2025/06/25

From Bromance to Foemance — Is Emmanuel Macron the Favorite Punching Ball of Donald Trump?


While Donald Trump meets up in the Netherlands with the likes of the president of France, Elodie Laye Mielczareck tries to answer the question about whether Emmanuel Macron has become Donald Trump's favorite punching ball. The Semiotician and linguist is quoted in Diane Regny's 20 Minutes newspaper article as noting that the relationship between the two presidents seems to have gone from Bromance via Brofade all the way to Foemance: 

Regarding the evolution of the relationship between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, we can note a shift in positioning ⏰ 

1️⃣ We have moved from BROMANCE (portmanteau of "Bro" and "romance," which refers to a kind of virile friendship) stemming from the famous handshake), 

2️⃣ to BROFADE (a relationship where one partner silently disengages, the gradual disappearance of the bond), synergized during the famous Vatikanet scene where Macron is sidelined. 

3️⃣ Today we are at the final stage: FOEMANCE ("foe" meaning "enemy"). The breakup seems to have begun; words no longer embellish or mask, they discredit and belittle.

En français : 

Concernant l'évolution de LA RELATION ENTRE DONALD TRUMP ET ÉMMANUEL MACRON, nous pouvons noter un changement de positionnement ⏰
1️⃣ Nous sommes passés de la BROMANCE (construction de "Bro" et "romance" qui désigne une sorte d'amitié virile) issue de la fameuse poignée de main),
2️⃣ à la BROFADE (une relation où l'un des partenaires se désengage silencieusement, c'est la disparition progressive du lien), visible lors de la fameuse scène du Vatican où Macron est mis de côté.
3️⃣Aujourd'hui nous sommes au dernier stade : la FOEMANCE ("foe" signalant "ennemi"), la rupture semble amorcée, les mots n'enjolivent plus ou ne masquent plus, ils décrédibilisent et rabaissent.
 
And now for something completely different: Belgium's RTBF brings a sketch about Donald Trump and Elon Musk being told to behave, like naughty brats — by Brigitte Macron (who is known to slap presidents around and arriving at the tune of Darth Vader's imperial theme — video). It's pure anti-Trump, needless to say, but it may still make you chuckle…

Israel: Angel or Devil? — Brawls on French TV


Philippe Karsenty felt like he almost got into a brawl as he showed up at Frontières (8:12 or 9:15-41:28) to debate one Pierre d'Herbès, an "expert" en relations internationales.

Streamed live on Jun 19, 2025 REPLAY | La Matinale de Frontières
Lors de notre matinale du 19 juin, nous accueillons Pierre d'Herbès, expert en relation internationale ainsi que Philippe Karsenty, porte-parole du Comité Trump France. Nous examinons le conflit entre Israël et l'Iran : quels sont les objectifs de Netanyahou, et le régime des mollahs est-il en danger ?

The atmosphere was slightly more cordial when the porte-parole for the Trump France committee showed up on Eric Morillot's Les Incorrectibles, but he still fired off broadside after broadside against one Didier Maïsto.

 

2025/06/24

Randy Yaloz Speaks Out About American Bombs over Iran, Trump's Relations with the Persian Gulf, and the "Civil War" in America


In an interview with Le Spectacle du Monde

Randy Yaloz, president of Republican Overseas, explains the reasons for the division in American society and the impact of the Los Angeles riots on the country's cohesion. 

The president of ROF also has an article in the magazine format of Le Spectacle du Monde # 21, Summer 2025 (p 48-49), on Donald Trump Resetting Relations with the Persian Gulf's Monarchies.

Since this weekend, needless to say, his numerous appearances on French TV (France Info TV, I24 News, etc — while ROF VP Isaac Barchichat joined the LCI studio) have been with regards to Donald Trump's sending his bombers to destroy Iran's Nuclear facilities — which we will bring to you when we can find the permalinks on the internet.



2025/06/18

The "People Boat": French Journalists Go Berserk As a Humorist Mocks Greta Thunberg as "Miss Krisprolls" Leading "Wasa for Gaza"


Members of a French Syndicate of reporters protested vehemently, writes the Morandini website, as a humorist mocked Greta Thunberg's Palestine stunt, inverting the words in the expression describing the Vietnamese tragedy of the late 1970s and calling her report "The People Boat". (In French, the English word "People" is used to refer to the upper class gentry, thus the word for weeklies about aristocrats and pop singers and movie stars and such — like, in America, none other than People Magazine — is "les magazines people.")

