Julian Assange
637 weeks of deprivation of liberty for telling the truth
637 weeks of deprivation of liberty for telling the truth
It is generally accepted that the circle of the world’s powerful is very closed and impenetrable. Selected elected officials are invited to receptions or themed meetings with their head of state or minister. But spontaneity is not the norm at these meticulously planned events. There’s no place for confidences either.
Two thirty-something Russians, Vladimir Kouznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, have found a roundabout way to gather revelations from the Western elite without actually being part of it. They regularly post on social networks about their telephone conversations with politicians and media personalities. Their exchange with François Hollande, revealed last March, in which the former French president followed Angela Merkel’s lead in confirming the hidden aim of the Minsk agreements — to give Ukraine time to arm itself in anticipation of conflict with Russia — went so far around the world as to arouse the curiosity of Twitter boss Elon Musk.
On this July 5, 2023, the gang have uploaded two new video recordings with explosive content. This time, they managed to dupe two seasoned evening visitors to the presidential palace — Bernard-Henri Lévy and Jacques Attali, into believing they were being solicited by former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.
Unsurprisingly, their answers to the pranketeers’ questions are very similar. Both call for no concessions to be made to the Russians (‘My vision is very simple: there is no other solution than total victory and getting rid of Putin’, says Attali), apprehend the influence of the ‘peace party’ on Western leaders (the famous ‘enough is enough) and want to bring democracy to Russia (BHL — by circulating images and writings on the Internet that are supposed to turn Russian opinion around, Attali — in the same way that the West is helping to make Ukraine democratic, while taking care not to repeat the same mistakes made in Gorbachev’s time).
According to Jacques Attali, only a corruption or war crimes scandal could shake Western support for Ukraine. This is why he advises Vovan and Lexus to be extremely vigilant in their communications, to avoid the ‘white knight fighting the black monster’, as he calls the Ukraine, keeps his feet on the ground: ‘You should insist that wherever you go after corruption, you punish anyone guilty of a war crime.’. Another tip: ‘If I were you, I’d be more dramatic about the fact that you might run out of weapons. President Zelensky does, but not enough. The fact that you could run out of weapons and ammunition. Even if it’s not true. You have to dramatize the risks’..
Delighted to give his opinion, Attali comments on the American elections (‘Trump is the only Republican Biden can defeat’), the financial crisis (‘We have every chance of having a global financial crisis in August’), Emmanuel Macron (‘he makes a lot of mistakes. He is extraordinarily unpopular’), the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline explosions (‘I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was the Americans’ doing’).
Vovan and Lexus have already got Emmanuel Macron, George Bush, Jens Stoltenberg, Recep Erdogan, Christine Lagarde and many others talking. Whose turn is it?
Anglicism, from the English « joke, prank », consists in tricking someone into saying certain things.
Aliénor Maréchal
