Voting in France's presidential election will kick off Sunday morning under the tragic auspices of yet another terror attack that hit Paris earlier in the week, heightening concerns centered on security issues in an already tight race with no clear front-runner.
The polls will open on Sunday at 8 a.m., and will close 12 hours later. If, as seems certain, no one receives 50% of the ballots, the top two contenders will face off two weeks later
The polls will open on Sunday at 8 a.m., and will close 12 hours later. If, as seems certain, no one receives 50% of the ballots, the top two contenders will face off two weeks later
Surveys indicate that 23% of voters plan to vote for centrist Emmanuel Macron, 22% support far-right Marine Le Pen, 20% support center-right François Fillon and 19% are for far-left Jean-Luc Melanchon. Supporters of Benoit Hamon, candidate of the ruling center-left Socialist Party, have lost nearly all hope of seeing their candidate make it to the May 7 runoff.
But anxieties about France's security situation were only exacerbated following a shooting on Thursday night on the Champs-Elysees shopping boulevard in central Paris, in which one policeman was killed and two others were wounded.
It is currently unclear how the event will affect the French election, but candidates have been jockeying for an advantage in the contest by emphasizing their security credentials throughout the campaign period.
It is currently unclear how the event will affect the French election, but candidates have been jockeying for an advantage in the contest by emphasizing their security credentials throughout the campaign period.
France was on edge Saturday on the eve of its most unpredictable presidential election in decades, which will take place under heightened security after the jihadist killing of a policeman.
The Islamic State-claimed slaying of the officer on Paris’s Champs Elysees avenue thrust questions of security to the fore of campaigning after nine months of relative calm.
Nearly a quarter of voters are still undecided, and surveys showed until now the French to be more concerned about jobs and the economy than terrorism. But analysts warned Thursday’s shooting could change that.
The top two vote getters in Sunday’s tight, four-way contest will head to a run-off on May 7.
Authorities in Paris have offered additional guards for hundreds of polling stations in the capital, which will come on top of an already major security plan across the country.
“An extra guard or reinforcement of staff will be provided to any polling station that needs it,” Paris town hall official Colombe Brossel said.
Ms Le Pen, the far-Right candidate, blasted the mainstream “naive” Left and Right for failing to get tough on Islamism, calling for France to instantly reinstate border checks and expel foreigners who are on the watch lists of intelligence services.
François Fillon, the mainstream conservative candidate, pledged an “iron fist” in the fight against “Islamist totalitarianism” – his priority if elected. “We are at war, it’s either us or them,” said the conservative, whose campaign has been weighed down by allegations he gave his British wife a “fake job”.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron, the independent centrist, whom critics dismiss as a soft touch, hit back at claims shutting borders and filling French prisons would solve the problem, saying: “There's no such thing as zero risk. Anyone who pretends (otherwise) is both irresponsible and deceitful."
We can all pretend like there is nothing going on around the Korean Peninsula and hope that cooler heads will prevail, but if history is any guide, when the militaries of multiple nations begin to mass troops at borders, it takes only a single, often seemingly inconsequential, catalyst to plunge the situation into all-out war.
That’s exactly what’s happening in North Korea today. Two weeks ago China deployed some 150,000 troops to the North Korean border and put their entire military on high alert in anticipation of a U.S. military strike on Kim Jong Un.
Now we learn that Russia is rapidly deploying troop and equipment to their border with North Korea, as well.
Vladimir Putin is sending troops and equipment to Russia’s border with North Korea over fears the US is preparing to attack Kim Jong-un.
A video purports to show one of three trains loaded with military equipment moving towards the 11 mile-long land frontier between Russia and the repressive state.
Another evidently highlights military helicopter movements towards the North Korean border and maneuvers across rough terrain by army combat vehicles.
Other reports suggest there have been military moves by road as well.
There have been concerns that if a conflict breaks out Russia could face a humanitarian exodus from North Korea.
But Putin has been warned, too, that in the event of a US strike on Kim Jong-un’s nuclear facilities, contamination could swiftly reach Russia.
‘Railway trains loaded with military equipment moving towards Primorsky region via Khabarovsk have been noticed by locals,’ reported primemedia.ru in the Russian far East – linking the development to the North Korean crisis.
‘The movement of military equipment by different means of transport to southern areas is being observed across Primorsky region over the past week,’ said military veteran Stanislva Sinitsyn.
A few hundred thousands troops on the North Korean border, a U.S. Naval Strike Fleet awaiting orders from President Trump and constant threats of missile and nuclear tests from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un…
What could possibly go wrong?
The USS Carl Vinson has company in the form of two Japanese destroyers as it steams toward the Korean Peninsula.
The two ships joined the American strike force in a show of force as tensions in the region remain high and North Korea prepares for the 85th anniversary of founding of its army.