Among the 11 other militants aboard the sail ship with Greta was the far left LFI member of the European Parliament, Rima Hassan, along with other Green Khmers.

On the France Inter radio show (apparently financed by the reporters' Le Parisien newspaper), Sophia Aram referred to the Swedish (non-)teen's latest saga as "Miss Krisprolls" orchestrating the "Wasa for Gaza" operation. (Just in case you don't get the joke, they refer to two types of crusty Swedish bread, typically adored and branded by leftists as some of the best health food available.)

A couple of weeks earlier, Sophia Aram mocked the March for Gaza, Westerners crossing Egypt who shouted Allah Akbar as they were being beaten by Egyptian police (who confiscated all of their passports), "like some Christopher Columbus trying to tame the natives" of America.

Nous sommes en Égypte où trois teubés, deux Marie Coquillette et un Jean Barnabé de la Marche pour Gaza tentent d'amadouer des Égyptiens en jetant du « Allahu Akbar » tel un Christophe Colomb essayant d'apprivoiser l'Autochtone. 

The Société des journalistes du Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France (the two outlets that the members work for) went as far as to call the humorist who made the jokes "racist", even though she happens to be Sophia Aram, a woman who is of Moroccan origin. 

"Besides the fact that she approaches the Gaza tragedy with a lightness that raises questions" complains the SDJ du Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France, "she crossed a red line."

"Let's imagine for a moment that an author paid by Le Parisien were to nickname a Mexican whose views he doesn't share 'Mister Tacos', a Moroccan 'Mister Couscous', or a Spanish woman 'Miss Paëlla'... the racist nature of the jibes would no longer be in doubt," they claimed.

Actually, as PragerU's Will Witt has demonstrated, the only people who seem to be offended by minority stereotypes are whites — rarely (if ever) the minorities themselves.

Over at CNews, the double standards of leftist journalists, with one of the station's reporters calling for having the right-leaning station's members having their reporters' journalism cards revoked.

In another three-minute stint, Sophia Aram mocks the country's intellectuals, taking as an example Simone de Bouvoir when asked whether she noticed, while as a guest in Beijing (then Peking), any aspect of Mao's cult of personality.

From now on, when reporting on Greta Thunberg and her fellow Green Khmers, I will refer to her as "Miss Krisprolls". Merci, Sophia Aram.

NB: While No Pasarán is out of order, I am blogging here, at NP's sister blog.

2025/06/13

What Nobody Tells You About Manifest Destiny and America's Western Expansion, Along with How It All Integrates with Britain's 1840s Attempt to Fence In the USA


If we talk about (and if protestors and drama queens and other leftists mention) Mexican irredentism and revanchism regarding its lost territories, another issue that we need to address is Manifest Destiny. 

Several people have pointed out that the territory lost by Mexico belonged to "the feudal Mexican Empire" for only 20-25 years (previously to the "Spanish Empire"), while it has been in the USA for for over 175. But there are other considerations.  

Manifest Destiny is a concept once revered, for over 100 years, but often derided by the Left in the past 60, 70 years — with shaking heads, tch-tchs, and deep soulful sighs. (Gracias por el InstaHiperVínculo, Sarah.)

Now, I don't know if you know anything about the geography of the North American continent.

Can we take a look at a map of North America?  Can you find the United States? Okay. Now, the U.S. has two neighboring countries.

Look North. Then look South. Do you see Canada (above)? Do you see Mexico (below)?

Can you see those nations' Eastern border? Yes, it's the Atlantic Ocean. Can you see those nations' Western border? Yes, it's the Pacific Ocean. Just like with the United States between those nations.

So, guess what. It turns out that, up North, the Canadians (or, rather, the British) moved Westwards to the Pacific (reaching it earlier than their cousins in the United States did). And down south, it turns out that the Mexicans (or, rather, the Spanish) moved Westwards to the Pacific (reaching it earlier than their neighbors in the United States did) — just as the Spanish did, and as the Brazilians (or, rather, the Portuguese) did, in South America.

