ZANETOR PRAYS FOR PEACE

Dr Zanetor Rawlings

By Ekow Mensah

Dr Zanetor Agyemang Rawlings, Member of Parliament and daughter of former President Jerry John Rawlings has spoken out loudly against what she considers as abuses of the political system and called for serious efforts to preserve peace and security.

She alleges that over the last four months “people have been assaulted, dismissed and asked to resign”.

She also claims that in the same period there have been “several groups that have taken the law into their own hands” and “there has been a lot of ethnic politics that is still going on”.

In a full page article, headed “Lessons of War” published in “The Ghanaian Times” of May 6, 2017, Dr Rawlings makes a slightly veiled attack on the Delta Forces and Invisible Forces.

She writes, “There are armed groups who prior to the election were told that the security forces were not to be trusted, and now that the elections are over these armed groups are still in the system and expecting to be compensated for the roles they played”.

Dr Rawlings appears worried about inflammatory remarks on media platforms and describes the focus on galamsey in the media as“hype”.

She does not spare the Akufo-Addo government when she complains about hikes in transport fares and “fluctuating” fuel prices as well as a drop in the value of the cedi.

Zanetor and father, Jerry Rawlings

“The public has seen a record number of Ministers and deputy Ministers being appointed”, she laments.

At the end of the article, Dr Rawlings warns that if all of society does not unite in the condemnation of these acts of lawlessness, Ghana could be caught up in a cycle of violence.

Interestingly only three days after this publication, a leading Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) suggested that Dr Rawlings should be made the running mate of the Presidential Candidate of the party for the 2020 elections.

Is there something in the offing?

Editorial

DR RAWLINGS’ VIEWS

Dr Zanetor Rawlings does not appear to be very happy about the situation in the country since President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won power with the support of some of the people around her.

Some of the issues she raises are genuine and need urgent attention from all right thinking citizens.

For example the situation in which new governments sack all public servants who are suspected of not being party loyalists is unhealthy and needs to change.

The emergence of private militia and their attacks on state institutions and private citizens must also be a major source of worry for all those who cherish the very limited democratic space available to the people of Ghana.

We want to hope that Dr Rawlings is expressing genuine and legitimate concerns and would stand up to be counted in the struggles of the people of Ghana for deeper democracy and social justice.

Local Story:

Ghana Library Association calls for creation of national library

Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education Minister

By Julius K. Satsi

Mr Samuel Bentil Aggrey, the President of the Ghana Library Association, has called on the Government to create a national library to help keep relevant national information. 

He said a national library was important because it would help to collect and preserve all publications of the country and perform other critical roles.

Mr Aggrey made the call during the eight Presidential Inaugural Lecture of the Association in Accra on the theme: “National Development through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - The Role of Libraries.”

Quoting the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science 2010, he said: “National libraries are supposed to be the official repository of printed work, the general access library, information bibliographical centre and the centre of coordination, planning and stimulation of the entire library system of the nation.”

“Many African countries such as Togo, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Somalia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Cameroon, Mali, Chad, Southern Sudan, Kenya, and Nigeria have national libraries which are playing their expected roles,” Mr Aggrey said.

He said in the absence of a national library, the public library assumed further responsibility of preserving the cultural heritage of Ghana as well as providing resources and facilities for socio-economic development.

Mr Aggrey said libraries had significant roles to play in national development and that it was heartwarming that the current UN Agenda 2030 on SDGs provided a clear pathway for the inclusion of libraries and access to information in the national development plan.

He noted that the 17 SDGs were hinged on “poverty, hunger, health, employment, education, gender, sanitation, infrastructure, consumption, ecosystem, climate, peace, and partnerships,” adding that each nation was to set up structures to achieve the goals, targets and indicators.

Mr Aggrey said establishing a national library would help Ghana to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 as agreed upon by all nations.

He said it was relevant for the libraries to play critical roles in the achievement of the SDGs through repackaging of information for public consumption which could alter the behaviour of citizens to move in the direction of the goals. 

Mr Aggrey called on the Government to increase the subvention given to libraries to ensure the effective management of public libraries.

“Government must resource the public libraries with the much needed funds, materials and infrastructure and, if possible, place libraries as a special unit under the presidency,” he said.

Mr Aggrey called for the establishment of libraries in all the districts of the country to help promote reading habits among Ghanaians to contribute to the development of the nation.

