Le Monde

[Alexander]

General Bentégeat Resigns as Chief of the Defence Staff

PARIS - In a decision considered only a matter of time following the conclusion of legislative elections, General Henri Bentégeat has offered his resignation as Chief of the Defence Staff to the Empress. As the primary planner of the French military he was considered most at fault for the critical lapses of judgement that allowed Canada uncontested occupation of the western territories. While he has since then been credited with overseeing the rapid mobilization and militarization of French forces, many experts believed this was too little too late to hold onto his office.

Henri Bentégeat has had a long career within the French military, graduating in 1967 from the legendary Saint-Cyr, he joined the Troupes de Marine. He was stationed at several positions in Central Africa before eventually commanding one of the first fully professional regiments while the rest of the Army was still drafted. In 1992 he was assigned as Defence Attaché to the French embassy in Washington, D.C., a position he would hold until he was appointed Commander, French Armed Forces, West Indies. A position where he, critically, was responsible for defence planning relating to the very territories now under attack. In 2000 General Bentégeat was appointed as military adviser to the then Princess and he would continue advising her on military matters for most of the civil war. At the conclusion of the civil war he was appointed as Chief of the Defence Staff.

While the Empress' support of the General had secured his position initially, a critical report from the Bertrand Committee revealed that General Bentégeat and others were aware of critical failures in the western defence policies and that opportunist powers could seek to take advantage of these. The final nail in the coffin came when the General's own deputy testified before the Imperial Assembly that the General had dismissed security concerns.

While Bentégeat is the most prominent head to roll as a result of the invasion, it is likely not the last with multiple investigations seeking to clear the Ministry of the Armed Forces of negative elements. While the Empress decides on a permanent replacement for General Bentégeat, Admiral Édouard Guillaud, Chief of Staff of the Navy and considered a reformer, has been appointed Acting Chief of the Defence Staff and given ultimate command of Operation: Montreal, the French effort to liberate all French territory under foreign occupation.

 

[Alexander]

The Empress' Speech Summarized

PARIS - For the first time since the start of the Civil War the Empress has given a speech to the Parliament meeting in Congress. The tradition started before the war and has continued since as a means for the Empress to respect the legislature and announce her goals for the next year. As the Mouvemente Monarchiste has secured majorities in both chambers of Parliament it is expected many of these goals will be transformed into bills introduced into the Imperial Assembly and Senate. The party does however operate independent of the monarchy and as a slightly more conservative party than the Empress not all members may necessarily be in favour of all her proposals. In this article we have summarized the main takeaways in an easily digestable form. In general the speech began talking strongly about the ongoing war with Canada and a change in foreign policy direction away from a fixated focus on Europe and towards the French-speaking and Christian world, followed by policy measures to be taken following the Paris Massacre, she finished on a high note however announcing that citizens from former French colonies will be eligible for immediate permanent residency in France and commence the path towards French citizenship, finally she announced her intent to revitalize the French space program and announced specific milestones including a French person in space, the first French person on the moon and the first human on Mars.

War of Canadian Aggression and general Military Policy
The Empress began her speech condemning Canada for their illegal invasion of the French Western Territories, but more than that she was critical of both the international community at large and European nations in specific for siding more with Canada despite France presenting clear evidence that proves it was not responsible for the tragic terrorist attacks in their country. She did however specifically thank Italy and Thailand for their open and explicit support. It is noteworthy that the International Community has not directly intervened to stop hostilities as they were quick to act in for example Myanmar during the crisis involving Thailand last year, in that example American, British, and Polish forces were quick to intervene.