In the process, the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the British killed, massacred, or at the very least displaced the native peoples.  And yes, they enslaved the natives as well.

So, here comes la question du jour: can someone tell us in what way the USA's territorial expansion is supposed to be an unforgivable sin, a shameful disgrace, a heinous crime, and an indisputable act of wickedness?

Now, Canada was a colony under the British crown, just as Mexico had been a colony under the Spanish crown (similar to the Spanish king's colonies in South America). Both had expanded to the "Western ocean."

The British and the Spanish may have used a similar term to Manifest Destiny, religious or otherwise, or they may have used no term at all, in their territorial expansions, but what difference does that make?

How condemnable is it for the only republic in North America to declare that there should be a right, God-given or otherwise, for the republic's inhabitants to copy their Northern neighbor along with their Southern neighbor and expand to the Pacific as well? 

There is only one answer, and it is always the same: the United States, and the United States alone must always suffer opprobrium and be saddled with the sins, real or alleged, of mankind.


And thus, 2025 mobs pining for today’s burrito intifada (or today’s enchilada intifada) are motivated by the desire and the devotion to make California Mexico again (Mexico being the land — allegedly — not of racism and slavery and white nationalism and historical sins galore, but of entirely romantic events such as fiestas, tequilas, sombreros, and shooting squads). Sohrab Ahmari

What we’re dealing with, in other words, is a scenario more akin to banlieue riots in France, in which a subset of the population feels little to no attachment to their country of citizenship and is bent on claiming — or reclaiming — space for other national or civilisational identities. Every few years, rioters claim the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis for Algeria or Islam. Likewise, LA is being claimed for the spiritual geography of Hispanidad. 

But there is more. As Tocqueville writes, 

It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.

One of the things we do not learn in this day and age is how close Britain came to fencing in its former colonies in North America.

In the 1840s, some twenty-odd years before Horace Greeley said "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country", there were strong international storms brewing (which would eventually lead to war with Mexico and a quasi-war with Britain).

Britain was claiming the Oregon territory, and it was trying to buy California from Mexico. Yes, you read that correctly, Raza radicals: many Mexicans were ready to sell the supposedly sacrosanct Mexican territory, or parts thereof.

Now take a look at the map again: Britain had Canada; Britain was trying to acquire all of the Oregon territory as well as California; and Britain was trying to sign an alliance with Texas, at the time an independent republic. (Nobody knew it, or could be sure about it, at the time, but the secret intention of the Texas president was always to join the United States as a member state; Sam Houston was playing with the British, along with the French, in order to hurry American politicians along as well as to get the best deal possible as well — something he was successful in, as is demonstrated among others in the massive size of the Lone Star state.)

Guess what! If all of London's schemes had succeeded, the United States would have been fenced in on three sides (or at least on two and a half sides) — and that, by the planet's then superpower. On the Northern border was the British province of Canada; along the Western (Pacific) coast would be the British colonies of Oregon and California; and on the Southern side, beyond the Mexican border (with Britain!), would be a British ally (the independent republic of Texas).

The United States would be relegated to the Atlantic Ocean (hardly much more than its length at the time of the 1776 revolution, plus Florida) and to part of the Gulf of Mexico (until the western part of the present state of Louisiana) — hardly worthy of being renamed the Gulf of America. 

(Incidentally, and this will be a story for another time, the reason that Commodore Perry steamed into Edo Bay in 1852 was that the British Navy had made connections to all other nations and islands in the Pacific Ocean, rendering them inhospitable to the United States and keeping the latter effectively out of the Pacific. With regards to the notably isolationist island of Japan, though, which they did not wish to antagonize, the British had given up. And so the Yanks decided to rush in — with gunboat diplomacy.)

In any case, it was in this international atmosphere that John O’Sullivan wrote in the July-August 1845 issue of the Democratic Review that 

“the fulfillment of our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” 

And thank God for that! 

May I repeat? 

¡Gracias a Dios por eso!

NB: While No Pasarán is out of order, I am blogging here, at NP's sister blog.  

