Mark MacGann in a short debrief sent to his colleagues in the aftermath. ‘Mega top meeting with Emmanuel Macron this morning. France loves us after all,’ he also wrote.
This confidential meeting was not on Emmanuel Macron’s agenda.”
And this is what The Guardian wrote:
“Emmanuel Macron went to extraordinary lengths to support Uber’s lobbying campaign to help it disrupt France’s closed-shop cab industry, even telling the tech company he had brokered a secret ‘deal’ with its opponents in the French cabinet.
Leaked files including text message exchanges between Uber executives and Macron reveal how the cab-hailing business identified him as a key ally when he was economy minister and turned to him to help it behind the scenes.
The files suggest pro-business Macron, who was re-elected French president in April, was close enough to Uber’s managers during his two years in the economy ministry from 2014-16 for them not to think twice about contacting him for possible help when their premises were raided by tax and other authorities.”
The French media is now wondering why this meeting between Macron and Uber executives, and the many that followed were not on the minister’s agenda, and how it is that Uber executives were exchanging directly with the minister via SMS on his cell phone.
In addition, the president at the time, socialist François Hollande, assures us today that he was not aware of the private negotiations and the secret deal made with the company Uber by his young economy minister.
As for the minister of the interior at the time, Bernard Cazneuve, he refuses to say whether, as Macron claims today, he had been informed of the deal with Uber. He replied to the newspaper Libération by saying that he will only address that topic in front of “an official body, such as a parliamentary inquiry committee, for example.”
And given that Macron no longer has a majority in the French parliament after his party’s defeat in the June elections, the establishment of such a parliamentary inquiry committee, which the opposition parties are already calling for, now seems highly likely.
Will this mark the end of impunity for a politician who first became the president of France in 2017 after elections that were tainted by the crucial role played by a financial prosecutor’s office created and dominated by the ruling socialists? This would certainly not be a bad thing for democracy and the rule of law in France.
https://rmx.news/france/uber-files-the-french-mainstream-media-appears-to-abandon-macron/
Pope Red Francis Sends Message to European Youth – Consume Less Fuel and Eat Less Meat – Doesn’t Mention Jesus Once!
Austria: Newspaper report on Afghan gang rapists becomes political issue
Now things are moving after all: After eXXpress research revealed that there was not even a press release in the case of a gang rape in Vorarlberg, the matter is now becoming a political issue. The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) wants to refer the case to the Vorarlberg state parliament.
Should this shocking crime be covered up? Five Afghan nationals are strongly suspected of having raped an Austrian woman in a refugee home in Bludenz. There was no press release about this crime – apparently the case was supposed to remain hidden. The Feldkirch public prosecutor’s office confirmed the arrests in an interview with eXXpress.
Later, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) also reacted, writing of an “incident in the homeless milieu” and referring to the fact that the crime “happened several months ago”. The five Afghans are being investigated on suspicion of sexual abuse of a defenceless or mentally impaired person.
The woman is said to have visited the men in the refugee home. Alcohol and drugs are said to have been consumed extensively – although this is prohibited in this facility. Nevertheless, all five Afghans suspected of the crime have now been remanded in custody!
Nothing is known about the age of the alleged perpetrators and the victim to this day. And how did the cover-up of the case that lasted for months come about? The spokesperson of the Vorarlberg Regional Police Directorate, Horst Spitzhofer, passes the responsibility on to the public prosecutor’s office, but denies a deliberate withholding of information on the brutal gang rape: The facts of the case had initially been so unclear that it had not been possible to go public with certain facts in February. Spitzhofer refers to the protection of victims!
It could also be due to this flimsy argumentation that the case is now also becoming a political issue: In a statement, Christof Bitschi, head of the FPÖ Vorarlberg, expressed his anger that the case “should obviously have been kept secret from the people of Vorarlberg”. The FPÖ regional party leader announced that a parliamentary question would be put in the Vorarlberg state parliament, stating that it needed to be clarified that there was no police press release on the incident.
https://exxpress.at/exxpress-recherche-zu-afghanischen-massen-vergewaltigern-wird-zu-politikum/
France extradites 2015 Paris Islamic terror attack convict to Belgium for another trial
Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to life imprisonment in France in late June for the 2015 Paris terror attacks, is being extradited to Belgium, the country where he was born. There, another trial awaits him related to the terrorist attack in Brussels in March 2016.
