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    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    One doesn't need advertisers, sponsors or any sort of real network if you can find wingnut billionaires willing to throw you 25 million a year or more.

    I imagine that Bannon, who knows very little about the world outside his bubbles, is quite surprised that he hasn't been able to do that yet.

    Salvini and the Lega have been getting Russian money for years.
    Yes but you asked the question of who was funding Bannon in Europe, so we’re talking about the here and now. At the moment, Bannon evidently hasn’t found any such benefactor, and hasn’t found a way to replicate his Breitbart success in Europe, he hasn't found those elusive Russian benefactors otherwise there would surely be some sort of Breitbarty structure in place and there doesn’t seem to be, even an inchoate one (I hope I'm right on this one).

    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    Salvini and the Lega have been getting Russian money for years.
    Yes, it's established. Do we know how they get those Russian funds exactly, it is via loans (as per the Front National model, loans from Russian banks) or otherwise?

    Comment


      We don’t know for sure, because the Lega’s finances are famously opaque.

      However, at the time of the elections, there had been hope that many questions would ultimately be answered by a long-standing investigation into the “disappearance” of 45 million euro of party funds that had already resulted in the conviction at first instance of former Lega officials.

      I am sure that it will surprise exactly no one here that very little appears to have happened on that front since the Lega came to power.

      This translation from L’Espresso summarises some of the work they have done on this and there have also been calls for investigations in Germany and the European Parliament.

      This FT article notes some of Savini’s links to Putin, including the official cooperation agreement between the Lega and United Russia.
      Last edited by ursus arctos; 21-07-2018, 19:15.

      Comment


        Thanks for the links, interesting.

        FT: "President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party has signed a co-operation deal with Italy’s far-right Lega Nord, deepening Russia’s ties with Europe’s populist movements." Shit, Putin has gone much further with Salvini than he did with the Front National, he must have sensed that Italy, because of its governance system, is far more likely than France to be impacted by this populist shite.

        €45m gone missing, che casino… It was like that too in France until a string of high profile corruption and politico-financial scandals in the 1980s-1990s (Urba-Gracco, Carrefour du development, Elf scandal, etc.) forced the authorities to pass a series of laws over a decade (the Loi Rocard, 1990, being the first one ever in France to tackle this area of financing and political campaigns) that regulated things and totally overhauled party funding. Not perfect (more scandals under Sarkozy, but of a different nature) but it certainly has made the financing of parties far less opaque.

        Right on cue, announced a few hours ago while we were posting:

        Steve Bannon announces plan for European foundation to back Right-wing political groups


        No details of course on the funding of this foundation based in Brussels. The fucker is going to spend half of his time in Europe now (cheers mates... FFS, please try harder to keep your white trash at home).

        Comment


          I was just going to post that.

          Here's another story with a bit more detail.

          The Movement’s headquarters are expected to be located in Brussels, Belgium, where they will start hiring staff in coming months. It is expected that there will be fewer than 10 full-time staff ahead of the 2019 elections, with a polling expert, a communications person, an office manager and a researcher among the positions. The plan is to ramp that up to more like 25 people post-2019 if the project has been a success.
          That will cost more than a few nights at the Principe Di Savoia (which I never liked, though many of my partners do).

          Comment


            Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reports tonight that 24% of UK voters would vote for an "explicitly far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam" party.

            Comment


              Originally posted by Diable Rouge View Post
              Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reports tonight that 24% of UK voters would vote for an "explicitly far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam" party.
              Well, UKIP scored nearly 27% at the 2014 Europeans so that sort of figure above shouldn't come as a surprise.

              @ursus: thanks for the link, very depressing but they will need a lot of money and time I think to really upset the political order on a Europe-wide basis. But yeah, it's worrying of course. Fuck, before long there won't be a safe place to escape to. I was reading a feature on south-east Asian countries in a recent Le Monde (1 and 2 July) - Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia - and fuck, it's grim over there after a series of "parenthèses démocratiques" (democratic periods).

              Comment


                Britain will refuse to pay its £39 billion divorce bill to Brussels if the European Union fails to agree a trade deal, the new Brexit Secretary pledges today.

                Dominic Raab told The Sunday Telegraph that he would make the vast payment formally conditional on the EU “fulfilling its side of the bargain”.

                The promise will be welcomed by leading Brexiteers after the Government said in May that there were no plans for a legally enforceable link between the bill and a future trading relationship.
                I get the feeling this isn't likely to go very well.

                Comment


                  Kev, do you have a digital subscription to Monde?

                  I'm thinking of getting one, but then I already don't read a lot of what I subscribe to.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by Tubby Isaacs View Post
                    I get the feeling this isn't likely to go very well.
                    I am intrigued to see how this works on the UK's ability to make all these spectacular trade deals, a public reneging on commitments to pay money that has been promised. "You can trust us, honest"

                    Comment


                      Marr's just shown Raab an EU-wide IMF graph (no-deal case) with the UK economy tanking compared to most other EU countries who would hardly be affected (except for Ireland). Raab’s reply (approx.): "No, it’s the other way round, the economies of EU countries would suffer more than ours." and then he swiftly moved on to something else (shame Marr didn't ask him to elaborate on this one). I stopped watching at that point (about 20 mns ago).


