French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron faced off in a scathing two hours of televised debate Wednesday, just days before they face each other in a runoff election.

Le Pen portrayed her opponent as a heartless capitalist who is weak on terrorism, while Macron called his opponent a liar and a dangerous extremist.

Le Pen in her opening statement called the former economy minister Macron “the candidate of savage globalization.” Macron called Le Pen, who once was forced to kick her extreme-right father out of their National Front political party, the heir to France’s far-right faction.

The country’s high unemployment rate was on the agenda. Macron called for simplified government regulations and small and medium-sized businesses, while Le Pen promised to tax the products of companies that outsource jobs.

Regarding terrorism, which has taken at least 240 French lives in the past two years, Le Pen called for closing mosques suspected of fostering extremism, expanding prisons, and securing France’s borders. Macron called for better online surveillance, more police officers, and better intelligence sharing.

The debate between the far-right Le Pen and her centrist rival Macron could be the climax of the heated campaign, as the two candidates attempt to shore up support from France’s estimated 18 percent of undecided voters.

An opinion polling average shows Macron with a 60 percent to 40 percent lead over Le Pen, though that lead has shrunk by about three percentage points since the first round of voting on April 23.

The debate Wednesday night was broadcast to about 20 million viewers on France’s two largest television stations. It was billed as a showdown between the two candidates in their first face-to-face appearance.
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A Russian court has upheld opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s five-year suspended sentence for embezzlement, a move that could thwart his plans to run for president in 2018.

The court threw out Navalny’s appeal of the embezzlement charges that were lodged against him over a timber deal he was involved with in 2009, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Navalny has called the embezzlement charges, which came after he led protests against President Vladimir Putin, politically motivated.

A conviction for a serious crime could prevent Navalny from running for president, even before he gathers the 300,000 signatures needed to register as a candidate.

Navalny’s campaign manager Leonid Volkov, though, insisted on Twitter the ruling would not derail Navalny’s quest to become president.

“We are holding a campaign to get Alexei Navalny registered as a presidential campaign and we will achieve that,” he said.

Navalny has said he believes he is eligible to run because he is not imprisoned. But some legal experts have questioned this.

Navalny did not attend the court proceedings Thursday due to issues with his right eye. He was attacked last week by an assailant who threw green dye on his face, leaving Navalny with only 20 percent vision in his right eye and a risk of losing use of it completely.
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Greece reached a deal with its European lenders Tuesday for more reforms in exchange for a badly needed bailout installment so Athens could avoid possible bankruptcy.

After months of often tough talks, Greek officials agreed to more pension cuts and tax increases.

The European Commission and European Central Bank will bring the deal to their finance ministers at their May 22 meeting.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ leftist government says it is confident parliament will approve the new round of cuts.

Greece desperately needs about $8 billion to meet a debt payment in July or stare possible bankruptcy in the face.

International Monetary Fund official Poul Thomsen says while the IMF welcomes the deal between Greece and its eurozone lenders, the country needs debt relief and restructuring. Thomsen says the Greek debt of close to 180 percent of its gross domestic product is unsustainable.

The IMF has balked at taking part in the latest Greek bailout unless the debt is renegotiated.

Greece has been relying on international bailouts since 2010, when the outgoing conservative government badly underreported the country’s debt.

The harsh economic reforms, including cuts in social spending and tax hikes, have caused pain and chaos for many Greeks. But the bailouts have helped Greece fend off total collapse.
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Does Russia have a “mystery weapon” capable of threatening the entire U.S. Navy?

Russian media have claimed that the Russian military has developed technology capable of neutralizing an adversary’s aircraft, ships and missiles within a 5,000-kilometer radius. The claim, first reported by Vesti News on April 14, said a Russian warplane had successfully tested the electronic jamming device on a U.S. warship, the destroyer Donald Cook in the Black Sea.

The report, which used a mock-up simulation to demonstrate the exercise, also quoted anonymous Russian sources claiming the technology could wipe out the entire U.S. Navy.

While the USS Donald Cook really was approached by a Russian jet in the Black Sea in 2014, U.S. officials say the details of the encounter were not accurately presented in the Vesti report and that most of the facts presented there are fabricated. American analysts suggest Russian officials may have made up the story to disguise the weakness of their own military.

“Russia’s claims about harming the Donald Cook are false,” said Jorge Benitez, director of NATOSource and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. “The Russian fighter jet was unarmed and there is no evidence that it damaged the U.S. ship in any way.”

During the incident, a Russian Su-24 buzzed the USS Donald Cook within 300 meters for some 90 minutes. A video shot from the ship shows that the Russian aircraft had neither external weapons hanging under the wings or fuselage, nor any external pods essential to house the electronics that Vesti claims it used against the Cook.  

The U.S. Navy also says there was no damage to the destroyer. In an email response to VOA’s Polygraph.info website, the Navy wrote, that on April 12, 2014, a Russian SU-24 indeed “made numerous close-range and low altitude passes” over the USS Donald Cook in international waters in the Black Sea.

