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Deals signed just over a week ago when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, in Paris included some 20 agreements and a $25-billion accord under which Iran will purchase 73 long-haul and 45 medium-haul Airbus passenger planes to update its ageing fleet. Carmaker Peugeot—which was forced to pull out of Iran in 2012–also agreed to return to the Iranian market in a five-year deal worth $436 million.

In the reverse flow of the new deal, Total has agreed to buy between 150,000 and 200,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day, with company officials also noting that Total would be looking at other opportunities as well in oil, gas, petrochemicals and marketing.

According to Iranian media, Total will start importing 160,000 barrels per day in line with a contract that takes effect already on 16 February.

Total never really left Iran, though. While it stopped all oil exploration and production activities there in 2010, making it one of the last to withdraw, it still maintained an office there.

Since 1990, Total has been a key investor in Iranian energy, playing a role in the development of Iran’s Sirri A&E oil and South Pars gas projects. Sanctions also halted its planned involvement in the LNG project linked to Iran’s South Pars Phase 11.

But Total’s work in Iran hasn’t been without its problems—even without sanctions.

In May 2013, Total agreed to pay $398.2 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil allegations that it paid bribes to win oil and gas contracts in Iran.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Military Misadventures

February 1, 2016

Military Misadventures

No Coincidence

BALTIMORE – The Dow rose 126 points on Thursday – just shy of 1%. Not enough to reverse the market’s apparent downward bias [ed note: the rebound gathered pace on Friday].

Stocks are most likely headed down because the thing that sent them up has come to an end. Here is a chart that tells the tale:

1-stocks vs. Fed balance sheet Federal Reserve assets vs. the S&P 500 Index

As you can see, over the last six years or so, gains for the S&P 500 have closely tracked the ballooning of the Fed’s balance sheet under QE. After shelling out almost $4 trillion on bonds, the Fed’s QE is on pause. And stocks are struggling. Coincidence? We don’t think so.

Deep State Cronies in Action

We stuffed a few copies of the Hindustan Times in our bag before boarding the plane back from Mumbai. On the front page, French president Francois Hollande is receiving an awkward hug from India’s top man, Narendra Modi.

Over in the entertainment section is another note of interest. Actress Julie Gayet has put together a film production company. And lucky for her – she has backing from one of India’s biggest conglomerates, the Reliance group.

Nowhere does the paper mention that Ms. Gayet is Mr. Hollande’s main squeeze. She is the woman for whom he snuck away on a motor scooter from the presidential palace, where he lived with his then First Girlfriend, journalist Valerie Trierweiler.

francois-hollande-ladies Mr. Hollande and his old squeeze Valerie Trierweiler (left) and her replacement Julie Gayet (right)

Reliance is owned by the Ambani family, which lives in Mumbai in the most expensive house ever built. It is 60-story skyscraper, put up at a cost of $1 billion, which now takes a staff of 600 to keep the furniture dusted. On Sunday, the two events were reported. On Monday, the paper added the connective tissue. It announced that India and France had inked “$15 billion in business deals.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

France in State of Economic Emergency

January 19, 2016

France in State of Economic Emergency

President Francois Hollande has publicly stated that the French economy is now in a state of “economic emergency.” He set out a €2bn job creation scheme in a desperate attempt to lift France out of an economic death spiral created by his socialistic policies that have raised taxes and chased out those who create wealth and jobs.

Hollande’s scheme, he proposes, will be a two-year plan where firms with less than 250 staff will get subsidies if they take on young or unemployed persons for six months or more. In addition, Hollande says he will create 500,000 vocational training courses, but that is pointless without firms hiring.

France’s unemployment rate is officially 10.6%, compared to a European Union average of 9.8%, and 4.2% in Germany. However, these numbers are modest and do not properly reflect the students who cannot get a job to start with. He also says that this program will be paid “without any new taxes of any kind.” I suppose he is finally realizing that raising taxes shrinks the private sector and that means less jobs are available.

Francois Hollande Admits Socialist Policies Failed, Declares “Economic State Of Emergency”

January 18, 2016

Francois Hollande Admits Socialist Policies Failed, Declares “Economic State Of Emergency”

Remember when showing ‘progress’ in Europe was as simple as pointing to your high stock market or low bond yields to “prove” everything is awesome.

Since 2012, when Mr Hollande came to power, more than 600,000 people have joined the ranks of the unemployed at a time when joblessness has decreased in most of the other large European economies.

Well for Francois Hollande, the days of hiding behing manipulated data are over and the open kimono reveals a nation whose stability is wracked by record unemployment. In a desperate-for-re-election speech today, The FT reports that socialist leader Hollande admitted his policies needed reform and that France is an economic “state of emergency.”

