Macron said France and the French felt they were living through a series of crises, “each worse than the last”.
“What we are currently living through is a kind of major tipping point or a great upheaval … we are living the end of what could have seemed an era of abundance … the end of the abundance of products of technologies that seemed always available … the end of the abundance of land and materials including water,” he said.
He thanked “our firemen, elected representatives and farmers who faced the fires and drought”.
Macron added that France, Europe and the world had perhaps been too “insouciant” about threats to democracy and human rights and the “rise of illiberal regimes and strengthening of authoritarian regimes”.
“This overview that I’m giving, the end of abundance, the end of insouciance, the end of assumptions – it’s ultimately a tipping point that we are going through that can lead our citizens to feel a lot of anxiety. Faced with this, we have a duty, duties, the first of which is to speak frankly and clearly without doom-mongering,” he said.
‘When we talk about the end of abundance, I think of the millions of unemployed, the millions of those in a precarious situation,’ said the head of the CGT union, Philippe Martinez, pictured here in June 2022. Photograph: Luc Nobout/Zuma Press/Rex/Shutterstock
Philippe Martinez, the secretary general of the powerful CGT union, said Macron’s comments were “misplaced” and that many in France had never known abundance. “When we talk about the end of abundance, I think of the millions of unemployed, the millions of those in a precarious situation. For many French people, times are already hard, sacrifices have already been made,” Martinez said.
The president’s warnings came as it was revealed that the dividends paid out by major French companies reached a record €44bn in the second quarter of 2022, as a result of what were described as exceptional profits in 2021. The economic newspaper Les Echos said the dividend payout was almost 33% up on the previous year and was the result of a post-Covid economic catchup.
Macron, who was re-elected for a second five-year term in April but lost his parliamentary majority in the subsequent general election, and his government are facing a rocky rentrée, the traditional September return to work and school after the long summer break in France.
After months of successive election campaigns, his newly appointed government had little time to establish itself before the holidays, putting this year’s return to parliamentary business under particular scrutiny.
The president, who leaves for a three-day visit to Algeria on Thursday, has told ministers that measures to tackle the climate emergency and its consequences as well as those focusing on renewable energies must be a priority this autumn, and he has urged a “general mobilisation” to address it.
The prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, is expected to give details on new measures at the annual conference held by Medef, the French employers’ federation, next Monday.
Earlier this month, while attending a commemoration ceremony for Operation Dragoon, the allied invasion of Provence in 1944, Macron said this autumn and winter would be a difficult one for the country, with a risk of energy shortages and high prices as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and this was “the price to pay for freedom”.
Critics have accused the president of giving no clear goal for his second and final mandate. His government will need to make alliances to ensure its 2023 budget passes through a divided parliament, another rentrée priority. The government also faces a battle to pass election manifesto measures including changes to the unemployment benefit system and pensions that will put it on a direct collision course with the left and unions, who are vehemently opposed to the proposals.
Bernard Sananès, of the opinion pollsters Elabe, said Macron was preparing the French for bad times. “It’s a kind of political anticipation. If things really become difficult, the president needs to have called it beforehand to avoid giving the impression that events have taken him and his government by surprise,” Sananès told AFP.
The leader of the French Communist party, Fabien Roussel, a presidential candidate earlier this year, expressed astonishment at Macron’s speech. “Unbelievable! It’s as if the French have had no worries and been over-indulging themselves. We have 10 million poor in France because of President Macron’s carelessness and the predatory behaviour of the rich,” Roussel tweeted.
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SERIAL COMMENTS from “Charlie K”, 25 August 2022 …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
A = Is this the beginning of the end of capitalism as Macron warns the age of abundance is over? He describes France as being on the edge of a major tipping point and predicts there will be significant upheavals.
The sad reality is that this could have been avoided but Western leaders made their choices, and now the consequences of those choices have to be met. Even six months ago, Macron and other leaders in Europe understood the consequences of their decisions over Russia, but they pressed ahead telling their people the suffering it would cause on them was worth it. Let’s see if the French and European people accept that argument as they begin to pay the price for the decisions of their leaders.
Unfortunately, it is too late to turn things around while European leaders have become trapped in their own ideologies and lack the political will to save their own economies. It is not China and Russia destroying capitalism, but the US, UK and the Europeans themselves ….
B = Boris Johnson’s argument that the British people have to sacrifice themselves for the sake of freedom in Ukraine is a load of baloney. The conflict in Ukraine is not about freedom. The conflict was triggered by NATO expansionism.
