Francafrica is the network of interests that France left behind in Africa when it pulled out as a colonial power. It’s an attempt to extend the benefits of trade and development, and keep French-speaking Africa part of France's sphere. It’s also a rotten system that serves established interests. Africa sends its minerals when France needs them. In return, from time-to-time, France will send in troops to save Afrokleptocrats from hoi polloi. Africans view Francafrica as a form of extraterritoriality and neocolonialism. Hollande views Francafrica as a spin of his failing socialism.
Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the abduction and murder of two French journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, today in the northern city of Kidal. They worked for Radio France Internationale.
“The summary execution of these two RFI journalists is vile and unspeakable,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “We feel both outrage and disgust that journalists who had the courage to cover an area such as the Kidal region were shot in cold blood after interviewing someone.
“We grieve for them, their families and their RFI colleagues, we are concerned for the residents of the Ifoghas massif, whose plight deserves to be covered, and we condemn this double murder, which sadly highlights the lawlessness still prevailing in northern Mali. This act was not only criminal but also terrorist in nature, one designed to deter outside media coverage.”
Dupont and Verlon were kidnapped and shot after conducting an interview in Kidal. Their bodies were found about 10 km from the town centre. Their fate recalls that of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, decapitated by his abductors in Pakistan in 2002, and Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, kidnapped and executed in Iraq in 2004.
Today’s double murder is another unfortunate example of the growing violence to which journalists are exposed. No fewer than 88 were killed in the course of their work in 2012. This was the worst toll since Reporters Without Borders began keep an annual tally in 1995.
A total of 45 journalists have been killed worldwide since the start of 2013. Four French journalists have been killed in Syria since the start of the uprising in March 2011.
Mali was ranked 99th in the 2013 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, a fall of 74 places from its position in 2012.
The cancer of socialism destroys France. Hollande has failed and it’s high time to resign. Nevertheless, Hollande calls for the creation of an economic government for the euro zone under a president! Hollande declares he tries to pull Europe out of its lethargy and gives a time span of two years to create a political union! He also indicates Merkel has expressed a willingness to consider such a union, as Europe could not move forward without the indispensible German-French pair. France is in depression now. Investments and exports are waning in France, purchasing power is falling and unemployment has reached record levels.
Hollande says: It is my responsibility as the leader of a founding member of the European Union to pull Europe out of this torpor that has gripped it, and to reduce people's disenchantment with it. If Europe does not advance, it will fall or even be wiped from the world map. We have to find a balance between budgetary rigor and support for growth. Better education and training is needed as well as more competiveness, especially in relation to neighboring Germany.
Would you blow your whistle on kleptocrats? Do you have a news tip, firsthand account of political corruption, or reliable information about a government foul-up? Please send your scoop to Basil Venitis at venitis@gmail.com for publication in http://themostsearched.blogspot.com
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