On the conduct of the war specifically the Empress has pledged to continue investing in the Imperial Armed Forces, construction ongoing and nearing completion already is set to give France the most powerful fleet in Europe and possibly the second or third in the world, as well as a large air force and army. If the Canadians do not agree to a ceasefire or peace agreement these forces will be used to expel Canadian forces from all occupied territories. Perhaps more importantly looking forward in the future and recognizing that France's defensive posture was critically inadequate to handle the Canadian invasion she wants the Imperial Armed Forces to be able to protect all French territories in the world and be able to strike at the homelands of anyone deciding to try to invade French territory. In essence she wants a strong military to deter aggressors and that way avoid war entirely. It is also expected that the Empress through the Minister of the Armed Forces and the Acting Chief of the Defence Staff will drastically reform the military at large. In the last few days a proposal by Admiral Guillaud to the Minister and the Empress was leaked and revealed plans to abolish the Defence Staff and replace it with an organ similar to the American Joint Chiefs and to establish regional commands which will include all ground, air and naval forces assigned to the region and have a single commander from one of the branches. Placing command authority closer to the front and bypassing the existing bureaucratic processes will make the Imperial Armed Forces able to respond to any situation much quicker and will allow for regional policies to be targeted at the specific qualities of the area. Metropolitan France for example has much different requirements from American France or the Pacific and Indian France. The initial proposal provides for 8 regional commands; Metropolitan France, Europe, Central America and Guiana, North America, South America, Africa, Indian and Pacific Ocean France and West Pacific, and East Pacific. Military experts have however warned that giving a large degree of autonomy to local commanders could increase the risk of accidental escalation as the reformed Defence Staff in Paris may not be as quick to halt regional commanders. They do however agree that the advantages of this policy outweigh the risk and that appropriate training for regional commanders can mitigate the risks. Anonymous sources in Versailles and the Hexagone Balard have stated that both the Empress and Minister have indicated strong approval for the proposal. This makes it extremely likely to be implemented and more than likely that Admiral Guillaud will be appointed as the Chief of the Defence Staff. Both the changes in the structure of the Imperial Armed Forces and the appointment of Admiral Guillaud are things the Empress can do without requiring approval from Parliament.

Foreign Policy
As said, the Empress has indicated strong disappointment with Europe. While in the last year the Empress expressed a strong interest in creating a strong and united Europe and stated no foreign policy goals beyond the continent, she has now changed pace. While France will remain committed to cooperation with Europe and the creation of a European Union of equals, she also wishes to pursue relation with other French-speaking countries and Catholic countries. France has in the second half of the 20th century maintained a close interest in her former colonies and had maintained strong defensive relations. In recent years, and due to the civil war, France has withdrawn all her forces from other countries and not maintained specific ties with former colonies, the Empress' new policies will change that drastically. Additionally, focusing on countries that have a strong Roman Catholic population guarantees that diplomatic efforts will be more likely to succeed due to the cultural ties that come from that religious connection. It is expected that with this more global outlook the Empress will be seeking alliances with other countries as well as bases to make the deployment of forces across the world to defend French and allied territory even easier, some sources inside the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (also expected to be renamed) have indicated the Empress and her government may even pursue the creation of a Latin Union which would be open to countries that speak a Latin language and/or are largely Roman Catholic. The Empress is also expected to further enhance the already close relations between Paris and the Holy See, a process that began with the restoration of Church rights to pre-revolutionary levels and the recognition by the Pope of France as the first daughter of the Church. The Empress' coronation has specifically been delayed until after the crisis in the Vatican ends so she can follow historic tradition where only a Pope can crown an Empress. Finally, the Empress is pursuing closer relations with Thailand and the general foreign policy goals of having at least some form of agreement with the United States and the Republic of China remain.