Ukraine is hardly a beacon of freedom and democracy. The Ukrainian government has banned all opposition parties and cracked down hard on dissent and alternative voices, and produced a “kill list” of some 80 people around the world who have expressed views the Ukrainian government don’t like. Henry Kissinger is one of the names on the Ukrainian kill list. His crime was to suggest Ukraine return to diplomacy over war to resolve the conflict – one of the few sane Americans to be doing so. Johnston and all other American politicians (except Trump and Kissinger) are telling Ukraine to continue the war and to never find a peaceful resolution through diplomacy. Another name on the kill list is Dugin whose daughter was “liquidated” in a terrorist attack in Moscow last Sunday.
It is annoying to see Western leaders resorting to dishonest rhetoric that the war in Ukraine is a fight for “freedom” and “democracy” when that is plainly untrue.
It’s important to note that the Ukrainian agency responsible for preparing the “kill list” is funded entirely by the US Government. That US citizens, including Kissinger, are on this list should outrage every American who believes in the Constitution.
C = Based on multiple open sources, it appears the Russians are building up three massive offensive groupings of forces in Ukraine – one in the north, one in the centre and one in the south. They are also preparing massive air power with about 400 to 500 combat aircraft.
After the Donetsk People’s Republic is liberated, which should be complete by early September, and after Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s last defensive position in Avdiivka, Russia will probably unleash these three offensive forces with massive airpower which will accelerate Russia’s movement on the battlefield, culminating in the defeat of Ukraine, and bringing about the end of the war on Russia’s terms. That is why the US Embassy has instructed all Americans to leave Ukraine immediately and the US Embassy is making plans to evacuate.
There is nothing the Americans can do about it. It’s game over… should events play out as described above, it would be a massive defeat for NATO, the US and UK. The big question is: what lasting impact will a Russia victory over Ukraine have on European security and NATO’s reason to exist? Russia will be in a position to demand a new security arrangement for Europe. NATO expansionism has been a disaster. This expansionism was never about freedom and democracy, but a project asserting US hegemonic power.
The US is arguably not a democracy. Yes, the US have elections, but the people of America do not choose who the candidates will be. Those are chosen by corporate and other power interests which means the election process is loaded from the start. People can only vote for candidates selected by hidden power interests.
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Sachi Prabakaran,
I don’t give a damn about what social parasites, scavengers like you howl. Because that is all you do. Howl, and when near to being knocked out, start making reference to websites. So, your facts are in websites, isn’t it you parasite? Irrespective of whose website it is and irrespective of whether it is accurate or not, isn’t it?
Now I turn to Roberts:
As for Roberts’ belated request for his audience to pass judgment on me, it is way too late. That is because people would have seen almost two months ago (?), how this editor (if you can call him one) placed a email letter I had written to him personally, in the view of the public CAPTIONING that I I quit Thuppahi’s blog in ‘disgust”, when the truth is that I had never used the word “disgust” anywhere in my personal letter to him. Not only that, this immature and childish, but yet, very sinister editor while committing the cardinal sin and facing the legal consequences of placing a personal letter in view of the public without permission from the writer, and also decorating that letter of mine with cartoons of his choice, thereby committing another illegal act of distortion of a document (in this case, a letter) by willfully, changing the contents and intentions of that personal letter.
Sachi Prabakaran, now you have joined hands with Roberts. That is a hallmark of a parasite, because isn’t it you, yourself who lamented to Roberts that you would have preferred him to insert your photo instead of a photo of Prabakaran pointing a revolver when he wrote that incriminating post about you calling you a “tangential Tamil sniper.” How times and friendships change for you, however insincere and opportunistic they be. Urghh!
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As for Roberts, many things will come to light very soon about his hatred towards certain segments and personalities of Sri Lanka, past and present. Here is one for a starter. (I don’t think he will publish this post of mine when he gets reminded of the personal crusade he has been engaging against Sinhala Buddhists from a very very long time). This one refers to one of his articles as way back as 1998. His actual crusade began even much, much earlier.
I refer to an article which appeared in the Sunday Times of Sri Lanka on the 4th of October 1998 in which Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku raised in parliament a number of issues regarding an article this venomous Roberts wrote regarding Anagarika Dharmapala in the Sunday Observer (whose editor at that time also had some perverted inclinations) of September 25th, 1998. For brevity I will take only some of the contents of Dr. Kodituwakku’s statement in parliament. In his article, Roberts is said to have claimed that the Anagarika’s “sexual urges came in to serious conflict with his goal.” Dr. Kodituwakku rightly pointed out whether it was the national hero’s psychiatrist who furnished the medical report to Dr. Roberts, the writer of the offensive article. I now go one step further and ask Roberts whether any fair sex member of his ancestry also knew the Anagarika well?
