Macron Signs 'Digital ID Guarantee Service'

France Rolls Out Digital ID Despite Global Concerns

Stefan J. Bos

French President Emmanuel Macron faces a backlash after he authorized the creation of a digital identity document for France following his re-election last Sunday.

Macron’s decision came despite global concerns about the impact on lives of similar digital initiatives in countries such as Communist-run China.

Macron signed the “Digital ID Guarantee Service” (SGIN) into decree following his election victory over Marine Le Pen. He made a move to make France compliant with the European Union’s digital ID guidelines.

Yet, the ink was barely dry on this week’s order when the ‘Les Patriots’ group, which seeks independence from the EU, already condemned the move.

“Just after the election, the government announces the launch of a digital identity application’!” said leader Florian Philippot.

“The goal: to put social credit in the Chinese way. Control and surveillance company!” the politician said, urging people “to reject” the application and fight by any means.”

Macron’s election victory set off protests, and the president was even pelted with tomatoes. Some French voters also voiced their frustration over the new digital ID plans on the social networking site Twitter. “One more step towards absolute control of citizens,” wrote French Twitter user Chrisoff.

Twitter user John Aimare added: “It’s all starting to get very dystopian… The SGIN to connect to Twitter, Facebook or any other social exchange platform.”

And Twitter writer ‘The Q2 Observer’ noted a “decree has been published for the creation of the SGIN, the mobile app that will scan the biometric ID to access public or private services.”

The user warned: “In France for the moment, soon the same everywhere.”

That warning came as authorities in several countries are pressuring residents to accept digital IDs, including Nigeria.

The Nigerian government reportedly blocked 73 million residents from making phone calls for not linking their mobile phones to their national digital ID.

In Italy, a municipal government just announced rolling out a soft social credit score in the Fall, the first of its kind in Europe.

Heat Wave Scorches India's Wheat Crop

Heat wave scorches India’s wheat crop, snags export plans

ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL

 An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising 

questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase 

exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Gigantic landfills in India’s capital New Delhi have caught fire in recent weeks. Schools in 

eastern Indian state Odisha have been shut for a week and in neighboring West Bengal, 

schools are stocking up on oral rehydration salts for kids. On Tuesday, Rajgarh, a city of over 

1.5 million people in central India, was the country’s hottest, with daytime temperatures 

peaking at 46.5 degrees Celsius (114.08 Fahrenheit). Temperatures breached the 45 C (113 F) 

mark in nine other cities.

But it was the heat in March — the hottest in India since records first started being kept in 

1901 — that stunted crops. Wheat is very sensitive to heat, especially during the final stage 

when its kernels mature and ripen. Indian farmers time their planting so that this stage 

coincides with India’s usually cooler spring.

Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable. Singh, a farmer in 

Sangrur in northern India’s Punjab state, watched his crop shrivel before his eyes 

as an usually cool spring quickly shifted to unrelenting heat. He lost about a fifth 

of his yield. Others lost more. 

“I am afraid the worst is yet to come,” Singh said.

Punjab is India’s “grain bowl” and the government has encouraged cultivation of 

wheat and rice here since the 1960s. It is typically the biggest contributor to India’s 

national reserves and the government had hoped to buy about a third of this year’s 

stock from the region. But government assessments predict lower yields this year, 

and Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert in northern Chandigarh city. 

said he expected to get 25% less.

U.S., French, U.K. Nuclear Submarines Rendezvous In Scotland

U.S., French, U.K. Nuclear Submarines Rendezvous In Scotland

Joseph Trevithick

The U.K. Royal Navy's main submarine base in Scotland appears to currently be hosting something of a small multinational submarine meet. Yesterday, U.S. Navy's Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Indiana was spotted heading in the direction of Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde. That came a day after one of the French Navy's Rubis class submarines, another nuclear-powered attack type, the specific identity of which is unknown, was seen arriving in the area.

None of the navies involved appear to have said anything specifically about the convergence of these submarines at Clyde. The base is home to the bulk of the Royal Navy's submarine force, including its Vanguard class ballistic missile submarines and Astute class attack submarines, both of which are also nuclear powered.

The USS Indiana's stop there is to "strengthen cooperation between the United States and United Kingdom" and "demonstrate US capability, flexibility, and continuing commitment to NATO allies," the Navy said, according to a report yesterday from U.K. Defence Journal. Indiana had left its homeport at Naval Submarine Base New London in Connecticut for what the Navy described simply as "routine operations" in January.

The back-to-back arrival of American and French submarines at Cylde could very well be just a coincidence. At the same time, the activities of submarine forces worldwide are typically relatively secretive affairs, so unusual public movements, such as American, French, and almost certainly British nuclear submarines all now being present at Clyde, often draw attention and are assumed to be some form of signaling. In Europe in recent years, American submarines have often made appearances at notable locations, including the Royal Navy's submarine hub in Scotland and its base in Gibraltar, as well as off the coast of Norway, when tensions have spiked with Russia.