Terrorism
The Empress has recognized that the Paris Massacre, conducted by a few dozen Algerian and Palestinian extremists, has shocked the nation to its core and shown that the Police and Security Services were unable to detect and intercept a large scale organized attack at multiple vital locations inside the heart of the nation. While the Guillaume Committee is still investigating the causes and who carries responsibility for the Massacre succeeding, leaks of the preliminary report have shown that the DGSI should have been able to detect the group in an earlier phase as its leader was even on a DGSI watchlist, but it has also recognized that current laws impose extreme restrictions on what the Security Services are allowed to do.
The first step the Empress has already taken is to create the Ministry of Security and assigned a Minister. In the Ministry's first press statement it has been clarified that the National Police, the Paris Police Prefecture, the DGSI, DGSE, DCPJ. CNCTR, SCRT, SNRP, and any other intelligence, security or police services under any Ministry other than the Ministry of Armed Forces will immediately be transferred to it. Furthermore, in matters of national security the National Gendarmerie and other police, intelligence or sercurity services or units under the Ministry of the Armed Forces the Ministry of Security will take priority and assume jurisdiction. This way all police, security and intelligence capabilities in France are centrally managed with a reduction of inter-Ministry bureaucracy. In her speech the Empress also stated that the Minister of Security will prepare legislation to create the Directorate-General for Security and Intelligence Technology or DGSIT. In the earlier mentioned statement the Ministry of Security also clarified that this agency will assume a similar role to the USA's NSA and the UK's GCHQ, but additionally work on the creation of tools and systems to actively meet 21st century asymmetric threats. This means that in addition to what the NSA and GCHQ do, the agency will also work on the creation of viruses, hacks, and hardware tools to penetrate enemy systems. This may be domestic terrorist groups, organized crime, or even hostile state actors. If approved by Parliament the Ministry will recruit among black hat hackers currently in French prison and offer them early release in return for working for the agency.
To allow for all these measures the Empress stated the Minister of Security will also introduce a law expanding the powers of the police, security, and intelligence agencies in France. While the Ministry's statement did not clarify which powers specifically will be granted, reading between the lines it seems to address a large range of civil rights. The powers of the agencies will however be moderated through the supervision of a to be created Committee on the Supervision of Police, Intelligence, and Security Agencies. The Committee will consist of 11 members, 5 are members of the Imperial Assembly, 5 are high profile civil rights lawyers, and the Minister of Security is the final member. Anyone can complain to this Committee if they feel the agencies have violated their rights illegally. While this is a measure to repair damage, the proposal will also provide for the creation of 15 Police, Intelligence, and Security Courts. 12 for each region in Metropolitan France, 1 for the Crown Territory of Corsica, and 1 for Overseas France. The final Court is the Imperial Police, Intelligence and Security Court which will cover any request affecting multiple jurisdictions. The courts will consist of five judges and they must approve any use of the expanded powers within their jurisdiction, the Imperial PIS Court will consist of three five judge chambers to accommodate the larger number of requests.
These bills will be introduced into the Imperial Assembly and Senate within two months.

Domestic Policies
While the fight against terrorism will on one front be fought by radically increasing the capabilities and organization of the security services, the Empress also recognizes that it needs to be fought at its root using measures aimed to prevent vulnerable individuals from being recruited in the first place. The Empress recognized that Metropolitan French society is deeply unequal in its treatment of European French citizens and other French citizens, with even fourth and fifth generation migrants still being in a significantly worse position than their European counterparts. The Empress however finally also recognized she does not know how to solve this problem. In place of providing a solution she has created the Ministry of Racial Justice and Colonial Healing. Once a Minister has been found this Ministry will begin researching how to best resolve inequality in French society. The Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs will also reach out to former colonies to address how to best heal the damage of past French colonization.

One measure the Empress did announce, and which she can do through the Minister of the Interior without Parliamentary Oversight under the Immigration Law, is that beginning in July any national from a territory outside Europe that was under French control for more than twenty years will be eligible for permanent residency. They will also be on the same track as any other permanent resident on the route to French citizenship. This measure seems to be aimed both at colonial healing and to build closer ties to French speaking countries. Essentially killing two birds with one stone. The Ministry of the Interior has released a statement clarifying that these citizens will receive the 'French by Historical Occupation' status which is equal to 'Permanent Resident'. While they cannot join the Imperial Armed Forces, they are eligible for the Foreign Legion or the French Volunteer Forces.

Future Vision and Space
Beyond the realities of the ongoing crises, the Empress has stated her outlook on the future of France. She wishes for a truly modern society that is close to God and explores scientific discovery, the arts and societal uplifting. While this will not be the only measure to bring this about, one specific focus she has stated is on space. Recognizing that space races have often driven massive advancement in all kinds of scientific sectors, she has stated the goals for France to return to space by 2007, a Frenchperson on the moon by 2015 and a Frenchperson on Mars by 2025. These are ambitious goals, however France has a long history in space travel and specifically due to its stake in the Airbus Group access to significant space-capable vehicles. Cooperation may also be sought with other nations in these endeavours to bring them about faster. One prominent country that are often mentioned to be invited to this project are Thailand and Italy.