AFRICA:

‘We’re not fragile like US, which went on its knees to China’ – Zimbabwe 

President Robert Mogabe

Robert Mugabe, the 93-year-old leader of Zimbabwe who is seeking reelection next year, has rejected the view that his country is in economic turmoil. Mugabe instead claims Zimbabwe is the second most developed nation in Africa, while calling the US “fragile.”

“Zimbabwe is not a fragile state, it is one of the most highly developed countries, second after South Africa,” he said at the World Economic Forum for Africa.

 “You cannot even talk about us as a ‘fragile state’ from an economic point of view."

“I can call America fragile, they went on their knees to China,” he added.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, first as prime minister and later as president.

Under his leadership the African nation has experienced numerous economic woes, including the horrifying hyperinflation of 2007-08, which at one point was at hundreds of millions of percent – with prices doubling about every 20 days due to terrible sanctions imposed on the African nation by the West.

Eventually the country abandoned the national currency and introduced a new one pegged at par with the US dollar.

Among the problems the country currently faces are a budget deficit that leaves it struggling to pay civil servants and power shortages due to droughts hindering hydropower generation.

During the panel session, Mugabe boasted that Zimbabwe had 14 universities and a 90 percent rate of literacy, as evidence of the country’s level of development. He also said Zimbabwe was rich in natural resources.

“We have a bumper harvest, maize, tobacco, and other crops. We are not a poor country,” he said.

Russia's Nuclear to Rescue Africa from Energy Crisis

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

Russian officials from the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation have urged African leaders to consider developing nuclear power to help solve the persistent energy crisis, saying, nuclear energy was a sustainable alternative for both domestic and industrial use throughout Africa.

“Africa, being a continent suffering from electricity deficit, won't be able to bring all its potential into life without meeting energy needs for its growing economy,” Viktor Polikarpov, Rosatom's Regional Vice-President for Sub-Saharan Africa, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview after leading a Russian delegation to meet with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Uganda has expressed interest in Russian nuclear technologies and Rosatom's proposals regarding Nuclear Power construction. At the meeting both parties confirmed a willingness to start cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear power and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development of Uganda.

Polikarpov, whose key responsibilities include overseeing, implementing and managing all Russian nuclear projects in the Sub-Sahara African Region, said there was a great scope of business to be developed in Africa.

“It is vital for African countries to create viable energy mix, which will guarantee their own energy security and drive the industrial development. That is the reason why more and more African countries are currently studying the opportunities for nuclear power development,” he said.

Rosatom is intensively developing cooperation with African countries. The company already has its own history of cooperation with Africa in nuclear sphere. South Africa was one of the first countries to publicly declare its stance on peaceful nuclear energy use for power generation in Africa.

Quite recently, in 2012, an inter-governmental agreement was signed with Nigeria on cooperation in the power construction and are currently in the process of elaborating the comprehensive structure of the project. Rosatom has also been working in Namibia and Tanzania in terms of uranium exploration and mining.

Rosatom actively interacts with and has shown interest in developing nuclear power in countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Kenya.

It is estimated that only a quarter of Sub-Saharan Africa's population have access to electricity. This means that about 600 million people are living with limited or no access to a reliable supply of electricity.

In order for Africa to continue and even increase its current growth potential, it needs a more reliable and affordable source of base-load power to stimulate industrial activities and bolster economic growth, and nuclear power could be a better option. Rosatom believes nuclear power is an environmentally-friendly, safe, reliable and cheap method of producing base-load power.

Today, nuclear power is the only source of energy that meets all the challenges of a rapidly developing world.

It is unique because of the significantly low cost of electricity generated by it. That is why nuclear power plants may well feed the energy-hungry regions as well as provide for significant electricity exporting potential.

According to Polikarpov, another proven advantage of nuclear power is its environmental friendliness. They do not emit any harmful substances in the atmosphere during their operation and they are totally free of the greenhouse gas emission. Another key advantage of nuclear power is the unique and large-scale impact it has on social and economic development of the whole country.

Rosatom is the Russian Federation’s national nuclear corporation, bringing together some 400 nuclear companies and research and development institutions that operate in the civilian and defence sectors. With 70 years of expertise in the nuclear field, Rosatom claims to be a global leader in technologies and competencies offering cutting-edge industry solutions.

GNA

Foreign News:

“Cuba has taught us solidarity with humanity”

Photo (L) Arcus Makaza, from Burundi, is the head of an organization which works to promote unity and support among African students. Photo: Nuria Barbosa

By Nuria Barbosa León

Many youths from different countries currently studying in Cuban universities, above all in medical sciences, in order to support one another and contribute to solving their countries’ problems, are also members of various organizations and groups.