Abdeslam was taken from Fleury-Mérogis prison south of Paris on Wednesday morning and is due to be transferred to Belgium. According to AFP, the trial in Belgium is to begin in October.
The 32-year-old Moroccan Islamist is the only surviving initiator of the November 2015 Paris attacks, in which 130 people died. At the end of June, a Paris court sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. He did not appeal the verdict, therefore, it is final.
Mohamed Abrini, also associated with the Brussels bombings, which claimed 32 lives, was also given a life sentence. Unlike Abdeslam, Abrini may apply for early release after 22 years in prison.
In March 2016, the Belgian capital was shaken by a double suicide attack targeting the Zaventem Airport and the Maelbeek metro station. The so-called Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, similar to the one in Paris.
Abdeslam was arrested in March 2016 in Brussels, shortly before the terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital. The Belgian authorities then extradited him to France in April 2016.
Ukraine wants to legalise same-sex marriage amid reports of crippling war losses
New NATO hopeful Ukraine, may be legalising same-sex marriage after enough signatures were gained for the president to consider the proposal. Kiev’s Pride parade in 2019 incidentally was the largest event of the kind that the country had seen.
The petition has more than 28 000 signatures, which means that President Zelensky now has 10 days to respond, the BBC reported. Petitions in Ukraine that gather more than 25 000 signatures automatically trigger the president’s consideration.
It is not clear how same-sex marriages and civil partnerships will contribute the the dire situation in the country. According to the British Financial Times, “Ukraine’s international partners are sounding the alarm about the mounting pressure on Kiev’s public finances,” since the war has destroyed its tax revenue while allies struggle to provide financial support. The report suggests that without aid, there is no way in which Ukraine could win the war.
Somehow the country is more concerned about particular problems for LGBT people. Perhaps it is because “under Ukrainian law if someone in a same-sex relationship dies, their partner cannot collect their body or bury them,” as the BBC lamented.
The online petition curiously stated: “At this time, every day can be the last.” It appears that signatories are well under the impression that they are fighting a losing battle.
“It is important that LGBTQ people have the right to see their partner and take their body from the morgue, and seek compensation if needed,” Oksana Solonska, spokesperson for Kiev Pride, told the BBC.
In a poll conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in May, over the past six years, the number of Ukrainians who had a “negative view” of the LGBTQ community has decreased from almost halved from over 60 percent.
Damning UK report concludes ‘nervousness about race’ led to authorities ignoring widespread child sexual exploitation by Asian grooming gangs in Telford
More than a thousand children in the English town of Telford were subjected to sexual abuse by men of predominantly south Asian heritage over decades, with authorities failing to investigate the widespread culture over fears of appearing racist, an inquiry has found.
The long-awaited and damning report by the independent inquiry chaired by Tom Crowther QC was published on Tuesday, and documented hundreds of cases of sexual child exploitation by grooming gangs in the Shropshire town and its surrounding areas.
The report criticized authorities and support structures supposedly in place to help prevent and identify child sexual exploitation, and held that signs of abuse “were apparent to anyone prepared to recognize them,” citing cases which dated from the 1980s up to the current day. It concluded that hundreds if not thousands of children “were failed by the institutions that should have protected them.”
The inquiry heard reports detailing the cycle of abuse which was heavily linked to the night-time economy in the town, particularly within the taxi community, late-night food outlets and night clubs, all of which were dominated by groups of men from the South Asian community.
The most popular grooming method was what the inquiry called the “boyfriend” or “lover boy” model, which would see a child meet a man, either by chance or by virtue of the man’s job as a taxi driver or food delivery driver, and would be showered with gifts, whether these be “giving the children lifts, buying them fast food, alcohol and cigarettes, and/or topping up their mobile phones with credit.”
“Perpetrators sought out those who were much younger than them and/or vulnerable; perhaps those that were on the edge of friendship groups, or craving attention,” the report stated.
Once a connection had been formed between the abuser and the child, “the children were then encouraged to become involved in sexual activity, which they were led to believe was part of the relationship.” Gang rape was not uncommon and reported in a high volume of case studies.
“The men were rotating, taking turns to rape me. It seemed to go on forever. Once I started
to get the feeling back in my body, I struggled and kicked out, and they forcibly held me,” cited one harrowing report from a victim in the inquiry’s report.