In a turn towards pro-business policies (sacre bleu!), Hollande prescribed new measures which involve the creation of 500,000 vocational training schemes, additional subsidies for small companies and a programme to boost apprenticeships.

With 15 months before the presidential election, the sense of urgency is also political for the socialist leader, who has tied his decision to run for a second mandate to his ability to curb unemployment significantly this year.

“We have to act so that growth becomes more robust and job creation more abundant,” Mr Hollande said in an address to unions and business leaders. “Our country has been facing structural unemployment for too long and it needs to reform.”

Under the plan, which takes effect immediately, companies with fewer than 250 workers will receive a €2,000 payout for hiring youths and unemployed people for contracts lasting more than six months at salaries below 1.3 times the minimum wage. After two years, the subsidy will become permanent in the form of a decrease in social security charges. The tax breaks previously announced will become permanent beyond 2017, he said.

The new measures, which will cost about €2bn, are seen as aimed at this political goal.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“France Is At War”: Hollande Unleashes 2nd Day Of ISIS Strikes, Mobilizes 115,000, Moves To Change Constitution

November 17, 2015

“France Is At War”: Hollande Unleashes 2nd Day Of ISIS Strikes, Mobilizes 115,000, Moves To Change Constitution

France, still reeling from the carnage that unfolded in the streets of Paris last Friday, conducted dozens upon dozens of police raids on Tuesday, after more than 160 similar operations carried out on Monday led to the discovery of numerous weapons including a rocket launcher, Kalashnikov, and a bulletproof vest.

French authorities are still largely in the dark regarding how many people were ultimately involved in the attack and with suspected “mastermind” Abdelhamid Abaaoud out of reach in Syria, police are focused on locating Salah Abdeslam who allegedly helped with logistics and rented a black Volkswagen Polo used by the gunmen who stormed the Bataclan concert hall.

Of course really, the raids are a frantic attempt to track down and neutralize anything and everything before something else bad happens. As Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on France Inter radio, “we don’t know if there are accomplices in Belgium and in France… we still don’t know the number of people involved in the attacks.”

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says more than 100 people have been placed under house arrest and dozens have been arrested in the sweeping crackdown. “Under a state of emergency – which has been in place since the attacks on Friday – security services, police have extra powers and freedom to make arrests, search houses and confiscate weapons without judicial oversight,” The Sydney Morning Herald notes.

President Hollande told a joint session of the French parliament on Monday that “France is at war” and that he wants the state of emergency extended by three months. Hollande also proposed constitutional changes. As The Herald put it on Tuesday, Hollande wants “to create a new version of ‘exceptional measures’, giving the government some emergency powers available under martial law.” Here’s Le Monde (translated), noting that Hollande’s proposals mirror George Bush’s Patriot Act:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

France is on the Verge of … What?

November 14, 2015

France is on the Verge of … What?

terror-attack-paris

“Is France Ripe for an Authoritarian Regime?” What is remarkable about that Op Ed piece in the conservative Le Figaro newspaper, is that it was written not in the wake of today’s horrific terrorist attacks in Paris—but the day before.

As I write, it is still unclear how many have been killed in the French capital—the reported total has reached at least 140–but there is no question that the massacre could have a devastating impact on France’s already very shaky democratic institutions.

According to the Le Figaro, when asked by IFOP, a respected French poling agency, if they would accept a non-democratic form of government to bring necessary reforms to France, 67% of the French said they would opt for a government of non-elected technocrats. 40% percent said they would back a non-elected authoritarian regime.

Again, that survey was carried out the day before the bloody carnage in Paris. People may have poured out into the streets in an impressive show of unity earlier this year in the wake of the Charlie Hebdokillings, but that moment of attempted racial harmony was brief and the situation has been fraying ever since.

There is no question to my mind that in the wake of these Friday the 13^th horrors in Paris, the great majority of French would back the most Draconian of measures (just as Americans reacted following 9/11). France has the largest Muslim population of any country in Europe, and the danger of a fatal fracture—driven by hatred and suspicion and fear—is very, very real.

The next moves are up to President François Hollande, which is not at all reassuring.

Since he took office, he has been totally incapable of coping with France’s huge and varied problems. He is one of the most unpopular French president’s ever.

And now he faces his greatest challenge.

For France, and its peoples, these are very perilous times.