For example, speaking to Granma International, Arcus Makaza from Burundi and in his second year at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), stated that many African students are members of a youth organization linked to the African Union, which has invited them to participate in two of its summits held in Ethiopia.

“Our organization works to strengthen unity among we African students, in order to improve our academic results. We organize groups composed of high-achieving youth to tutor those who are having difficulties passing their subjects. We call ourselves student-helpers and offer revision sessions in our free time to explain what was taught in class,” states the young student.

The group also promotes African culture in Cuban medical universities in order to spark interest in the continent among professors, workers, and students from the island as well as those from other nations.

“We organize an annual gala at ELAM with all the countries and artistic manifestations, where we display our cultural and ethnic diversity,” stated Arcus Makaza.

The organization maintains close links with the Federation of University Students of Cuba (FEU) and the Latin American and Caribbean Continental Organization of Students (OCLAE). Amongst all, held are sports tournaments and activities in support of the Cuban Revolution such as that which take place on November 27, in honor of the eight medical students murdered in 1871 and the March of the Torches on January 27, commemorating the birth of José Martí (January 28, 1853), among others.

Members also organize the Cuba-Africa Friendship brigade, which celebrates the ties of solidarity between the island and the African people. “Cuba helps to combat disease in our countries, a recent example of which was the Ebola epidemic, when over 200 Cuban doctors offered services in Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone until the illness was eliminated,” stated the undergraduate from Burundi.

Meanwhile, every year African students participate on summer brigades at the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp, in the municipality of Caimito, Artemisa province, where they undertake voluntary agricultural work and speak with Cuban experts from various sectors of society.

For his part, Palestinian Mohammad Hammoud explained that Arab students come together to expose the truth about imperial wars being waged in the Middle East, intent on stripping the people of their natural resources and occupying land such as Israel is doing.

He went on to note, “The University supports our different activities. We organize political meetings with the participation of Cuban students and professors. We commemorate different historic dates and celebrate the most important historic events in Arab countries.”

The Necessity of the New Man to Revolutionize the World, was the main theme of the 3rd Friends of the Revolution Nationalities Encounter, held in the University of Havana in April 2017

Hammoud also highlighted the various cultural activities undertaken by students to display the lifestyles and customs of peoples from the Middle East, as well as discussions regarding Cuba’s efforts to help the peoples of the world achieve sovereignty and economic development. He noted that such meetings always feature the thoughts of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, given his visionary ideas on the main problems affecting the world today.

In addition, the young Palestinian noted that students are free to practice their culture and religions in Cuba: “I am a Muslim and I visit a mosque located in Old Havana. My classmates are Christians and attend masses at the churches here,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Venezuelans Mariangel Marcano Flores and Víctor Gabriel Cropper Conde, both students at the Ernesto Che Guevara de la Serna University of Medical Sciences, in Pinar del Río, explained that they are members of Hugo Chávez internationalist brigades which carry out health promotion and prevention work in remote communities.

“These student groups were founded based on an initiative promoted by Honduras which was later extended to different universities across Cuban provinces. We take a few days during the vacation period to visit vulnerable communities and explain what to do to avoid falling ill,” stated Víctor Gabriel.

Meanwhile, Mariangel noted that a Council of Venezuelan Students in Cuba was founded in order to provide logistical support of such efforts, for which they approached local government and community leaders. “We have visited Venezuelan municipalities and parishes, but also pediatric oncological hospitals to bring joy to children,” emphasized Mariangel Marcano Flores.

Both agreed that living on the island, Venezuelan students feel like Cubans, noting that they wish to take Cuba’s example of humanist values such as disinterested help, hospitality, and cooperation, back to their country, summing up their experience in a single phrase: “Cuba has taught us solidarity with humanity.”

French Presidential Election 2017: Nothing Succeeds Like Success 

President-Elect Emmanuel Macron

By Diana Johnstone

There is great rejoicing in places accustomed to rejoicing. The best champagne must be flowing in places that have plenty of it, chez Bernard Arnault, for example, first fortune in France (eleventh in the world), owner among so much else of the newspapers Parisien, Aujourd’hui France and Echos, all fervent supporters of Emmanuel Macron. The glasses should be clinking also wherever the peripatetic billionaire Patrick Drahi finds himself, born in Morocco, double French-Israeli nationality, resident of Switzerland, owner of a vast media and telecom empire, including the epitome of post-May ’68 turncoatism, the tabloid Libération, which ran a headline calling on voters to cast their ballots for Macron a day after the public campaign was legally over.