 

[Alexander]

Massive Military Reforms Announced in Three Separate Announcements

PARIS - Possibly in recognition of the previous leak already revealing most plans, the government has moved ahead of its planning and released three different statements from the Palace of Versailles, the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Hexagone Balard. The three announcements each form a vital part in the future direction of the Imperial Armed Forces, a future that will be led by the no longer Acting Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Édouard Guillaud. Admiral Guillaud awaits the daunting task of evolving French military culture into the 21st century to meet its existing status as the second most advanced military in the world.

Palace of Versailles
While the shortest in actual length of the announcement, the Empress' press release is the most vital unclassified document laying out the path for the future of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Imperial Armed Forces. Firstly, the Empress has dissolved the Defence Staff. And replaced it with the, Defence Staff. Rather than being simply the representation of the highest Officers in each branch under a strict top-down hierarchy, the new Defence Staff takes on the position of an advisory organ for the government and the channel in between the government and the military. It is still composed of the Chief of the Defence Staff, Major General of the Defence Staff, Chief of the Army Staff, Chief of the Air and Space Force Staff, and Chief of the Naval Staff, but additionally will now also seat the Director-General of the National Gendarmerie, Secretary General for the National Guard, and the Secretary General for the Volunteer Forces and while part of branches already represented by the previous six; the Commander of the Marine Troops (COMTDM), the Commander of the Foreign Legion (COMLE), the Commander of the Space Command (COMCDE), and the Commander of the Special Operations Command (COMCOS). In addition to these permanent members, servicemembers with a more specific field of expertise may be invited when the topics discussed call for it. The new Defence Staff is not in command of the forces under it, in the new Chain of Command the Empress stands at the top as the Chief of the Armed Forces, followed by the Minister of the Armed Forces, followed by the Regional Commander, and then following the Chain of Command. In practice however, the members of the Defence Staff will still pick and appoint the Regional Commanders and prepare the plans for the Empress and Minister to choose from. Secondly, the Empress has appointed Admiral Édouard Guillaud to be the Chief of the Defence Staff and also appointed Minister Delegates for the Army, Air and Space Force, Navy, and Volunteer Forces who will be Ministers operating within the Ministry of the Armed Forces and tasked specifically with the administration of their assigned Branch. Finally, the Empress has issued an order to the Chief of the Defence Staff to implement a plan to bring about a fully modern French military capable of global projection in support of it and its allies security interests, independent of foreign suppliers and capable to perform on par with any single other military in the world.

The announcement in many ways appears an expression of just how shocked the Empress was when Canada attacked, while there had been concerns over a possible armed conflict with Turkey or a need to intervene in an Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, no one predicted another war on French soil so soon after the conclusion of the civil war. The Empress had hoped and was planning on at least a decade of peace and prosperity to rebuilt the country first and not need a strong military until the next decade. This new policy while caused by the Canadian attack represents a permanent change in France's military outlook, while diplomacy remains the first avenue in resolving disputes the Empire of France will never let itself be caught by surprise again.

Ministry of the Armed Forces
The Ministry of the Armed Forces awaits the daunting task of making France entirely independent from foreign suppliers for its security and military needs. While France already largely uses its own equipment and has companies in every sector imaginable, past European cooperation means that a lot of these companies have worked with companies in other countries which can make ascertaining the true ownership of a product difficult sometimes. To achieve self-sufficiency it has announced Autarcie 2010/2020. Autarcie 2010/2020 is a 15,000 page document prepared and released in a heavily redacted form by the Ministry. In it the Ministry outlines concrete goals and methods to achieve it. Some examples of concrete new pieces of technology to be developed are the Thales AM406 and AM403 AEW&C aircraft for the Air and Space Force and Navy respectively, the Land Attack Cruise Missile, the Éphémère nano-UCAV, and these are only the ones whose name has been publicly released. The document lists plans for a wide range of new systems from a fifth generation air superiority fighter to a long-range stealth bomber, and for 2010-2020 a mach 7 long range precision strike weapon to a 120,000 ton displacement nuclear powered super carrier.