Perpetrators retained control over their victims through coercion and extortion. “Victims received death threats against them or their family members” if they told anyone about the abuse, or “threats their houses would be petrol-bombed,” with this specific threat reinforced by reference to the murder of Lucy Lowe, a former child sexual abuse victim in the area who died alongside her mother, sister, and unborn child of her abuser in a house fire August 2000 at age 16. Her abuser, Azhar Ali Mehmood, was found guilty of three counts of murder and jailed in 2001.
“Abusers would remind girls of what had happened to Lucy Lowe and would tell them that they would be next if they ever said anything. Every boy would mention it,” an eyewitness report told the inquiry.
The scale of the abuse is likely to be be even larger than the report initially suggests, with reports detailing how “minibuses” full of children were trafficked out of Telgord for the purposes of child sexual exploitation. The inquiry found that the estimated 1,000 figure published in the press in relation to the number of cases of abuse was “considered conservative.”
The report placed blame on the council and social services, as well as West Mercia Police for either not doing enough, or not having the resources of will to tackle the culture of abuse within the Telford community. “While some individuals plainly recognized the problem, the structures in place did
not serve victims of child sexual exploitation well,” the report stated.
The inquiry heard how there was a “nervousness about race in Telford and Wellington in particular, bordering on a reluctance to investigate crimes committed by what was described as the ‘Asian’ community,” and held that the remarks were valid in what it described as “this most abject failure.”
“As to failure to take proper action, I am quite satisfied on the evidence that in the
1990s and early 2000s — and even beyond — West Mercia Police allowed a nervousness about race
to become prevalent among officers, and that this led to a reluctance to police parts of Wellington,” Tom Crowther QC stated in his findings.
“It is an undeniable fact that a high proportion of those cases involved perpetrators that were described by victims/survivors and others as being ‘Asian’ or, often, ‘Pakistani.’ The Inquiry has itself also heard such accounts from victims/survivors.
“In considering the evidence, and in particular the disclosed material, I have been cautious not to infer too much from names, which may indicate wider geographical background and indeed religious heritage, but are wholly unreliable indicators of national background and (in particular) religious belief. Even bearing that in mind, however, the evidence plainly shows that the majority of child sexual exploitation suspects in Telford during my Terms of Reference were men of southern Asian heritage.” Report of the Independent Inquiry Telford Child Sexual Exploitation
Evidence from a number of witnesses suggested that certain areas of Wellington in particular were “no-go areas” for police where “young Pakistani boys were feeling they were above the law and they could do what the hell they wanted.”
The inquiry concluded that it was in “no doubt that concern about racism, and being seen to be racist, permeated in the mind of West Mercia Police, and indeed the Council and the minds of some of its employees,” and was satisfied that “this nervousness led to a reluctance to act.”
Following publication of the inquiry’s findings, assistant chief constable Richard Cooper, speaking on behalf of West Mercia Police, said: “I would like to say sorry. Sorry to the survivors and all those affected by child sexual exploitation in Telford. While there were no findings of corruption, our actions fell far short of the help and protection you should have had from us, it was unacceptable, we let you down.
“It is important we now take time to reflect critically and carefully on the content of the report and the recommendations that have been made. We now have teams dedicated to preventing and tackling child exploitation,” he added.
Electricity for electric cars will soon be more expensive than petrol
So far, German owners of electric cars have come through the energy crisis relatively unscathed. But that could change. Wholesale prices on the Leipzig electricity exchange EEX reached a new record of 319 euros per megawatt hour at the end of last week. This means that they have more than tripled since the beginning of the year.
Within the last three weeks alone, the price on the exchanges for a kilowatt hour rose from 22 to now 31 cents. That is an increase of 41 percent and should not be confused with consumer prices. These are significantly higher. Even the abolition of the EEG levy of 3,7 cents could not stop the mega-inflation. And this rise has not really spilled over into prices at charging stations yet.
Individual providers such as Hamburg Energie already announced in June, i.e. before the new inflation shock, that they would increase prices by more than 60 percent.
Price advantage could turn into disadvantage
Since April, a kilowatt hour for normal charging has cost just under 40 cents, for fast charging almost 50 cents. If the suppliers pass on the 310 percent increase in the price from the Leipzig electricity exchange EEX to the consumers, e-car driving could soon become very expensive. According to Auto-Bild, prices of 1,10 euros per kilowatt hour are currently being discussed. With an average consumption of 19 kWh per 100 kilometres, this would correspond to a price of more than 21 euros.