The Navy described the Russian action as “unsafe and unprofessional” adding that “the [the Russian] aircraft did not respond to multiple queries from the Donald Cook. The event ended without incident after approximately 90 minutes, and the ship continued without impact on its original tasking.”

The media reports claimed that Russian specialists had an “unbelievable breakthrough” in electronic warfare. The complex “Khibiny,” the report claimed, uses “powerful electronic waves to deactivate the ship’s systems.”

It also said the new technology is capable of creating electronic jamming domes over their command and control facilities, bases and critical infrastructure making them invisible on radar screens.

In describing the episode, the website Russian Agency of News said the “American servicemen did not know that the Russian plane was equipped with the latest complex of radio-electronic warfare ‘Khibini.’

As soon as the [Russian] pilot realized that he was detected, he turned on the equipment and the powerful radio-electronic waves disabled all systems of the ship,” the report said.  

The April 15 report also claimed that the agency had discovered an account of the incident on the social media account of a Cook crew member who spoke of ‘mysticism’ on board.  The crew member was quoted saying the Russian plane had completely disabled the ship’s navigation and anti-missile AEGIS systems, turning “the pride of our fleet” to “our shame.”

Benitez believes that the Russian media produces false stories of this kind “to cover up the weaknesses of the Russian military.”  

While the Russians failed to “intimidate the Donald Cook,” the expert said the incident was connected to Russia’s actions in Ukraine in 2014.

“The original lies about this non-existent electromagnetic wonder weapon appeared in 2014 during Russia’s attacks against Ukraine,” Benitez said. “The Donald Cook was the first U.S warship into the Black Sea after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Putin’s media seems to have wanted a story of acting tough against the presence of the American military so close to the crisis area. Thus, they fabricated this story of disabling the electronic systems of a U.S. warship.”

Stephen Blank, an analyst at the American Foreign Policy Council, said the story about the Russian “wonder weapon” is “a standard Russian propaganda trick to disseminate false articles” meant to “impress audiences with Russian military-technological might and superiority over the U.S.”

Blank said the Russian media stories aim to “impress the ignorant abroad, also to enhance the Russian readers’ sense of Russian power, frighten the U.S. and especially its allies and thus contribute to the inhibition of Western military responses to Russian action.”

The experts said they were intrigued by Russia’s move to resurrect the story three years later, and by the effort that went into the skillfully presented simulation video showing how the new electromagnetic weapon supposedly disabled an American destroyer.

Some believe Moscow may be once again trying to act tough to cover up its weaknesses in light of the recent U.S. military actions in Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the Korean Peninsula.  

Benitez said those actions “exposed the vulnerabilities of Russian air defense” and highlighted “Russia’s lack of similar warships and air power that could be deployed to a crisis zone.

Instead, the Russian media not only recycled the fiction that Putin has an electromagnetic weapon that can disable a U.S. warship, but exaggerated the lie by now claiming that this mythical weapon can wipe out the whole U.S. Navy.”  

This story originated in VOA’s Georgian Service.
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If Emmanuel Macron wins Sunday’s French presidential runoff, Europe’s pro-EU liberals will finally have their champion.

For centrists who have been licking their wounds since Britain voted to quit the EU a year ago, the 39-year-old will be the gallant young hero who slew the most dangerous populist dragon of them all, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen.

From a Paris dinner party with the young leaders of Belgium and Luxembourg, to a conspicuous Twitter bromance with Italy’s ex-premier Matteo Renzi, Macron has already built a circle of likeminded peers, unafraid to promote closer EU integration at a time when voters are being tempted by the hard right and left.

The young leaders present themselves as fresh faces, free of 20th-century baggage of left-right class war.

But to fullfil their dream of a reinvigorated Europe, they still need to win over leaders from the old school, above all Germany’s Angela Merkel.

One senior German official said Macron’s youthful stardust could give France some “Kennedy-esque” optimism. But the official also injected a sceptical note: Berlin was “willing to talk about Europe”, he said, “but the discussion has to be about responsibility as well as solidarity.”

Erasmus generation

Macron discussed his plans for Europe at a private dinner party in March at the home of a French TV celebrity, attended by Belgium’s 41-year-old Prime Minister Charles Michel and Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, 44.

“It was a moment for sharing our commitments on Europe,” Michel told Reuters of the dinner, which was kept secret until word leaked out in April. “In the coming months, we’re going to have to relaunch the European project … and for that we will need partners.”

The three men are part of the first generation of European leaders to come of age with the benefits of EU citizenship.

“We are the Erasmus generation,” Michel told Reuters, referring to an EU exchange program that lets students attend universities in other countries across the bloc.

As France’s youngest-ever president, Macron would step into the shoes vacated by Italy’s youngest-ever prime minister, Renzi, who also took office at 39 and who stepped down last year after losing a referendum on constitutional reform.

“Bravo to @matteorenzi,” Macron tweeted this week. “Together we will change Europe with all the progressives.”

Renzi tweeted back: “Thank you dear Emmanuel. We are with you.”

The Paris dinner party, held at Macron’s invitation at the home of a TV personality Stephane Bern, a friend of Bettel, showed how the new generation of leaders is comfortable dispensing with the formality of traditional diplomacy.