Related: Other What Nobody Tells You About… posts in the Wayback Machine:

What Nobody Tells You About Indians and Other Native Americans
What Nobody Tells You About the Alamo and the Texas Revolution of the 1830s
What Nobody Tells You About Apartheid and Jim Crow
What Nobody Tells You About the Israeli Rave of October 7, 2023

2025/06/11

Google: It Is Time to Restore a Blog — and its 14,000 Posts — That You Have Harbored Without Problems for Over Two Decades

It has now been two weeks, Blogger (not "a few days")since you unceremoniously locked, banned, removed, and cancelled the blog No Pasarán, without having the courtesy of giving the slightest explanation why. With the stroke of a button, one of your employees has seen fit to destroy a blog which has existed for more than two decades, accumulating between 14,000 and 15,000 posts (some a mere few sentences, others the length of a chapter in a book). 

Does that make any sense?!

Google: If you didn't discover for 21 years — TWENTY-ONE YEARS — that a blog was violating your community guidelines (or, for that matter, any rules of common courtesy whatsoever), then it is likely that the problem was/is not the blog — which for over two decades has prided itself on being thoroughly researched, fact-filled, and dispassionate, linking adversaries as well as friends — but is caused by one of your young radical whippersnappers, someone (a drama queen?) who cannot stomach that there are opinions to the right of Karl Marx, opinions that must be by all means suppressed and crushed into the dust.

Google, pray tell us: What kind of thought crime in one (allegedly) offending post is so serious that it warrants a punishment not to be reverted to "Draft" status but to have between 14,000 and 15,000 posts, i.e., the entire 21-year run of the blog (with contents invisible to even the bloggers themselves) removed forever?

Believe it or not, that is not the worst of it: 

Does Google even know that Blogger, or that its Blogger crew, has become increasingly brazen and has been increasingly acting like the Stasi? Is that hyperbole, you ask? Read on: We still receive warnings on the blog's admin page, as blogs always do, like the one below.

We have received a DMCA complaint for one or more of your blogs. Emails with the details were sent to you and all affected posts have been reset to "Draft" status (you may find them by selecting "Drafts" on the "Edit posts" page for each of the affected blogs). You may re-publish the posts with the offending content and/or link(s) removed. If you believe you have the rights to post this content, you can file a counter-claim with us. For more on our DMCA policy, please click here. Thank you for your prompt attention.
This post was unpublished because it violates Blogger Community Guidelines. To republish, please update the content to adhere to guidelines.

However, contrary to what Google's message says — and as I have complained about several times in the past — the above is not what happens — not anymore. Not for the past two years, at least. Again, does Google even know what their (alleged) "fact-checkers" (sic) are doing? 

What used to happen is that we indeed would check out the Gmail inbox to see which post had been reset to Draft status and (perhaps after trying to rectify what seemed to be the matter) click on a link saying File a Counter-Claim. By no means do the posts have to be recent: posts as old as ten years (!) have been reset to Draft status (which shows to what extent "tolerant" leftists, either working for Google or in the general public, go to suppress dissent) and were all — all of them — restored after challenging the complaint, in effect calling the complaints trivial and pointless.

As Facebook and Amazon and the Washington Post and others seem to become less partisan (not to mention X/Twitter) with/after Trump's victory, Google or at least Blogger seem to be going the opposite way… 

A) Contrary to what they write ("Emails with the details were sent to you and all affected posts have been reset to "Draft" status"), that is no longer the case.  Although one gets the message above one never receives the attendant and promised emails in one's email inbox anymore, none whatsoever.

B) And in any case, the post in question (whichever it is, as one cannot tell without the attendant email) is no longer simply reset to Draft status; The whole thing is outright deleted. I forget whether the entire post vanishes from the admin page or if the post remains, albeit with just the title while the content is blank, with all the text removed. (There is thus no way to recover one's original text — unless one happens to have a previously opened window featuring the blog, as long as said window has not been refreshed.)

Imagine the anxiety produced here: isn't this like with the Stasi, Google, where you are (barely) told you are under investigation, but you are never told for what, or what your options are, or if they have already decided that you will be punished (indeed, already have been?) by losing something intimately personal?

Google/Blogger: It is (beyond) time to restore No Pasarán — without further ado.

