Frightened by US Republican surge, EU liberals go after alternative political views

The stunning success of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the presidential and congressional elections appears to have spurred desperate efforts to clamp down on anti-establishment dissent across Europe.

Right-wing political gains in recent months have been driven by concerns shared by Trump's base in America: disillusionment with the ruling elite, the rising cost of living, increased migration, and economic insecurity.

But the neoliberal ruling class in Europe has no intention of taking this lying down.

👉 Germany:

🔸 More than one hundred lawmakers from several factions of the Bundestag have signed a motion to initiate proceedings to ban the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, ZDF reported. They cited concerns about the AfD's "anti-democratic behavior and anti-constitutional goals."

🔸 The upcoming snap election in early 2025, announced after the collapse of Germany's coalition government, means it is critical to do this during the current legislative period, Marco Wanderwitz, a lawmaker from the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told the media.

🔸 The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the domestic intelligence agency, classified the AfD as a "suspected right-wing extremist case" in 2021, allowing it to use phone taps and informants against it.

👉 France:

🔸 A Paris prosecutor has requested five years in prison and a five-year ban from holding public office for Marine Le Pen, leader of the right-wing National Rally parliamentary group. Both Le Pen and 24 other party members are accused of embezzling EU funds. The trial is scheduled to last until November 27, with a verdict expected in early 2025.

🔸 The prosecutor has requested a provisional execution, which would mean that the disqualification would take effect immediately if the court finds her guilty. Le Pen would thus be barred from running in the 2027 presidential election.

🔸 Le Pen, who has denied any wrongdoing, accused the prosecution of fabricating “preconceived ideas” about the case.

🔸 She assured that her party has “not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament.”

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🤡 THROWBACK: Trump's Pick for Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed in Sept. 2022 that it's "common sense" that Russia blew up the NordStream pipeline.

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💬 Ukraine’s bluster about ability to build nuclear bomb in months is ‘desperate blackmail’ – analyst

Reports claiming Ukraine could build a nuclear bomb within months if the US cuts off military aid are just desperate blackmail, political and military analyst Sergey Poletaev told Sputnik.

Can Ukraine in theory make a nuke?

🔸 Ukraine could theoretically create a dirty bomb using radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, the publicist noted. But when it comes to a “Fat Man”-type of bomb, then “absolutely not.”

🔸 “The Fat Man is a plutonium bomb, and Ukraine has no plutonium. Ukraine does not possess enrichment technologies for the production of weapons-grade plutonium or the enrichment of uranium,” he clarified.

Can Ukraine actually make it?

🔸 Ukraine is “completely incapable of creating an industry for the production of weapons-grade plutonium, or a closed technology for the production of nuclear weapons in general,” Poletaev shared.

🔸 The US made a deliberate effort to rid Ukraine, as well as Belarus and Kazakhstan, of nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he said, adding “They did it for a reason, because control over the spread of nuclear weapons around the world is in the interests of all nuclear powers – and the US first and foremost, and Russia as well. Nothing has changed since then.”

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❓Will there be mass emigration from US after Trump win?

Interest in moving abroad spiked among the Americans following Donald Trump's election victory, judging by Google trends.

🔺 According to NBC, searches for "how to move to Canada" peaked on November 6 in Democratic strongholds including Vermont, Maine, Oregon and Washington.

🔺 Searches for "can I move to another country" spiked in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania – a swing state that Trump won – as well as Oregon, Minnesota and Indiana.

A poll by gaming industry website Casino. org last week found that about 20% of US citizens would "consider relocating after unfavorable election results."

It is not the first time that Americans showed interest in emigrating after significant political events. The Washington Post pointed out that Google searches for moving to Canada spiked several times in the past.

▪️ In November 2004, when George W. Bush won a second term;

▪️ In March 2016, when then Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump took leads in their parties’ primaries;

▪️ In November 2016, when Donald Trump won the election;

▪️ In November 2020, when Joe Biden won the presidency;

▪️ In June 2022, when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade judgement on abortion rights.