The list is long of billionaires, bankers and establishment figures who have a right to rejoice at the extraordinary success of a candidate who got elected President of the French Republic on the claim to be “an outsider”, whereas nobody in history has ever been so unanimously supported by all the insiders you can name.

There should also be satisfaction in the embassies of all the countries whose governments openly interfered in the French election – the U.S. of course, but also Germany, Belgium, Italy and Canada, among others, who earnestly exhorted the French to make the right choice: Macron, of course. All these champions of Western democracy can all join in gloating over the nonexistent but failed interference of Russia – for which there is no evidence, but part of the fun of a NATOland election these days is to accuse the Russians of meddling.

As for the French, abstention was nearly record-breaking, as much of the left could not vote for the self-proclaimed enemy of labor law but dared not vote for the opposition candidate, Marine Le Pen, because one just cannot vote for someone who was labeled “extreme right” or even “fascist” by an incredible campaign of denigration, even though she displayed no visible symptom of fascism and her program was favorable to lower income people and to world peace. Words count in France, where the terror of being accused of sharing World War II guilt is overwhelming.

Surveys indicate that as much as 40% of Macron voters chose him solely to “block” the alleged danger of voting for Marine Le Pen.

Others on the left voted for Macron vowing publicly that they will “fight him” once he is elected. Fat chance.

There may be street demonstrations in coming months, but that will have little impact on Macron’s promise to tear up French labor law by decree and free labor and management to fight it out between themselves, at a time when management is powerful thanks to delocalizations and labor is disorganized and enfeebled by the various effects of globalization.

As Jean Bricmont put it, outgoing French President François Hollande deserves a Nobel Prize for political manipulation.

At a time when he and his government were so unpopular that everyone was looking forward to the election as a chance to get rid of them, Hollande, with zealous assistance from of the major media, leading banks and oligarchs of various stripes, succeeded in promoting his little-known economic advisor into the candidate of “change”, neither left nor right, a totally fresh, new political star – supported by all the old politicians that the public wanted to get rid of.

This is quite an amazing demonstration of the power of “communications” in contemporary society, a triumph for the advertising industry, mainstream media and the billionaires who own all of that.

France was perceived as a potential weak link in the globalization project of eliminating national sovereignty in favor of the worldwide reign of capital. Thanks to an extraordinary effort, this danger has been averted. At least for now.

The original source of this article is Global Research

'New brand for an old product’

Emmanuel Macron

Ever since the 1970s, French presidents have been elected with a certain amount of hope for renewal, but their careers have ended in failure, says John Laughland, Institute of Democracy and Cooperation. Other analysts also joined the discussion.

Emmanuel Macron, 39, emerged victorious in the campaign for the French presidency, but already a chorus of critics are questioning many aspects about the leader of the En Marche! party. 

Macron, who has been described as a centrist, pulled 66.1 percent of the vote, delivering a resounding defeat to the far-right candidate and leader of National Front, Marine Le Pen, who gained just 33.9 percent of the votes. However, the numbers fail to tell the whole story, as many French citizens refused to participate in the election, or opted for the "least of two evils" scenario.

RT spoke with a number of analysts and politicians for their views on what France may expect under the leadership of Emmanuel Macron.

John Laughland, Director of Studies, Institute of Democracy and Cooperation, Paris

RT:  Will Macron try to change France’s relationship with the EU?

JL: Successive French presidents have been saying this now for generations. Balzac, the great French novelist, said, “The French love to elect a new government providing it’s the same as the old one.” I’m afraid that’s what we’ve seen today. You have to go back a very long time in French history, to the 1970s - several generations - to find a government and a president who succeeds in getting himself reelected. Ever since the 1970s, all presidents, without exception, have been elected with a certain amount of hope for change, renewal, and all the rest of it, and their careers have ended in failure – either because they’ve failed to be reelected, or because a hostile majority has been elected against them in the legislative elections… I see no reason why this should now change under Macron.

RT:  What is Germany’s influence over France?

JL: Ever since the creation of the single currency, the euro, Germany has become the hegemonic power in Europe. France, which back in the 1990’s gambled that the euro would somehow dilute German power, has lost its bet. Far from diluting it, it’s increased it. Ever since the single currency was created, therefore, France has been the junior partner in the Franco-German couple. All European questions are now referred to Angela Merkel … And that will only continue; indeed, it will be aggravated in my view by the departure of Britain from the EU.

