far-right with a history of warm ties with russian president putin is staging her strongest bid yet for the french presidency. with polls ahead of sunday s final round election putting her within striking distance. should she succeed, european observers feel and illiberal russian friendly leader taking the helm of the eu s sole nuclear power. experts say le pen s conciliatory position towards moscow s complimenting isolate putin. le pen for example opposes plan to wean europe off russian oil and gas and could jeopardize the eu ban on russian coal. her stance could embolden the kremlin by tying the eu s hands on any further measures against russia, should putin deploy even more inhumane war tactics in ukraine. in brussels, the eaves capital, european diplomats see le pen s surge as a real replay of trump s victory and a brexit. but this time, in the heart of
out of the military command structure for nato. she is no longer saying overtly that she will pull france out of the european union like she did before, but if she s elected this weekend, you can certainly say goodbye to the eu continuing to provide weapons to ukraine. to defend themselves against the russian military. she has suggested publicly known russia essentially has the right to menace ukraine. in to keep ukraine in its sphere of influence. again, the vote of presidential election in france is this weekend, the votes on sunday. the one and only debate between the candidates, between her and an emmanuel macron take place tomorrow. here s the washington post on of this afternoon. quote, already facing a resurgent menace from the kremlin, europe is bracing for the possible rise of threat from within. one who could bolster moscow, break the european union and diminish the nato alliance at the continent s most critical moment since the fall of the berlin wall. marine le pen a dorian
disputing that. just weeks before the vote in 2017, marine le pen turned up at the kremlin in moscow for a surprise photo op with vladimir putin. at the time, she was pledging that only would france form a whole new alliance with russia if you are elected president, she said at the time that she would actually pull france out of the european union. if she were elected president. and you know, if you are a diminutive russian dictator for life who lives and breathes to try to undermine and destroy the west, that must sound great. i get brexit and then i get this, i get four exit or whatever they call it. a new president in france for a super right-wing party that s been known for decades for being radically violently antisemitic and racist and anti immigrant and she loves putin and she wants to break europe apart. don t worry about paying the loan pack, marine. let me know how much else you might need. let me know how else we could help. because it turns out, there was
europe. many are clinging to hope that she will lose, as she has twice before. quote, i just can t believe they would vote for putin s stooge. said one european diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. then again, the double man continued, i could not imagine that someone will vote for trump or that the brits would vote for brexit. one former french diplomat writes today, in the boston globe, sort of with his hair on fire a little bit. he says quote, at a time of the european union has shown unity in the face of russia s attack on ukraine, a marine le pen victory has the potential to fragment europe, and destabilize the west. le pen s plans and foreign affairs, weakening france s relationship with united states, provoking the implosion of the european union, that s essentially prudent stream. if marine law penn as elected as president of france, it will create a shock that would shake the world. even though marine le pen
basically shares the politics of her elderly father, one of the most prolific and famously violently antisemitic fascists in modern europe, marine le pen is said to be a strange from him personally in the recent years. i mention that even as he s facing new charges this past year for threatening to put jews in oven, he is well into his 90s now. but his daughter is closer than the le pen family has never been to real power. and at the worst possible time. the head of the european union is now confirming that the eu is drafting plans for a full embargo, a full ban on russian oil imports to europe which is the closest thing you could get to a silver bullet against the russian state. the eu is not planning on voting to implement any such ban on russian oil until france has these elections weekend, they don t want some sun