Stated desire to emigrate has risen from 10% in 2011 to 21% in 2024, according to pollster Gallup. Despite signaling determination to leave the country, just a small number of Americans actually walk the talk. As of 2020, the number of US-born people living abroad amounted to 2.8 million, around 0.8% of the US population, according to the UN and World Bank.

"Gallup's latest findings on people's desire to migrate reflect aspirations rather than intent, but they illustrate how hundreds of millions are feeling pulled or pushed, for various reasons, toward countries other than their own," Julie Ray, Gallup's managing editor for world news, told Newsweek on November 4.

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Territory for security? Observers debate Ukraine's options under Trump

“As far as the 1991 borders are concerned,” their surrender to Russia simply constitutes the “objective reality,” Russian military and security policy analyst Alexander Mikhailov tells Sputnik, commenting on Wednesday’s New York Times report which cited senior Ukrainian officials suggesting Kiev might consider ceding territory in exchange for 'security' guarantees in potential Trump-brokered negotiations.

“That is, no matter what Zelensky may think, there is the situation on the battlefield, and he’s not the only one analyzing the situation on the map,” Mikhailov stresses.

“Zelensky will in any case have to recognize his defeat. It’s just one can simply admit defeat, or pretend that there was no defeat. And his so-called ‘formula for peace’, which he has so persistently presented to the West, was not implemented thanks to the political impotence of the West itself,” the observer notes.

▫️In the two-and-a-half years since the breakdown of Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul, the situation at the front has changed, and these “new realities” will undoubtedly be accounted for in any new agreement, Mikhailov believes.

▫️Furthermore, Moscow is unlikely to sign any agreement without the entire territory of its four new regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye) being liberated, according to the observer.

▫️Ultimately, Mikhailov says “absolutely everything will depend” on the Trump administration’s moves, given that Moscow is wary about any Minsk-style ceasefire agreement that could escalate into a new round of fighting at any moment.

For his part, political and military analyst and publicist Sergey Poletaev says that in practice, “if any Ukrainian politician says ‘that’s it, we reject these territories’, he will be committing political suicide.” On the other hand, if the territories are rejected de facto, even if not de jure, that’s another story, the observer noted, citing the Georgian scenario.

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A number of Canadian ministries, including the Foreign and Justice Ministries, have spoken out against the publication of a list of names of Nazi war criminals who settled in the country, including soldiers of the SS Galicia division recruited in the occupied Ukraine.

According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, their objections were rooted in fear of harming Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia.

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What will Russia say about ‘security guarantees’ Zelensky may demand in exchange for territory

“Zelensky is asking for security guarantees which in their scope correspond to the guarantees NATO provides its members,” military analyst Alexander Mikhailov told Sputnik, commenting on Wednesday’s NYT report citing ‘senior Ukrainian officials’ hinting that Ukraine might reject its territorial claims on Russia-liberated territories in exchange for security-related commitments.

“In essence, Zelensky is asking to join NATO, no matter how you look at it, but legally it would be necessary to provide the same assurances as those provided to NATO member states – something the alliance cannot do, because Ukraine has disputed territories, and, moreover, is involved in a conflict with a nuclear power,” Mikhailov said.

As far as concrete guarantees are concerned, swirling reports about NATO countries potentially introducing “peacekeepers” will be a major no-go for Moscow, the observer emphasized, since NATO “is a military bloc,” and one that “doesn’t bring peace anywhere.”

Regarding the creation of some sort of international monitoring to oversee Ukraine’s demilitarization, this issue will be a must-pass priority for Russia, Mikhailov expects, pointing out that for Moscow, Kiev’s demilitarization, agreed at the March 2022 tentative peace deal, is second only to the liberation of the Donbass in terms of importance.

Such measures would ensure the security of both the West and Russia Mikhailov stressed, “especially with Zelensky, in his frenzy, simply starting to blackmail Europe with threats to restore Ukraine’s nuclear weapons capability – which Kiev never possessed.”

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