                      Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                      Kev, do you have a digital subscription to Monde?

                      I'm thinking of getting one, but then I already don't read a lot of what I subscribe to.
                      No, I don’t, I spend enough in subscriptions (~£250 a yr) as it is and like you I only read a fraction. I’m actually going to stop a few subs I’ve got as it's getting a little out of control, like Country Walking mag, as I hardly read them even if they’re great, just not enough time. I subscribed to France Football, Marianne and a few others for many years but stopped through lack of time, I need to be ruthless again comes subscription renewal time. I hate reading the press digitally anyway, I know I wouldn’t read 10% of the content. My relatives regularly send me French papers & mags and Le Monde is widely available in England, although in Newcastle the options are dwindling (you can no longer get L’Équipe, Libération, France Football and a few others AFAIK - just Le Figaro and Le Monde) but I buy Le Monde whenever I’m in town or elsewhere in England. I try to get sent Le Monde Diplo (diplomatique, a monthly) as often as I can too, it's excellent.

                      But one thing Le Monde that I'd advise anyone to get is their yearly Le Bilan du Monde hors-série (€12, 220 pages), it gives you the economic and political lowdown on nearly 200 countries, + maps, tables, photos etc. I only buy it every 4-5 years but it’s an excellent read. Comes out every January but you can order it anytime (and back issues too) via Amazon, Fnac.com or from the online Le Monde boutique. They do other Bilans hors-séries (regular publications or one-offs), such as Le Bilan du Monde Junior, Le Bilan du Monde géostratégique etc.


                      From http://boutique.lemonde.fr/hs-bilan-du-monde-2018.html

                      Description

                      Bilan du monde 2018
                      Géopolitique, environnement, économie
                      l'Atlas de 198 pays

                      UN ATLAS EXHAUSTIF
                      Pour chacun des 198 pays du monde, les chiffres-clés (population, PIB, parité hommes-femmes en politique...), une carte et une analyse politique et économique de l’année par les correspondants du Monde.

                      UN PORTFOLIO
                      16 pages des meilleures photos d’actualité de l’année, sélectionnées par le service photo du Monde.

                      INTERNATIONAL
                      Les foucades de Donald Trump contraignent Européens et Asiatiques à redéfinir leur stratégie face à la renaissance des puissances russe et chinoise ; au Moyen-Orient, la marée de l’organisation Etat islamique se retire, réactivant les conflits entre les protagonistes de la région.

                      PLANÈTE
                      Après le retrait américain, comment tenir les objectifs de l’accord de Paris contre le réchauffement climatique, alors que les émissions de CO2 augmentent à nouveau, que les catastrophes climatiques s’aggravent ?

                      FRANCE
                      La victoire surprise d’Emmanuel Macron laisse le champ des partis politiques français en ruines, mais ne lève pas les incertitudes sur les orientations des réformes en cours.

                      IDÉES
                      Françoise Héritier, JMG Le Clézio, Barrack Obama, Achille Mbembe... les textes publiés dans Le Monde qui ont marqué l’année 2017.
                      €12, 220 pages. Date de parution : janvier 2018.

                      Comment


                        I concur on the Bilans, they are great.

                        Comment


                          Le Monde has seriously perked up and improved in the last few years, since the so-called "BNP" trio took over basically, now sadly a duo (the late Pierre Bergé-telecoms billionaire and visionnaire Xavier Niel-banker Matthieu Pigasse), it was on the brink of bankruptcy. They've brought a more modern outlook, more variety, plenty of fresh blood (younger journalists) and a new editorial director in 2015 (Jérôme Fénoglio, who replaced Natalie Nougayrède, now a tenured Guardian journalist – she resigned from Le Monde after only a year and bit at the helm; I know, from a couple of Le Monde writers, that she wasn’t terribly popular, considered divisive, I’ll leave it at that) and new futuristic bridge-like headquarters in 2019.

                          http://parisfutur.com/projets/le-monde-nouveau-siege/

                          http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2...a=gdpr-consent

                          The building, Snohetta’s first Paris project, aims to act as a bridge between the publication and its readers with public spaces that include a visitor center, auditorium, café, seating, and green areas built to welcome the public and serve as a stage for public gatherings.

                          Comment


                            I was just about to make a similar comment. I think that the Mediapart breakaway also helped convince them that they needed to get to their act together.

                            We certainly benefit.

                            Comment


                              <insert some bollocks about wearing different hats>

                              Somerset Capital, the UK boutique manager part-owned by Jacob Rees-Mogg, has launched a second Irish-based fund as the politician, famed for favouring a hard Brexit, continues to reduce his stake in the emerging markets specialist.

                              The $8.6bn company said the fund was created to meet demand from international investors. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU has forced many asset managers to set up replica product ranges in European investment hubs such as Dublin and Luxembourg in order to continue to serve foreign clients.

