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EU elections. Bannon in France to prop up Le Pen and Austrian far-right ministers resign after sting
Hmmm. So Bannon has shifted operations to France in his attempt to push EU Parliament to the far-right. Le Pen continues to maintain a false distance from him even as Bannon states he’s there because he views France as the most important factor in the election.
Meanwhile, the Russian-connected far-right government of Austria is embroiled in a scandal resulting from a sting which promised to funnel Russian money to them in exchange for press influence.
Farage’s new Brexit party’s funding is being investigated. And apparently it’s now ahead in polling!?!
Tons of global money being poured into these purportedly nationalist campaigns and strong Trump/Russia connections abound.
https://www.france24.com/en/20190519-bannon-presence-raises-hackles-france-ahead-europe-polls
Paris (AFP)
Political tensions soared in France Sunday a week ahead of tightly-contested European elections, with the ruling party of President Emmanuel Macron expressing unease over over the presence of Donald Trump's controversial ex-strategist Steve Bannon.
~~~
Bannon had told the newspaper Le Parisien on Saturday he had chosen to come to France as its election was "by far" the most important of all the European parliament polls in EU member states.
~~~
Since his departure from the White House, Bannon has championed the cause of the European far right, having close contacts with Le Pen and Italian populist leader Matteo Salvini.
Salvini on Saturday gathered Europe's disparate nationalists for a unifying rally in Milan ahead of the polls but the gathering was shadowed by the corruption scandal which brought down Austria's far-right coalition.
~~~
Bannon had told the newspaper Le Parisien on Saturday he had chosen to come to France as its election was "by far" the most important of all the European parliament polls in EU member states.
~~~
Since his departure from the White House, Bannon has championed the cause of the European far right, having close contacts with Le Pen and Italian populist leader Matteo Salvini.
Salvini on Saturday gathered Europe's disparate nationalists for a unifying rally in Milan ahead of the polls but the gathering was shadowed by the corruption scandal which brought down Austria's far-right coalition.
https://news.yahoo.com/far-ministers-ready-quit-austria-govt-scandal-110017353.html
Vienna (AFP) - All remaining ministers from Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) are to resign, a party spokesman said Monday, after one of their number, Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, was fired in the fallout from a corruption scandal that has brought down the government.
~~~
Kurz's FPOe deputy, Heinz-Christian Strache, stepped down as vice-chancellor and party leader on Saturday after recordings published by German media showed him offering government contracts in return for campaign help to a fake Russian backer in a villa on the Spanish resort island of Ibiza.
~~~
In the recordings -- of unknown origin -- Strache and a colleague from his party, who has also resigned, are seen talking to a woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian oligarch.
They discuss how she could invest and gain control of the country's largest-circulation tabloid, the Kronen Zeitung, and install editorial staff who would help the FPOe's 2017 election campaign.
~~~
Kurz's FPOe deputy, Heinz-Christian Strache, stepped down as vice-chancellor and party leader on Saturday after recordings published by German media showed him offering government contracts in return for campaign help to a fake Russian backer in a villa on the Spanish resort island of Ibiza.
~~~
In the recordings -- of unknown origin -- Strache and a colleague from his party, who has also resigned, are seen talking to a woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian oligarch.
They discuss how she could invest and gain control of the country's largest-circulation tabloid, the Kronen Zeitung, and install editorial staff who would help the FPOe's 2017 election campaign.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-security-idUSKCN1RL2CM
UK, Dutch spy agencies curb intel flow to Austria over Russia ties: MP
VIENNA (Reuters) - British and Dutch spy agencies have heavily restricted the amount of intelligence they share with Austria, mainly because of ties between the ruling far-right Freedom Party and Russia, an Austrian opposition lawmaker said on Tuesday.
The Freedom Party (FPO) is the junior coalition partner to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservatives but it controls much of the country’s security apparatus. Its ministers head the Defence Ministry and the Interior Ministry, which in turn oversees Austria’s main intelligence agency, the BVT.
Ties between the FPO and President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, including a formal cooperation agreement, have long been of concern to Western security services, many of which see Russia as a dangerous adversary.
~~~
Police raids last year at the offices of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) and at the home of the BVT’s extremism department chief also led partner agencies to question whether it was safe to pass on intelligence to Austria.
The Freedom Party (FPO) is the junior coalition partner to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservatives but it controls much of the country’s security apparatus. Its ministers head the Defence Ministry and the Interior Ministry, which in turn oversees Austria’s main intelligence agency, the BVT.
Ties between the FPO and President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, including a formal cooperation agreement, have long been of concern to Western security services, many of which see Russia as a dangerous adversary.
~~~
Police raids last year at the offices of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) and at the home of the BVT’s extremism department chief also led partner agencies to question whether it was safe to pass on intelligence to Austria.
https://news.yahoo.com/uk-election-watchdog-launch-review-brexit-party-finances-131757743.html
London (AFP) - Britain's Electoral Commission regulator said on Monday it would review fundraising by the new Brexit Party founded by anti-EU populist Nigel Farage, which is predicted to win this week's European elections.
"We are attending the Brexit Party's office tomorrow to conduct a review of the systems it has in place to receive funds," a spokesperson for the commission said in a statement.
"If there's evidence that the law may have been broken, we will consider that in line with our enforcement policy."
The move follows a growing furore around the financing of the fledgling eurosceptic party, set up by the controversial MEP in January in protest at the government's failure to deliver Brexit.
"We are attending the Brexit Party's office tomorrow to conduct a review of the systems it has in place to receive funds," a spokesperson for the commission said in a statement.
"If there's evidence that the law may have been broken, we will consider that in line with our enforcement policy."
The move follows a growing furore around the financing of the fledgling eurosceptic party, set up by the controversial MEP in January in protest at the government's failure to deliver Brexit.
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Put him in one of those old dungeons and throw away the key! 