Jacques Cheminade, 2017 presidential candidate

RT:  Can Emmanuel Macron unite a country where more than half of the electorate didn’t vote for him?

JC: Well, more than 25 percent of the electorate abstained, and there were nine percent null votes, which is entirely new in a French presidential election. So [Macron] won in an apparent landslide (65.8 percent). But in fact, he got less than half of the voters, while 61 percent do not him to have a majority in the new legislative assembly. So it's a very unstable situation. The whole thing – let’s say the truth - from the beginning is a setup. Since April 6, 2016, when En Marche! was launched, a young, clever and competent banker was promoted against a repulsive Marine Le Pen. The debate proved it: she was aggressive, incompetent. He appeared as intelligent and above everything. So he won, but it is a setup. It is something that has been arranged by the French establishment to succeed to Hollande with a kind of new face – it is Hollande with a new face.

Laurent Jacobelli, Assistant Secretary-General, Debout de la France

RT:  What does Macron’s victory mean for France?

LJ: Yes, it is a very sad for us and a very sad day for France, because, as you probably know, Francois Hollande was very unpopular in France. Only 10 percent of French citizens were supporting him. But the bad news is that tonight he has been reelected – not him really, but his lookalike, Mr. Macron, to carry on the same politics, which is a disaster: uncontrolled globalization; uncontrolled mass migration; privatization of social security. In other words, very bad news for France. Macron is the establishment … He is a new brand for a very old product: More EU, more immigration, more globalization. 

RT:  How would you describe Marine Le Pen’s performance in the election?

LJ: 11 million French voters did vote for Mrs. Le Pen, which is amazing when you see how much the media were against her; how many lies were told about her. As you know we’re no longer in a real democracy today, because they try to tell us what to do when we go to vote. It is a real resistance act to vote for Marine Le Pen.

Luc Rivet, Editor in Chief, Le Peuple magazine

RT:  What are the prospects for Emmanuel Macron establishing a new political paradigm for France?

LR: The European policies dictated by Germany, and he [Macron] has declared that he is pro-European. One of the first who congratulated him was Mrs. Merkel, and also Mr. [Jean-Claude] Juncker. So it’s an indication. There is a great relief in the European circles that European policies will continue as before. He is the candidate of continuation. It he will really be under the influence of Mrs. Merkel, no doubt about that.

Monsieur Macron is a president by default. Only 20 percent of the French voted for him. The others who voted for him to reach the 66 percent are on the right, or on the left, or they didn’t vote at all. The 16 million people who didn’t vote, or voted ‘blanc’ are the second party after Marine Le Pen’s party in France. They don’t support Monsieur Macron. Among the people who voted for him very few of those really support his ideas, that he was very late in producing by the way. Another thing is that he has only has 50 candidates for his movement “En Marche!” for the legislative elections that are coming in a month, and he needs 500 within a month. It is impossible to obtain that…

‘Shadow cast on Macron’ 

Emmanuel Macron

While the mainstream media is presenting Emmanuel Macron’s 66 percent win as a landslide victory for democracy, the actual range of reactions in France and across Europe appears to be more sobering, pointing to divisions in society and hostility between political camps.

The outgoing French president, Francois Hollande, who is the record holder of the all-time presidential lowest approval rating in France of 4 percent, has “warmly congratulated” Macron on his victory. Former Socialist PM Manuel Valls celebrated the 80 percent voter approval of Macron in his constituency of Ville d’Evry.

However, many French politicians were disappointed with the outcome of the election for a number of reasons.

“We have a president who is weak,” Raquel Garrido, spokesperson for the movement La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), created to promote the candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, said. Garrido added that Macron got “many votes for want of something better.”

Other French politicians pointed out that the far-right scored big despite the defeat, revealing the popular discontent.

“With almost 11 million votes, the far right reaches a sad record in our country tonight,” a leading politician of the Socialist Party, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, said, branding the votes received by Le Pen “confusing and alarming.”

The Pro-Macron Cambadelis then took to Twitter to expand on his comments, saying that “the shadow cast on the new president” is “immense.” 

The vice president of the Republican party, who initially urged to vote against Le Pen, said that Macron “was elected without enthusiasm.”

Taking things across the French border, Nigel Farage, former leader of Britain’s UKIP party and leading Brexit campaigner, said that Macron “offers five more years of failure, more power to the EU and a continuation of open borders. If Marine sticks in there, she can win in 2022.”