Later, Dr. Kodituwakku asked for an inquiry to find out who authorized the publishing of such an article in a largely read national newspaper (I have given a hint of who authorized it, above). Dr. Kodituwakku goes on to say “What is the significance of this report which projects this country as a sex paradise and at the same time tries to destroy what is left of a vibrant culture of a proud and incomparable national identity.” (I guess the paranoid Roberts must be laughing his guts out again when he is reminded of this sentence of Dr. K). Dr. K also goes on to say that this article coincided with the Anagarika’s birth anniversary.
I am not here to defend Anagarika Dharmapala. I do not know much about him, anyway But, it is very obvious what kind of hatred Roberts has towards this man (not only in this article, but many others he has written about the Anagarika). This kind of hate-filled statements cannot be expected from any person with a sane mind. So, it is very clear that Roberts, a Reader (only) at the University of Adelaide, and a person who we thought would act responsibly both as the owner and editor of this blog, could stoop down to these levels that are usually exhibited in the alleys and gutters. ROBERTS, YOU OWE IT TO YOUR READERS IN THIS BLOG TO PROVE CONVINCINGLY THAT THE ANAGARIKA HAD SUCH SEXUAL URGES. IF YOU CANNOT, YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY NOT ONLY TO THOSE IN THIS BLOG BUT TO ALL SENSIBLE SRI LANKANS (OF WHICH, YOU AND SACHI PRABAKARAN, NEVER, EVER HAVE BEEN).
YOU HAVE ENGAGED OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN TRYING TO EXPOSE SINHALA BUDDHIST CHAUVANISM. YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO IT IN A COUNTRY IN WHICH THE VAST MAJORITY ARE SINHALA BUDDHISTS. YOU SHOULD AT LEAST BE THANKFUL FOR THEIR PATIENCE WITH MADMEN LIKE YOU. IN MANY OTHER COUNTRIES, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SHRED TO PIECES PHYSICALLY. YOU DO NOT STOP AT THE ANAGARIKA. YOU ACCUSE SWRD BANDARANAYAKE, PHILLIP GOONEWARDENA, WS KARUNARATNE AND MANY OTHERS AS SINHALA CHAUVANIST IN THE SAME VEIN. UNFORTUNATELY, ROBERTS, THIS STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE NO PEDIGREE, AND AS A RESULT OF THAT INFERIORITY COMPLEX, YOU ARE ALWAYS BITTER ABOUT OTHERS.
THERE ARE SOME OTHERS LIKE YOU WHO NEED TO BE EXPOSED AS PARASITES WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE SRI LANKA IN TO A HELL-HOLE. THESE INCLUDE, TISARANEE GUNASEKERA, DAYAN JAYATILLEKE, AND SURREPTITIOUSLY THAT HEAD OF THE CENTER FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES, WHOSE NAME DOES NOT COME TO MY MIND AT THE MOMENT. WE ARE ALSO AWARE OF IGNITION CHARGED RESEARCH INSTITUTES LIKE “VERITES RESEARCH”. I READ WITH HUGE AMUSEMENT THAT THEY HAD HOSTED YOU AND SHOW IT ON THEIR WEBSITE OR GOOGLE POST AS ‘AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL ROBERTS.” THAT MUST HAVE BEEN SOME EVENING FOR WHAT I CAN GATHER IS THAT YOU MADE SOME GENERALIZATIONS, OR, ONE MIGHT EVEN SAY, YOU COINED A “THEORY” ON THE BASIS OF WHAT YOU OBSERVED IN A CRICKET MATCH IN AUSTRALIA WHERE YOUR CASE STUDY WAS AN INCIDENT THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN TWO SRI LANKAN SPECTATORS AND AN AUSTRALIAN FIELDER (WHO I BELIEVE WAS FIELDING NEAR THE ROPES). YES, ROBERTS YOUR “RESEARCH” WAS BASED ON THAT SINGLE AND VERY SHORT EPISODE (AN ARGUMENT, I PRESUME, BETWEEN THE TWO SPECTATORS AND THE AUSSIE FIELDER). I DON’T KNOW OF ANY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY THAT FITS YOUR “RESEARCH”. I WOULD HAVE TO CALL YOUR “RESEARCH METHODOLOGY”, WHICH IS A NEW ONE TO EVERYONE, AS, “ROBERTS’, THREE INDIVIDUAL-ONE INCIDENT RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.” AND OF COURSE, A “RESEARCH” PAPER BASED ON THIS METHODOLOGY. SO, IT SEEMS YOU KEPT THE ‘RESEARCHERS’ AT VERITES RESEARCH GLUED TO YOUR EXPOSITION OVER SEVERAL CUPS OF COFFEE THAT EVENING (IN THEIR AUDITORIUM?). I HAVE LISTENED MANY TIMES TO THE SHALLOW AND ONE-SIDED EXPLANATIONS OF SOME OF THEIR BIG-WIGS OVER THE MEDIA. OFTEN, COMMENTING ON THINGS WHICH THEY WERE REALLY ALMOST CLUELESS. WE CALL THAT “BORU KAIVAARU”. NO WONDER, YOUR “RESEARCH” BLENDED WELL WITH THEM AND THEY EVEN NOW HAVE THAT EVENING AND A SUMMARY OF YOUR DISCOURSE ON THE INTERNET.