Defense Ministry officials said the details of the joint US-Japan naval exercise are yet to be determined. The drill comes as an apparent show of force aimed at deterring North Korea, which will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its military next week.
Though little is known about the naval exercise, the event was announced by the Japanese Navy earlier last week.
“Japan wants to dispatch several destroyers as the ‘Carl Vinson’ enters the East China Sea,” said one of the Japanese military sources, as cited by Reuters.
The source added that the drills would involve helicopter landings on both American and Japanese ships as well as communications training.
Something has aroused the interests of the American people... perhaps one too many coincidentally 'useful' event means government facilitators have jumped the shark? (via Google Trends)
Which is perhaps why, after discovering Project Gotham Shield, SHTFplan.com's Mac Slavo warns, a false flag watch is now active.
A general alert is out for something major in the near or immediate future. Hopefully, it is just another false alarm, instead of another false flag. Either way, danger is at hand.
Given all that is going on in the world, it is downright eerie to discover that the federal government is once again staging mock disasters that draw disturbing parallels with current world events.
In just a few days, during April 24-26th, Operation Gotham Shield will commence.
It is a tabletop, joint agency exercise involving FEMA, Homeland Security and a myriad of law enforcement and military agencies. WMD, chemical and biological units will all be on hand as a response is tested for a “simulated” nuclear detonation over the United States’ foremost urban center, in the iconic and densely populated island of Manhattan and nearby shores of New Jersey.
The potential for a more explosive false flag to spin out of control, by hijacking and ‘converting’ the simulated actions, is all too real.
This is closely related to the mechanism that many researchers believe was at work on the day of 9/11, nesting a false flag attack inside of a series of large-scale training operations which invoked emergency powers and simulated attacks in locations that were actually hit.
On April 18th thru May 5th, 2017, state, local, and federal organizations alike are planning for Operation Gotham Shield 2017 — a major nuclear detonation drill in the New York-New Jersey area, along with the U.S.-Canadian border.
During this exercise, 4 nuclear devices, 2 of which are rendered “safe” during the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Vital Archer Exercise, and one successful 10kt detonation in the NYC/NJ area, along with one smaller detonation on the U.S./Canadian border are to take place.
Among the organizations involved are:
– U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
– U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
– U.S. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO)
– U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
– U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
– U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM)
– State of New Jersey Office of Emergency Management
– State of New York Office of Emergency Management
– City of New York Office of Emergency Management
The following document comes form The Nevada National Security Service. Their primary role with the government is to help ensure the security of the United States and its allies by supporting the stewardship of the nuclear deterrent, providing emergency response capability and training, and contributing to key nonproliferation and arms control initiatives.
Will anything catastrophic happen during or after that window of time? Will North Korea really attack the U.S. mainland? Will someone else do so, and blame their overseas enemies?
No one who knows the answers to these questions is willing to talk. For now, all we can do is watch, wait and listen.
Don’t jump to fear and speculation, but don’t lie down or look away either.
These will be trying times.
The U.S. power grid appears to have been hit with multiple power outages affecting San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.
Officials report that business, traffic and day-to-day life has come to a standstill in San Francisco, reportedly the worst hit of the three major cities currently experiencing outages.
Power companies in all three regions have yet to elaborate on the cause, though a fire at a substation was the original reason given by San Francisco officials.
A series of subsequent power outages in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City left commuters stranded and traffic backed up on Friday morning. Although the outages occurred around the same time, there is as of yet no evidence that they were connected by anything more than coincidence.
The first outage occurred at around 7:20 a.m. in New York, when the power went down at the 7th Avenue and 53rd Street subway station, which sent a shockwave of significant delays out from the hub and into the rest of the subway system. By 11:30 a.m. the city’s MTA confirmed that generators were running again in the station, although the New York subways were set to run delayed into the afternoon.
Later in the morning, power outages were reported in Los Angeles International Airport, as well as in several other areas around the city.
The San Francisco Fire Department was responding to more than 100 calls for service in the Financial District and beyond, including 20 elevators with people stuck inside, but reported no immediate injuries. Everywhere, sirens blared as engines maneuvered along streets jammed with traffic.
Traffic lights were out at scores of intersections, and cars were backing up on downtown streets as drivers grew frustrated and honked at each other.
The cause of the outage has not yet been made clear, though given the current geo-political climate it is not out of the question to suggest a cyber attack could be to blame. It has also been suggested that the current outages could be the result of a secretive nuclear/EMP drill by the federal government.
As we have previously reported, the entire national power grid has been mapped by adversaries of the United States and it is believed that sleep trojans or malware may exist within the computer systems that maintain the grid.
In a 2016 report it was noted that our entire way of life has been left vulnerable to saboteurs who could cause cascading blackouts across the United States for days or weeks at a time:
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