This means that the cost of driving an electric vehicle would be about 50 percent higher than for mobility with combustion engines. The comparison portal Verivox calculated an average consumption of 7,7 litres per 100 kilometres. For vehicles that require Super E10, this corresponds to costs of 14,10 euros.
The price advantage for electric cars would thus be a thing of the past. On the contrary, electric cars threaten to become even more expensive to run than petrol and diesel vehicles. According to Verivox, as recently as March, electric cars were up to 60 percent cheaper to drive than internal combustion cars.
The rise in energy costs is alarming
The Federal Statistical Office reported that prices for energy products in June were almost 40 percent higher than in the same month last year. The federal government’s relief package with the temporary reduction of the mineral oil tax slightly dampened the price increase. The inflation rate for fuel was 33,2 percent in June, compared to 41,0 percent in May 2022.
In contrast, electricity for private households became drastically more expensive. Here, prices rose by more than 40 percent compared to the same month last year.
Ukraine sabotaging gas deliveries to Germany
But because of the exemption for the Nord Stream 1 turbine from the US/EU sanctions package against Russia, a Ukrainian interest group has started legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). The Ukrainian World Congress wants to ensure that the delivery of the Siemens component serviced in Canada is stopped.
Germany would then no longer be able to receive gas via the pipeline, ensuring a full-blown energy crisis for consumers.
The association announced that it had applied to the Federal Court of Justice to determine “that the decision to grant Siemens a permit was unreasonable and unjustified”. In addition, the association demands “the cancellation of the approval”.
From the point of view of the Ukrainians, the exception granted was “completely unacceptable”. Because the Germans could also cover their gas needs in other ways – for example via the Ukrainian pipeline.
FWM contacted a veteran European energy analyst about this move. The analyst told us on condition of anonymity: “This process amounts to a declaration of war by the Ukraine against Germany, and would have to be answered accordingly. It’s about Germany’s survival interests. And it’s a lie when Ukraine buys gas from Russia and wants to ban Germany.
“One motive might be that the Ukraine wants to tap transmission fees from Germany or tap significant parts of the gas intended for Germany, as they did in the past. The capacity of the Ukrainian line is far from sufficient for Germany.”
Germany: Muslim refugees steal and slaughter “Pepper” the goat
Last weekend, the goat “Pepper” was stolen in Borgentreich, North Rhine-Westphalia. The owner family and their children, who had an intimate emotional relationship with the trusting animal, had desperately appealed to the public via the local press, hoping that the rare Thuringian Forest goat (it is an endangered species of domestic animal) would be found unharmed and returned to them. Unfortunately, this hope dashed: on Monday, Pepper’s remains were discovered at the Central Accommodation Facility for Refugees (ZUE).The animal had been brutally slaughtered – that is, traditionally, without stunning – on the occasion of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice, which takes place from July 9 to 13. The police discovered bones, fur and other relics of the goat on the fence of the facility. The meat was kept hidden in one of the buildings – of course without any minimum hygienic or sanitary standards. The devout amateur butchers allegedly behaved extremely aggressively towards the authorities when the remains were seized.
“Pepper” thus became another victim of Islamic cultural enrichment – fittingly on the occasion of the Eid feast. The owners of the goat were shocked, horrified and saddened: “Pepper was very trusting towards people and certainly let himself be caught quickly,” they said. “Stolen, slaughtered and thrown away – no animal deserves that,” they continued. Police are now investigating two men, whose age and origin remain undisclosed, for theft and violation of the Animal Welfare Act.It can be assumed that they will get off scot-free or at most with a small fine (which of course they cannot pay or if they do, then it will be paid with the money that the same German welfare state has previously paid them); it can also be assumed that this case will again be handled in a “culturally sensitive” manner and with the utmost consideration for particular Muslim sensitivities.
And, most importantly, nothing here must of course serve “Islamophobic resentment” or even “benefit someone politically” – which in the end could even be used to undermine the “fight against the far right”! One can already bet that the perpetrators – apart from their cultural imprint – are habitually granted various traumas because of their flight, which would possibly be appeased by their natural desire to practise ritual customs, and so on. In view of German jurisprudence, it would not even be surprising if they also received psychological help.