The majority of the European leaders were speaking out in favor of pro-EU Macron after openly supporting him in the run-up to the vote.

The Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni also tweeted, “Hurrah Macron President! There is hope for Europe!”

Meanwhile, in the US, President Donald Trump has congratulated Macron on his “big win,” saying that he looks “very much forward to working with him.” 

But Trump’s defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton appeared to use her congratulatory tweet to speak of her own woes. 

 ‘Very essence of establishment’: Macron’s reformer image questioned in view of govt & EU links 

Macron and Hollande

France’s newly elected leader, Emmanuel Macron, represents the European establishment fearful of a popular revolt, former MI5 intelligence officer Anne Machon tells RT, as many analysts appeared to be skeptical the former Socialist minister could bring change.

“Former US President Barack Obama endorsed Macron, the EU endorsed Macron. They were very frightened about another popular revolt against the establishment. Macron is very establishment: the elitist universities in France, the fact that he was [France’s] Economy Minister,” Machon said, further listing the facts showing Macron’s actual affiliation.

According to the former British intelligence officer, the fact that his En Marche! Political movement “that came from nowhere within one year” looks very much “an establishment stitch-up.”

“The western global elites wanted to make sure that EU continues. That there is a status quo,” she added.

Steven Woolfe, a British barrister and independent politician, told RT he believes that Macron is next on the list of European politicians masquerading as fighters against the establishment.

“Macron is the essence of the European establishment. If you look at the way from [former UK PM] Tony Blair to [Greek PM Alexis] Tsipras, [former Italian PM Matteo] Renzi, Macron is simply another one of those characters,” Woolfe says.

Woolfe notes that Macron was the Economy Minister serving under the Socialist government of Francois Hollande from 2014-16. He stepped down last year and created his En Marche! movement to join the presidential race.

“[Macron] worked in international finance and banking, he is someone who has great links to the establishment media in France. And as long as he is supporting the EU, as long as he never changes what is happening in Europe, then he is the man that was put in place,” Woolfe says.

Janice Atkinson, an independent member of the European Parliament, also pointed out that  Macron is “backed by EU, backed by globalists, backed by the bankers.”

Woolfe believes that, in reality, people “are fed up with globalization, with open borders, with globalists and bankers who are running our systems.”

Jean Bricmont, Belgian philosopher of science and a political commentator, believes that Macron is going to follow the policy of his predecessor.

“Macron is going to make the same foreign policy as Hollande, only worse, so it will be more [orientation] on Washington – whether he would get along with Trump, it’s a separate question – but it would be very anti-Russian, he would probably want to arm rebels in Syria,” he said.

Bricmont said that the French electoral commission had instructed media not to report on the recent leaks about Macron. A massive trove of internal documents from Macron’s campaign was leaked by unknown hackers on Friday evening. Macron’s En Marche! movement said they were the “victims of a hacking attack.”

 “When there was an inquiry about Fillon, which in principle should have been secret, it was leaked to the press and the press used it. Fillon was a candidate, who could have beaten Macron but he was totally destroyed by these affairs,” he said.

The hacking of the Emmanuelle Macron team’s emails “in a certain sense could have helped” the centrist candidate in the vote, Professor Bruno Drweski, from the National Institute of Languages and Eastern Civilizations, told RT.

He pointed out that the attack happened “very late” in the election and failed to reveal any compromising details about the candidate.

 “It’s difficult to know exactly what did happen, but it confirms that [the Macron team] need an atmosphere of conspiracy… to make something popular because they have no program, no concrete proposals,” Drweski said.

Macron may face a problem if he cannot secure a majority in the French legislative elections that are to be held in June 2017, Guy Mettan, Executive Director of the Swiss Press Club, believes.

“He is a candidate of the establishment… But I think that difficulties will come with the next step of legislative elections for Macron and his supporters. Even if he has won tonight, now he has to convince all the French people to vote for him. And it is not yet won now,” he said.

He noted that French voters are “completely divided” into five parties, supporting five presidential candidates – En Marche! (Macron), National Front (Marine Le Pen), La France Insoumise (Jean-Luc Mélenchon), Republicans (Francois Fillon) and Socialists (Benoît Hamon).

“I think it will be quite impossible to get a majority in the next parliament. So France will be very divided. It’s not possible in four weeks to make a majority in the next parliament,” Mettan said.