French Neo-Nazi Front National Vice President "Outed" as Gay

Apparently French Neo-Nazi politicians have a lot in common with many far right Republicans here in America.  Both take extreme anti-gay positions even as one - French Front National ("FN") vice president Florian Philippot - is outed as gay and self-loathing closet cases like Rick Santorum, Ken Cuccinelli and others rant about what they secretly intensely desire - hot gay sex.  As The Telegraph reports, Philippot was outed by a French gossip magazine.  Many French politicians show their hypocrisy by lamenting the invasion of Philippot's "privacy" even as his political party takes horrifically anti-gay positions, including opposition to gay marriage.   Why is it fine to trample on the civil rights of others, especially gays and those hated by FN, but off limits to expose Philippot's glaring hypocrisy?  Here are article highlights:

A French gossip magazine sparked outrage across the political spectrum on Friday by "outing" the far-Right Front National's vice president, Florian Philippot, as homosexual.

The rare breach of Gallic press protocol is an embarrassment for the FN, whose attitude towards homosexuals has historically ranged from ambivalent to downright homophobic.

Closer, which scored a global scoop in January by publishing photos of French president, François Hollande, visiting his secret lover Julie Gayet, on Friday released pictures of Mr Philippot with his boyfriend, an unnamed TV journalist, on a trip to Vienna last week.

"At last a real weekend away from Paris," it headlined, followed by an inside article entitled: "Yes to love for all" – a play on words with France's recent Marriage for All bill legalizing gay marriage.

Politicians across the board slammed the revelation as an unacceptable breach of Mr Philippot's private life.

FN leader Marine Le Pen denounced what she called "a very grave violation of individual liberties".
 
However, Closer's editor, Laurence Piau, defended her decision to "out" the politician as in the public's interest.

"Florian Philippot is a high-profile figure, he's the most invited guest on morning media shows after Marine Le Pen and the FN is a party like any other, if we believe what has been said of late," she told Europe 1 radio.

Noting that heterosexual public figures received just as much private scrutiny, she said: "How can you imagine that the number two of the Front National, who could take power if you believe what the FN says, could take up his post without every mentioning his family, his private relationships, without having a wife, or a girl or boyfriend? How is that possible in 2014?," she asked.

Above all, Closer's editor said the magazine's revelations could explain Miss Le Pen's decision not to participate in marches against gay marriage, which took place across France last year.

Other prominent members of her party, notably her niece Marion Maréchal Le Pen, an MP, were present in the "Demos for All" protests, some of whose supporters are virulently homophobic.

As I have made clear before, I fully support "outing" politicians who either personally or whose political parties strive against full legal equality for LGBT individuals.  If these individuals want their private lives kept private, then they and their affiliated political parties need to get out of the private lives of others.  Are you listening Rick Santorum?

Russian Bank is Financing French Neo-Nazi Party

It seems that Vladimir Putin is once again employing techniques of Hitler and the Nazi regime not to mention those of the former Soviet Union: funding political parties in foreign countries to cause unrest and fan support for Putin's own Neo-Nazi policies.  As Time magazine reports, a Russian bank is providing loans to France's National Front, a Neo-Nazi and virulently anti-gay political party in France.  Here are article highlights:

Is Russian President Vladimir Putin meddling in the internal politics of countries in the European Union? That seemed a strong possibility to some Europeans this week, after French political leader Marine Le Pen confirmed she had secured a €9-million ($11.1 million) loan from a Moscow-based bank, in order to run her right-wing National Front party.

“At this stage, Russia is trying to influence French domestic policy,” says Jean-Yves Camus, a political researcher at France’s Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS). If so, Putin’s strategy resembles the Soviet Union before its collapse in 1991, when Moscow funded trade unions and political groups in western Europe in an attempt to buy influence and destabilize foes. “In this respect Putin is pretty much in line with the former USSR. It is the same policy all over again,” says Camus.

The French investigative news site Mediapart first broke the news that the National Front had taken the loan, with a 6% interest rate, from First Czech Russian Bank, a small Moscow-based institution, the chairman of which is Roman Popov. Mediapart said the deal emerged partly as a result of Le Pen’s visit to Moscow last February, where she met Alexander Babakov, a Russian lawmaker with connections to Putin. 

Le Pen has been a staunch supporter of Russia. For months she has lambasted the E.U. for its sanctions against it, and she told Naryshkin in Moscow last year that Europe’s “Cold War on Russia” was “not in line with traditional, friendly relations nor with the economic interests of our country.”

Le Pen — whose party is similar to populist movements like the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) and the Alternative for Germany — aims to pull her country out of the Union and reclaim its sovereignty over border control and fiscal budgets. As Putin fights to keep Ukraine and other countries allied to Russia, anything that weakens the 28-country E.U. could help further that cause. The far-right parties in Europe share certain ideological opinions with Putin including opposition to gay marriage and open immigration.

[S]ome believe Putin might be misjudging the potential for right-wing leaders in Europe to take control of their governments. “In practical terms the far-right parties are of little help to him as they hold no power,” says Cas Mudde, associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia. Similarly, Camus believes that Putin could be further isolated if Le Pen fails to become French president. “This strategy can backfire,” he says. “Putin is pretty much isolated in the international community. So I think he doesn’t have anything to gain by supporting or helping the extreme right.”

Putin continues to demonstrate that he is a very dangerous individual who is driven by one thing alone: a quest for power to satisfy his megalomania.  I may just have to nickname him "Adolph Junior."