Beyond military technology the program also assigns some of the first projects to the recently created DGIST. The internet has been a revolutionary technology and while it has been widely embraced by the population, the military has for security reasons not widely adopted it. Instead it has created an independent fiber optic network between its facilities complemented by communication satellites, and internet access only for minimal security file access. Especially if the French state is to assume a greater role in international peacekeeping and protecting Europe, the French and the Christian worlds, a way to safely use the internet is vital. To achieve this the Ministry has named the project Norme de chiffrement quantique (NCQ) which stands for Quantum Encryption Standard; NCQ-1 will use some form of quantum cryptography to create encryption that even with all the computing power in the world would take billions of years to decrypt forcefully. Once completed NCQ-1 will be used by all parts of the French government to secure its classified information. Using this theoretical encryption standard, even if a soldier used an open wireless network in a hostile nation no one would be able to see the data. The military will maintain its secured networks, but even on those the encryption provides protection against physical tapping of the network and allows the world wide web to essentially serve as a globally available private military or governmental network. The Ministry is also seeking the development of an operating system to be used by the military and any government department handling sensitive data to eliminate its dependence on the US-maintained Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS X operating systems, and Alcatel-Lucent to produce laptops and desktops using this French operating system as well as a government- and military-only smartphone with is accompanying operating system which will be required to access any French secured servers. The new OS, computers, and phones will also all be running NCQ-1 and at least for their first versions will not be available to the public.

Chief of the Defence Staff
Announced last, likely to make sure the appointment was public knowledge for at least a few minutes, Admiral Édouard Guillaud outlined his plans to reform the Imperial Armed Forces' structure, in his announcement he stated that the Empress and Ministry had already approved the plans and they would see implementation over the upcoming weeks and months. Though with the seeming lull in fighting in the ongoing war, they are to be implemented as fast as possible to provide the greatest gain in French military performance in the defence of her territory.

While not the only change, the most important one and the only one we will focus on in this article is the creation of Commandements régionaux (Regional Commands), As had been leaked before each Regional Command will be a permanent entity and consist of the forces from all branches (with the exception of Special Operations Command) within it. Each Command will be led by a Commander from one of the branches. The announcements deviates from the leaks in the number of commands and the areas covered. Metropolitan France (CDRMETFRA), Europe (CDREURO), Overseas France West (CDROMOF), Atlantic (CDRATL), Americas (CDRAME), Africa (CDRAFRI), Middle East (CDRMOYORI), Overseas France East (CDROMEF), Asia (CDRASIE), Pacific (CDRPAC). All commands will be headquartered in a French territory within the designated geographic zone, unless no French territory exists within the geographic zone in which case the government may seek to negotiate a basing agreement with a current or future ally or place the command in a French territory closest to it. For example CDRAFRI will be headquartered in Corsica as France currently has no bases on the African continent wheras despite the island itself falling under CDROEOF, Tahiti will be the home of CDRPAC. By placing military command much closer to the area of operations, regional developments can be responded too much faster which will save French lives and shorten conflict duration. Regional commanders are also much more aware of the needs of their forces on the ground and can more accurately request supplies and reinforcements.

The general philosophy expressed through decentralizing of the command structure is also reflected in plans for the military itself. While there are no plans to downsize the military, the Chief of the Defence Staff plans to continue the development already started in the 1990s focusing combat operations around more agile Brigade-level units than the more cumbersome Division-level ones that were especially popular during the Cold War when a large conflict inside Europe against a long border was still considered more likely than the current reality of especially smaller scale skirmishes all over the world. The ultimate goal is to create a French military capable of acting anywhere in the world with only days notice.