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ROBERTS, I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN LIKE THIS OF ANYONE. BUT, AS FOR YOU, YOU DESERVE MUCH MORE, AND YOU WILL GET IT IN GOOD MEASURE. YOU WILL SHUT ME FROM THIS BLOG. UNFORTUATELY FOR YOU, I WILL HAVE ACCESS TO MANY OTHER SITES, AND I MIGHT DECIDE TO GALVANIZE SUPPORT FOR EXPOSING YOU, AND YOUR INTENTIONS FULLY, THROUGH A SITE OF MY OWN.
WE HAVE TOLERATED PARASITES LIKE YOU MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR FAR, FAR TOO LONG. WE HAVE TAKEN YOUR VENOM WITHOUT PROTEST. THAT HAS MADE YOU EVEN MORE RESOLUTE IN DENOUNCING SINHALA BUDDHISTS. I AM A SINHALA BUDDHIST. BUT WHAT HAVE I OR VERY MANY OTHERS DONE TO BE SUBJECT TO YOUR RIDICULE AND INSULT OVER A PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME?
THE TIME FOR YOUR PARASITIC BEHAVIOUR IS OVER. DO NOT SEARCH THE DUTBINS FOR MORSELS WITH WHICH YOU WANT TO ‘FIX’ GROUPS AND PEOPLE WHOM YOU HAVE DECIDED IN ADVANCE TO ‘FIX’. THAT IS NOT RESEARCH. THAT IS ONLY MORBID HATRED BEING SPAT OUT AT INNOCENT PEOPLE.
AS FOR PEOPLE LIKE TISARANEE GUNASEKERA, AND DAYAN JAYATILLEKE, IF THEY FEEL SO PERSECUTED BY US, OR THEY WANT TO BE THE BEARER OF THE CROSS, WHY DON’T THEY GET LOST FROM THIS COUNTRY AND END UP IN SOME PLACE LIKE SIBERIA, WHERE NO ONE WILL CARE ANY BIT ABOUT THEIR PERSISTENT COMEDY.
I WILL PERSONALLY CAMPAIGN AND GET SUPPORT TO SEE THAT YOU, MICHAEL ROBERTS IS MADE PERSONA NON GRATIA TO SRI LANKA. BECAUSE PARASITES LIKE YOU DO NOT HAVE GRATITUDE FOR THE FACT THAT WE TREATED YOU AS EQUALS, AND DID NOT TRAMPLE (MINORITIES) YOU TO THE GROUND AS HAPPENS IN SOME OTHER COUNTRIES.
YOUR PROBLEM ROBERTS IS THAT YOU TRY TO POSE OFF AS HAVING A SUPERIORITY COMPLEX, WHILST KNOWING UNDERNEATH, THAT YOU ARE INFERIOR. BUT YOU SHOULD NOT USE YOUR TWISTED NERVES TO MERCILESSLY HOUND OTHERS WHO HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NO WRONG TO YOU.
WE WILL ACTUALLY RESEARCH YOU CAREFULLY AND CLINICALLY, ROBERTS (AND, NOT “SEARCH” , AS YOU DO) SO THAT IN THE END WE WILL HAVE A HUGE DOSISIER WHICH WE WILL DONATE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA, AND, ALSO, EXPOSE YOU TO THE MEDIA AS A DOUBLE-HEADED VIPER..
I SINCERELY HOPE AT LEAST SOME PEOPLE IN THIS BLOG REALIZE WHAT AN EXTREMELY SINISTER AND SKEWED PERSON YOU ARE DEALING WITH.
ROBERTS, YOU ARE A WORTHLESS PUNK.