                              “The structure we use is only ever relevant to client or technically specific considerations,” said Dominic Johnson, chief executive and co-founder. “The fact that we manage billions of dollars in UK structures should give you reassurance that we are not embarking on an offshoring spree.”

                              The new fund, which is focused on frontier markets such as Argentina and Nigeria, is seeded with $50m from AP1, the Swedish national pension plan.

                              AP1 requested that the fund be domiciled in Ireland, a location that also made it more attractive to other international investors.

                              The $37bn pension fund would not be drawn on whether the reason for setting up a fund outside the UK was related to Brexit.
                              [/quote]

                              https://www.ft.com/content/d615b792-...d-0181731a0340

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                I was just about to make a similar comment. I think that the Mediapart breakaway also helped convince them that they needed to get to their act together.

                                We certainly benefit.
                                Re Mediapart, yes you're right, they must have looked at their business model with envy, small capital, small team - although I'm sure the Le Monde staff were delighted to lose Edwy Plénel... I used to write on a volunteer basis for Les Cahiers du Football (which started as a website & mag in 1998, then a website after it was sued by a famous French commentator - they lost - and now back to website & glossy bumper mag), quite a few of Les Cahiers people now write for Le Monde too (on football and sports, they've really embraced footballin the last decade) and that man was very unpopular, but just to clarify, Mediapart was never part of Le Monde though, there wasn't a breakaway as such, it’s a website/online mag that was created by Le Monde stalwart Edwy Plénel (whom I wrote about here), who was editor-in-chief of Le Monde between 1996 and 2004 before he was pushed out (resigned in 2004, in the aftermath of this scandal) and later created Mediapart (in 2008) along with 3 other journalists and a few people and investors who put together the necessary capital, about €4 million.
                                Last edited by Pérou Flaquettes; 22-07-2018, 13:45.

                                Comment


                                  Quite, my wording was imprecise

                                  Comment


                                    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                    I am intrigued to see how this works on the UK's ability to make all these spectacular trade deals, a public reneging on commitments to pay money that has been promised. "You can trust us, honest"
                                    Yep.

                                    Plus we did the same before and had to drop it.

                                    Comment


                                      Is Dominic Raab a fucking moron?

                                      Front of S. Telegraph

                                      "Raab: No trade deal, no cash for the EU"

                                      Err…

                                      No.

                                      The cash must be paid irrespective of whether there's a trade deal.

                                      That's money already owing.

                                      The trade deal refers to future arrangements.

                                      Think of it as a divorce, although that's not really a good analogy.

                                      The cash is the settlement. The trade deal is the alimony and the support payments.

                                      Comment


                                        Yeah, I'd avoid this "divorce bill" analogy. It's all a bit Jim Davidson. "The wife's proper stung me" etc.

                                        Comment


                                          https://twitter.com/PaddyBriggs/status/1019845555894345728

                                          Comment


                                            What sort of buffoon would think that Dominic Raab's silly threat is a good idea? Oh.

                                            https://twitter.com/SteveBakerHW/status/1020925511130808321

                                            Comment


                                              He's not won any battle. He's just said something David Davis did last year, and from which he had to back down.

                                              Comment


                                                I'll never know.

                                                Sadly, I am blocked.

                                                Comment


                                                  Apologies.



                                                  Neither by Dominic Raab nor Steve Baker.

                                                  Just Stewart Jackson.

                                                  (whohe, btw?)

                                                  Comment


                                                    Originally posted by bix80
                                                    Very nice links, all.

                                                    One (genuine) question for me is - How close do we have to get to a chaotic no-deal Brexit for it to become more advantageous for everybody except the ERG and such to actually leave Brexit in the hand of the fanatics? Asking because I feel that Mogg, BoJo and their ilk are currently playing a can't-lose game at the expense of the adults in the house.

                                                    If we reach a shitty customs deal that just about prevents chaos while shafting the economy (ie the Chequers papers) - It's BINO, they kick and scream and win seats in the next GE. If we reach no deal at all and tangible mayhem (stockpiling, rationing) ensues - It's because the government didn't believe hard enough and the EU is evil, and they still kick and scream.

                                                    Of course I hate to be pondering this for purely political reasons, but (short of inventing a time machine) if it becomes impossible to secure a minimal deal that doesn't automatically sabotage the economy and lays some kind of pathway going forward, when does it become strategically advantageous just to let the bomb explode in their hands?
                                                    One thing I am annoyed about with Labour is that they really need to be pinning Brexit on Davis, Rees-Mogg, Johnson, Raab, Farage, Hannan and the rest of them. They need to be forced to own it, especially after the recess. Or else they and their mates in the Press will do the "Labour caused the financial crisis" thing again and walk away. Theresa May can be collateral damage. But the others need pointing at now and consistently under March 2019. They have a habit of running away when things get dicey, so the time to do it is before the shit hits the fan not afterwards.

                                                    Comment

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