 

[Alexander]

Prime Minister Visits Berlin Following Invitation from New Chancellor

Berlin, German Empire - Despite the Canadian War of Aggression, Marquis Lefebvre hsd travelled by train to Berlin earlier today following the invitation from the recently elected German Chancellor Hannah Becker. The visit constitutes the first time since last year's diplomatic crisis that a senior French government official has visited Germany in general and Berlin specifically. The meeting between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor's predecessor was notably held in Portugal as the Germans understandably requested neutral terrain. The Prime Minister stated upon arrival at the trainstation in Berlin to French and German press that she is hopeful this official visit is the second step on the recovery to the full restoration of the Franco-German friendship.

While in her speech to Parliament the Empress indicated a foreign policy focus being placed on countries that share the French language or the Catholic faith, buildin g close ties to other European countries has become no less important. It just no longer is considered the only focus. Within that larger goal for European alliances, Germany has long been a foreign policy priority. Placed in the centre of Europe and with a cultural impact on European history no less than any other empire. Relations took a massive hit last year when the Empress ordered widespread sanctions against Germany due to its then government being seen as breaking down democratic safeguards. The scale of the sanctions backfired massively and despite immediate efforts to reduce the sanctions and after a first series set of negotiations between the Prime Minister and then Chancellor that withdrew the final ones in return for still secret promises, the Franco-German relationship was bruised at best. Even the opposition to the German government protested the French decision at the time and it was believed that the subsequent rise in popularity was at least in some part caused by the sanctions. Things came to a head when far right extremists launched several attacks against polling station.

Since then the Germans have elected a more moderate government and restored their monarchy under the domestically and internationally highly popular House of Hohenzollern, the Kings of Prussia and German Emperors of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Roughly two months ago the Elysée Palace received a message from Berlin raising the possibility of properly restoring Franco-German relations and arranging a state visit. After some back and forth on the specifics it was decided that the Prime Minister would travel to Berlin by high speed rail. While, especially given the war, the Germans offered to meet in France, the Prime Minister felt that given recent events it was only appropriate to meet on German soil first with the next meeting being held kn Fremcj territory.

The government is hopeful that a full normalization of relations will be achieved at this meeting and that the two countries can begin resuming some of its historic agreements such as open borders, free trade, judicial cooperation and hopefully more.

If successful it would be a great first step in the government's longterm goal of maintaining at least positive relations with London, The Hague, Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow, Madrid, Rome, and Lisbon.

 

[Alexander]

Empress Initiates Capital Punishment Debate By Using Agenda Power

Paris - While re-introduced during the Civil War, the death penalty was never without controversy and even when used was often done so reluctantly. Today, the Empress has given new life to the debate by requesting Parliament to discuss the future of the punishment. She has also stated that pending the conclusions of such a debate she will not sign any death warrants. The death penalty in its current form is an incredibly rare punishment as there are only very few crimes that it can be used for and the conditions are extremely restrictive by design.

With France disintegrated into dozens of factions, capital punishment was re-introduced after its initial abolishment to deal with French-persons who during the war have made themselves guilty of especially grave offences against the nation or the people in it. The initial Orléans faction and then the Empire of France issued the death penalty in 60 cases and went through with it in 24 of those, most famously in the cases of the defeated Republican government for causing the Civil War and war crimes ordered by them against other factions. Outside of the Civil War the punishment has been issued once, for a serial killer. This person is still awaiting his mandatory appeals which were initiated automatically when the court condemned him to death.

The Empress has made her dislike of the death penalty clear, but on the other hand she is faced with it being incredibly popular among the French populace and within a majority of parties in Parliament, especially following the Paris Massacre. In her statement requesting Parliament to debate the matter however, she has stated that the punishment made sense for the time it was re-introduced but now that France was internally stable and capable of doing so again it should instead reserve life imprisonment for the worst offences rather than death. As the Empress cannot change the law or the Constitution herself, she does have the power to place subjects on the Parliamentary agenda and has now done so to force the legislature to debate the death penalty and go on the record whether or not they are for or against it. The Empress likely hopes that the Mouvement Monarchiste will feel pressured to follow her position now that she has stated it so publicly and that together with the opposition parties against it that it will be enough to change the Constitutional article as well as removing it from the criminal law.