The President Of France Wants Eurozone Members To Transfer Their Sovereignty To A United States Of Europe

July 20, 2015

The President Of France Wants Eurozone Members To Transfer Their Sovereignty To A United States Of Europe

The President of France has come up with a very creative way of solving the European debt crisis. On Sunday, a piece authored by French President Francois Hollande suggested that the ultimate solution to the problems currently plaguing Europe would be for every member of the eurozone to transfer all of their sovereignty to a newly created federal government. In other words, it would essentially be a “United States of Europe”. This federal government would have a prime minister, a parliament, a federal budget and a federal treasury. Presumably, the current national governments in Europe would continue to function much like state governments in the U.S. do. In the end, there may be some benefits to such a union – particularly for the weaker members of the eurozone. But at what cost would those benefits come?

When I first learned that French President Francois Hollande had proposed that the members of the eurozone should create their own version of a federal government, I was quite stunned. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. For the global elite, the answer to just about any problem is more centralization. The following comes from a Bloomberg article that was posted on Sunday…

French President Francois Hollande said that the 19 countries using the euro need their own government complete with a budget and parliament to cooperate better and overcome the Greek crisis.

“Circumstances are leading us to accelerate,” Hollande said in an opinion piece published by the Journal du Dimanche on Sunday. “What threatens us is not too much Europe, but a lack of it.”

So precisely what would “more Europe” look like?

Hollande envisions a central government that has both a parliament and a federal budget…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Troika Offers Greece Third Bailout Program, Prepares Emergency Plan If No Deal

June 26, 2015

Troika Offers Greece Third Bailout Program, Prepares Emergency Plan If No Deal

On the heels of Thursday’s failed Eurogroup meeting and heading into what is again being presented as an all or nothing, “Lehman weekend” for Greece and its creditors, reports suggest the troika has offered Greece a third bailout program:

GREEK CREDITORS OFFER EU15.5B OVER NEXT 5 MONTHS: HANDELSBLATT
ECB, IMF, EU OFFER GREECE 3RD AID PROGRAM: HANDELSBLATT
GREECE’S CREDITORS PROPOSE EU15.5B TIED TO AID DEAL: OFFICIAL

Here are the details, according to Bloomberg (citing an unnamed EU official):

EU creditor proposal foresees EU8.7b in EFSF funds: official

Creditor proposal foresees EU3.3b in SMP profits: EU official

Creditor proposal foresees EU3.5b in IMF funds: EU official

If true, this would mark a dramatic about-face for the IMF which had suggested it would not be interested in participating in a third Greek program. Similary, lawmakers in Berlin have voiced their opposition to a third bailout program for Athens as the German public has grown tired of throwing money at the Greek ‘problem.’

European finance ministers will meet again on Saturday. Angela Merkel, who met with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and French President Francois Hollande on Friday, has indicated that a deal must be struck before the market opens on Monday. Here’s a bit of color from Reuters:

The leaders of Germany and France discussed extending Greece’s bailout programme and providing financing with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday on the eve of a decisive meeting of euro zone finance ministers, a French source said.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Russia Under Attack

March 21, 2015

Russia Under Attack

While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a “color revolution” or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government’s allegiance away from Russia. The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it. For details go here: http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/18/4656

Thus, Russia faces the renewal of conflict in Ukraine simultaneously with three more Ukraine-type situations along its Asian border.

And this is only the beginning of the pressure that Washington is mounting on Russia.

On March 18 the Secretary General of NATO denounced the peace settlement between Russia and Georgia that ended Georgia’s military assault on South Ossetia. The NATO Secretary General said that NATO rejects the settlement because it “hampers ongoing efforts by the international community to strengthen security and stability in the region.” Look closely at this statement. It defines the “international community” as Washington’s NATO puppet states, and it defines strengthening security and stability as removing buffers between Russia and Georgia so that Washington can position military bases in Georgia directly on Russia’s border.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Is France’s Love Affair with Nuclear Over?

October 20, 2014

Is France’s Love Affair with Nuclear Over?.

French President Francois Hollande has promised to limit the growth of the country’s nuclear power, many older reactors have been targeted for decommissioning, and Greenpeace and other environmental groups have been relentless in their anti-nuclear campaigning. But until now, it seemed unlikely that France would ever truly rethink its love affair with nuclear power.

Last week, it did. On Oct. 10, France’s parliament voted to begin moving to undo decades of nuclear growth and to reduce its importance to the country’s energy mix. Over the next 11 years, France will reduce the amount of electricity coming from nuclear by one-quarter — from 75 percent to 50 percent. To do that, estimates are that as many as 20 of France’s 58 reactors would have to be closed.

The vote was part of a package of legal reforms in France’slong-awaited energy transition law, a main pillar of which was slowing nuclear power production and then maintaining it at the new lower level before progressively lowering it over the next 10 years.

…click on the link above to read the rest of the article…

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