This gathering has certainly come at a time of extremely high tensions in the region as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began at the end of February. In the lead up to the conflict, submarines had been part of U.S. and NATO signaling aimed at Moscow, including the Navy's deliberate publicizing of the presence of USS Georgia, one of its four Ohio class guide missile submarines, an extremely capable multi-purpose platform that you can read about more here, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea near Cyprus.

There are indications that more discreet underwater posturing between NATO, to include the United States and the United Kingdom, and Russia has been happening since the fighting broke out. A number of Russian nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines reportedly headed out into the North Atlantic after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he had put his country's strategic forces on special alerton February 27, according to a story from The Times newspaper in Britain that was published in March.

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Five Chilling Ways Putin Could Turn Ukraine Into A Nuclear Scenario

GOING NUCLEAR Five chilling ways Putin could turn Ukraine war NUCLEAR from nuke bomb over Black Sea to all-out World War 3

Imogen Braddick

VLADIMIR Putin could turn the Ukraine war nuclear by dropping a bomb over the Black Sea or firing at a US target, a national security expert has said. 

Russia has already warned its shambolic invasion of Ukraine is likely to end in a nuclear world war with the Russian tyrant "more probable" to launch a nuke than accept defeat.

While the threats have been dismissed by both the US and the UK as mere bluster, fears of an all-out war using nuclear armaments are a realistic possibility as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine falters and troops continue to meet fierce opposition.

Concerns were raised after Russia test-fired its nuclear missile Sarmat 2 last week, with Putin boasting it was able to strike anywhere on earth and couldn’t be stopped by existing missile defences.

Joseph Cirincione, a distinguished fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, D.C, has now revealed five chilling ways Putin could unleash nuclear weapons on the world. 

Speaking on Bill Press Pods, he warned the Russian dictator could initially fire nukes into the Black Sea as a "demonstration shot" before using nuclear weapons on targets in Ukraine.

And in a worrying worst case scenario, Mr Cirincione said Putin could fire at Nato targets or even the United States.

The threat of a nuclear attack has been played down by the West. 

UK Armed Forces minister James Heappey said there was no "imminent threat of escalation", while Defence Secretary Ben Wallace wrote off the warnings as Putin "distracting the world and the public from what he’s actually doing in Ukraine".

But Mr Cirincione said: "The first possibility is you would use a nuclear weapon in a demonstration shot, so you would fire something into the Black Sea, for example.

"The purpose of this is to 'escalate to de-escalate' if the war is going badly. 

"If the Russians felt they were on the verge of defeat, they would fire off a nuclear shot to indicate the seriousness of the situation, and to cause the West to back off. 

In a second scenario, Mr Cirincione said Putin could unleash a "very low yield weapon" on a military target in Ukraine, killing thousands and causing major damage.

"The third possibility is that they use a serious nuclear weapon - Hiroshima sized or more - and it strikes and it destroys a city in Ukraine. 

"At that point, that's where things get quite serious. 

"I would immediately expect to see long-range military response from Nato. Not Nato forces on the ground, but long-range strikes, which we are perfectly capable of doing. 

"We could strike the launch site, for example, and definitely send a message saying 'do not do this again'. That's what you're trying to do, trying to control the escalation."

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Ex-NATO Chief Warns Russia Could Declare 'All-Out War' In Days

Putin's propagandists simulate NUKING Europe with missiles hitting in 200 seconds and 'no survivors' in angry TV outburst at UK - as ex-Nato chief warns Russia could declare 'all-out war' in days

MATTHEW LODGE FOR MAILONLINE

Russian state TV has brazenly simulated how Vladimir Putin would launch a nuclear strike on three capital cities in Europe, declaring there would be 'no survivors', in response to comments made by the UK's Armed Forces Minister supporting Ukrainian strikes on Russian infrastructure.

Hosts on Channel One's 60 Minutes programme announced the cities of London, Paris and Berlin could be hit within 200 seconds of nuclear missiles being launched, as tensions ramp up amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

It comes as ex-Nato chief Richard Sherriff warned the West must 'gear itself up' for a 'worst case scenario' war with Russia in Ukraine, amid reports the Russian president could use the country's victory day parade on May 9 to declare 'all-out war' on its neighbour. 

On Thursday's show the chairman of the nationalist Rodina party, Aleksey Zhuravlyov, pondered what would happen if Russia launched nuclear weapons against the UK, saying: 'one Sarmat missile and the British Isles will be no more.'

When pulled up on the comment by one of the hosts, he insisted he was 'saying this seriously', while another host added that the UK has nuclear weapons too and that 'no one will survive in this war'.

Producers on the show then showed viewers a map seeming to suggest missiles could be launched from Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea.

It suggested these could reach Berlin in 106 seconds, Paris in 200 seconds and London in 202 seconds.

It comes as the UK and other western nations continue in their support for Ukraine, with allies providing equipment, military vehicles and weapons to the beleaguered country.

In response to the western support of Ukraine, war-mongering Putin ordered the military to test-fire its Sarmat missiles, which are also known as Satan II.

Last week Putin bragged that his country's hypersonic missiles could 'break through all modern defences' and could be ready to strike the UK 'by autumn'.

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