“Everything’s got more informal,” one person familiar with the dinner said. “They’ve all got each other’s mobile numbers. They text all the time.”

Guy Verhofstadt, the liberal former Belgian prime minister, Brexit negotiator and champion of more federal EU powers, sees in Macron not just an ally who wants to end old habits of state-to-state wrangling in the EU, but an example of how social media and networking is changing policymaking — and maybe policy too.

“Political action will completely change,” Verhofstadt said.

Still, however they may be buoyed by a Macron victory, the young liberals will have a steep hill to climb to achieve a broad consensus for closer EU integration.

The historically unpopular outgoing president, Francois Hollande, failed to achieve similar aims in Europe and stands as a conspicuous example of how difficult it could be for Macron to persuade the French to back him.

All roads to EU change still run through Berlin, where proposals will be met with caution even if Merkel loses re-election this year to her center-left, EU enthusiast challenger Martin Schulz. Germans widely see French deficit spending as a threat to the euro.

Michel, Bettel and liberal Dutch premier Mark Rutte, 50, have jointly proposed an outline for EU reform to be debated after Brexit. It calls for faster integration of some states in a “multispeed Europe”, an idea that Germany was long cool to but which Merkel has lately signaled she might consider.

Some senior Benelux officials hope for revival of Franco-German harmony. They see a possible “grand bargain” where former banker Macron can eventually persuade Berlin that France can be trusted not to let deficits balloon if Germany is willing to drop its resistance to backing a share of other states’ debt.

A person close to Macron described the dinner on March 5 as a private meeting between like-minded young European reformers: “It was part of his European outreach efforts.”

“There is common ground,” he said, while stressing Macron would not limit himself to such alliances. “They support Macron’s plans to inject new momentum into the European project and he supports the message sent out by the Benelux countries.”

 
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to rejoin the ruling party he co-founded in a ceremony on Tuesday, following his narrow victory in a referendum that expands the powers of the president’s office.

Most of the constitutional changes ushering in a presidential system, approved in the April 16 referendum, will come into force in 2019. However, an amendment that reverses a requirement for the president to be neutral and cut ties with their party came into effect immediately, allowing Erdogan to return to the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP. The party is expected to re-elect Erdogan as its chairman at an extraordinary congress on May 21.

Erdogan, who was prime minister between 2003 and 2014, was forced to resign from the AKP when he became president. He continued to lead the party from behind the scenes, for example having the final say on the list of candidates running for parliamentary seats. The change will allow him to lead the party outright.

Erdogan’s “yes” camp won the referendum with 51.4 percent of the vote against the “no” votes 48.6 percent, according to official final results announced last week.

The main opposition party contested the outcome, citing irregularities, and is challenging the referendum at the European Court of Human Rights, following unsuccessful Turkish high court appeals.

The vote switches Turkey’s system from a parliamentary one to a presidential system, abolishing the office of the prime minister while boosting the president’s powers.

Critics fears the change will lead to a one-man authoritarian rule with too few checks and balances. Erdogan and his supporters argue that a strong presidency will bring stability and more efficient government.
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Expanding the number of countries involved in Russian-backed  peace talks for Syria could offer a chance to jump-start negotiations on a political solution, Germany’s top official for Russia policy said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Gernot Erler suggested that German Chancellor Angela Merkel could raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet in Sochi, Russia, later on Tuesday.

“We have to acknowledge that all previous peace efforts have failed,” Erler told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, noting that neither the U.N. initiative led by diplomat Staffan de Mistura nor the Russia-brokered cease-fire had led to tangible results.

“As a result we have to think of something new. I think the German side should ask Putin if he can imagine including more countries in the negotiations. That could offer an opportunity to at least organize a negotiating process,” he said.

He said it was clear that a solution to ending the war in Syria was now unthinkable without the participation of Russia, whose military intervention has shifted the course of the six-year-old war in favor of its ally, President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told news agencies on Saturday that Moscow was ready to cooperate with the United States on settling the Syrian crisis.

Interfax also quoted Lavrov’s deputy, Mikhail Bogdanov, as saying the armed Syrian opposition would participate in the next round of Russian-backed peace talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on May 3-4, which will also involve Iran and Turkey.

Erler rejected a suggestion by Jordan’s King Abdullah that the West should accept Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine and stop criticizing Moscow to encourage Putin to drop his support for Assad.

“I consider that a dubious idea. It would mix up two issues that have nothing to do with each other,” Erler said.

He said U.S. President Donald Trump initially appeared to favor such a “deal” but had since realized that foreign policy crises could not be handled like real estate transactions.

Russia has vetoed eight resolutions on Syria to shield Assad’s government from action, most recently blocking condemnation of a chemical weapons attack last month that killed dozens of people, including many children. China has backed Russia and vetoed six resolutions.

Erler said Merkel would also press Moscow to uphold its written commitments under the Minsk peace process aimed at ending the violence in eastern Ukraine.

He said Merkel would assure Putin that sanctions against Moscow could be lifted quickly if Moscow demonstrated its resolve to implement the Minsk agreement.

“But Moscow has known that for some time, so the ability to add pressure is very limited,” he said.
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