2025/05/30

In the Swiss Alps (Photos+Video), a Village Is Obliterated (But the 9 Million-Ton Avalanche Is Only One Half of the Catastrophe)


Meanwhile, in the Swiss Alps… On May 28, the Alpine town of Blatten was razed from the map as it was buried under an avalanche. Some 90% of the Valais village disappeared, buried under 9 million tons of rock connected to a glacier on the neighboring mountain.

But as several authorities warned, that was not the end of it. Indeed, the remaining 10% of untouched houses were not out of danger, as the avalanche also blocked the Lötschental valley's Lonza river just like a dam would, causing a rise of 80 centimeters (31 inches) per hour, resulting in the formation of a lake, one that would soon submerge the remaining buildings, whose roofs alone, as of this writing, are visible.

Access to the touristic valley has been cut (except for emergency services) after what was effectively recorded as one of the strongest seismographic movements in Swiss history (corresponding to an earthquake of 3.1 magnitude) and which resulted in what can be almost be called the "perfect avalanche".

See before/after photos (with a slider) and a topographic map at this RTS article. Check this RTS piece for continuous updates; it is in French, but there are numerous photos (some with sliders) and videos to watch (in horror). Speaking about videos, a Radio Télévision Suisse news report below and at the link (until minute 12:12) shows the Birch glacier avalanche (with the images reminiscent of the explosion in Beirut's harbor a few years back) and the first images of the devastated village, before the formation of the lake.(As will surprise no one, climate change is starting to be blamed.)


The only good news is that none of the village's 300 souls was lost (so far, one missing person only) as the catastrophe was foreseen exactly two weeks earlier and all the inhabitants were evacuated nine days prior to the catastrophe, on May 19. (They were then testifying optimistically that they were looking forward to coming back to their homes. Alas, they are now orphans…)

But yet again, the danger is far from over. As Bluewin (which has a series of 8 photos) writes, what with the blockage of the river forming a lake,

The worst-case scenario would be a flood wave that overcomes the reservoir at Ferden and pours from the Lötschental towards the Valais valley floor, triggering debris flows. 

NB: While No Pasarán is out of order, I am blogging here, at NP's sister blog.


2025/05/28

The Blog "No Pasarán" Has Been Locked and Removed; Google: Put an End to the Censorship


After 21 years on the internet, No Pasarán has been locked and removed, unceremoniously taken down by Blogger. (Many many thanks for the Instalink, Glenn; + if any readers have insight in such matters and know who to contact at Google/Blogger, please write to eriksvane@aol.com.)

For the past weeks, if not months, there has hardly been a day when No Pasarán — which for over two decades has prided itself on being fact-filled and dispassionate, linking adversaries as well as friends — didn't receive a message on my Blogger admin page (to be sure, I can't tell if it's a different post complained about every single day, or the same one stretching over several days) advising about the following:

We have received a DMCA complaint for one or more of your blogs. Emails with the details were sent to you and all affected posts have been reset to "Draft" status (you may find them by selecting "Drafts" on the "Edit posts" page for each of the affected blogs). You may re-publish the posts with the offending content and/or link(s) removed. If you believe you have the rights to post this content, you can file a counter-claim with us. For more on our DMCA policy, please click here. Thank you for your prompt attention.
This post was unpublished because it violates Blogger Community Guidelines. To republish, please update the content to adhere to guidelines.

However, contrary to what Google's message says and as I have complained about before, the above is not what happens anymore. Not for the past two years, at least.

What used to happen is that we indeed would check out the Gmail mailbox to see which post had been reset to Draft status and click on a link saying File a Counter-Claim. By no means do the posts have to be recent: posts as old as ten years have been reset to Draft status and were all — all of them — restored after challenging the complaint.

As Facebook and Amazon and the Washington Post and others seem to become less partisan (not to mention X/Twitter) with/after Trump's victory, Google or at least Blogger seem to be going the opposite way… 

A) Contrary to what they write ("Emails with the details were sent to you and all affected posts have been reset to "Draft" status"), that is no longer the case.  Although one gets the message above one never receives the attendant and promised emails in one's email inbox anymore, none whatsoever.

B) And no, the post in question (whichever it is, as I cannot tell without the attendant email) is no longer simply reset to Draft status; The whole thing is outright deleted. I forget whether the entire post vanishes from the admin page or if the post remains, albeit with just the title while the content is blank, with all the text removed. (There is thus no way to recover one's original text — unless one happens to have a previously opened window featuring the blog, as long as said window has not been refreshed.)

C) Even worse. Now, the punishment has been upped even more: previously, the one single post was reverted to "Draft" status; now, Blogger removes not just the one (allegedly) offending post but over 14,000 posts, i.e., the entire 21-year run of the blog (with contents invisible to even the bloggers themselves).

Imagine the anxiety produced here: isn't this like with the Stasi, where you are (barely) told you are under investigation, but you are never told for what, or what your options are, or if they have already decided that you will be punished (already have been?) by losing something intimately personal?

Now the million-dollar question: What caused the latest removal?

As far as I can ascertain, the likeliest cause is the Belgian state's television company: 


As a member of, and spokesman for, Republicans Overseas, I was contacted by the RTBF channel on a month ago for a discussion of Donald Trump's first100 days to give the Republican point of view, albeit with a caveat — one hell of a caveat: 

Of all the people interviewed for the QR section, only one was not allowed to be on the set live, but had his comments prerecorded six to seven hours earlier. Here is what No Pasarán wrote (translated from French), which we didn't send to RTBF's emails and to that of the media watchdog CSA until this Monday.

It is with the utmost indignation that Republicans Overseas (Republicans Overseas France or ROF) protests your April 30th broadcast, during which one of our organization's spokespersons was defamed. He was unable to defend himself since QR Le Débat refused to have him on the RTBF set — which, few would dispute, is unbelievable for a journalistic organization — but insisted on recording his remarks several hours earlier. Consequently, we are forced to add RTBF to the list of untrustworthy European media outlets. We have also advised all members of our organization to no longer accept invitations from RTBF. 

We remind you that Mr. Erik Svane went so far as to offer to use his Miles to pay for a plane ticket from Paris to Brussels out of his own pocket. However, this offer — which can only be described as generous — was immediately rejected, insisting that his participation be pre-recorded via the Skype/Teams app.

That same evening, April 30th, Sacha Daout and Nathalie Maleux hosted a Q&A session on the subject of Trump, les 100 jours qui ont changé NOTRE monde. Everyone was live on the set, with one exception — the only speaker giving the U.S. Republicans' point of view, namely Mr. Svane — whose remarks had actually been recorded six to seven hours earlier. 

When, towards the 55th minute, RTBF played an excerpt of mine answering questions about illegal immigrants, the response was that it was "catastrophic" language and "racist discourse" in addition to, according to no less than a former Belgian prime minister (!), beig reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s. This led to ROF's protest. This caused the protest above, along with the attendant No Pasarán post.

If RTBF or Belgium's CSA are behind the removal of the blog, then the conclusion is inescapable: Not content with calling Donald Trump and his followers (American or foreign) racists and Nazis, the Belgian authorities also want to keep any of the above, or anybody at all, from complaining about said ad hominems or just giving their own point of view.

Beyond contacting me (see introductory paragraph), you can also protest at infos@rtbf.be, sospigeons@rtbf.be, questionsreponses@rtbf.be, and info@csa.be — no insults, natch, just references to freedom of speech along with (warrented) protest of ill treatment of conservatives.

Google/Blogger: Kindly restore No Pasarán immediately.

Update: Google — It Is Time to Restore a Blog — and its 14,000 Posts — That You Have Harbored Without Problems for Over Two Decades

2025/01/02

Le fondateur de MAGA France dénonce l'Islamisme sur CNews et Europe 1

 

Islamism is a world-wide cancer, which is destablizing to all our societies.

A guest on the CNews TV Station called upon, not once but twice, for a debate about the New Orleans terrorist attack, Philippe Karsenty says there is a new cop coming onto the planet and after January 20, things will be changing

Later that evening, the founder of MAGA France later was a guest of Stéphanie De Muru on the Europe 1 radio channel, where he opined that there is no doubt about the act's intention and that the true issue is at the level of the penetration of the territory and of the penetration of ideology.

CNews:
Le porte-parole des Republicans in France, Philippe Karsenty, était invité de Midi News ce mercredi 1er janvier sur CNEWS. «Il n’y a plus de doute sur l’intentionnalité de l’acte, a-t-il déploré. Il va falloir réfléchir aux dérèglements mentaux dans nos sociétés.»