Currently the death penalty may during peacetime only be issued for those guilty of multiple or aggravated homicide, while during wartime it may also be issued for the crime of treason provided there are at least two witnesses to the treason or the convict has confessed to it. When the death penalty is issued an appeals process is automatically triggered, culminating in the Supreme Court of the Empire of France ruling on the matter. Even then any death warrant must be signed by the Empress and the Empress has the power to pardon or commute the convict. The Empress has stated that until Parliament has voted on the matter she will not sign any more death warrants. Of the 60 total convictions 24 people have been executed, another 30 persons are currently in the appeals process and the final six have exhausted all appeals and are awaiting their death warrants to be signed.

 

[Alexander]

Opinion: France is Failing Her Daughters

Aurore les Champs (16) is like many French girls. She performs decently in school, but it is not where her passions are, she values spending time with her friends and often can be found in a café near her school with them. When not studying or spending time with her friends, she explores her true passion, music. Aurore is loved by her parents, who while not particularly well off still constitute part of the growing French middle class and do everything they can to get her everything. Aurore les Champs was found last week at the bottom of the Saône, her autopsy confirmed she died of a drug overdose and that she suffered sustained sexual trauma in the months since she ran away from home following a fight with her parents. She will never pay an instrument again, spend time with her friends, or work on getting her grades high enough for university admission in two years. The death has been ruled a suicide, at the end of this opinion piece her story will continue.

Aurore is part of a larger phenomenon, big enough that it has even got its own name in the press and French society at large. 'Les filles perdues de France' or in short les filles perdues. The lost daughters of France. Often relegated away from the frontpages due to bigger articles on war and terrorism, their stories are no less tragic. Since 2001 the rate of teens going missing has gone up 5000%, when just looking at girls the percentage is even higher. It has got to the point where even the Ministry of Justice is calling it an epidemic, yet the political will to solve it is far to be found.

The crises the French state has suffered in recent years has simultaneously been an enormous strain on French children and kept French authorities more focused on at that time more important matters. Psychologists refer to several phenomena that may contribute to the epidemic. An increase in domestic violence, itself likely caused by the increase in veterans from the various conflicts returning home with untreated trauma, the explosion in organized crime due to the prolonged lack of central law enforcement, funding issues in education that only this year has been addressed, and chronic underfunding of youth mental healthcare that has yet to be addressed.

Anh Nguyen (15) is a Marseillais academic superstar, the daughter of a university professor and a microbiologist, it is clear her brains come from both her parents. She isn't particularly artistic or even really all that social, but she will go through fire for the friends that she does have. Last month Anh had had a few bad weeks and her academic performance was suffering as a result. After receiving a third failing test result in the same week she decided not to go home that afternoon. While it is unclear what happened exactly she was found by Gendarmes by the side of the road near the Belgian border. Her body showed signs of sexual trauma and she had been severely beaten. Anh is still in the hospital, her doctors aren't optimistic she will ever leave her coma. Her parents wish she had just come home that afternoon.

The trend is as shocking as it has become incredibly common. For whatever reason a girl ends up on the street, to cope they find one of the many drug dealers. The drug dealers give them an introductory price to get hooked, and once they reveal the true price the girl is too addicted to resist. Then they are forced to pay whatever money they have left and once there is none they are put to work either on the streets or in one of the many illegal brothels that litter French streets. Clients range from mob bosses to members of Parliament, and from blue collar workers to directors of the same company they work for. Then it is only a matter of time before she is either arrested for illegal prostitution, abused to death by one of her clients, or either an accidental overdose or a more intentional one when she realizes just how far she fallen.

Safiyyah Khalil (17) is still finding out what she wants to do with her life. She isn't particularly good at school nor does she have any real artistic interests, but she knows there is something out there she would be good at. While it is getting late to still make a major shift in her life's direction, it's not impossible. At the very least, there are plenty of vocational programs she can pursue. Her friends always compliment her great hair, perhaps she could become a stylist? Safiyyah never got the chance to find out, she died two years ago and she is considered the first case that truly had significant reach in the press. She had got herself into debt with the Hornec Brothers gang and was sold to the Corsicans to pay off the debt. After months of abuse she burned herself in front of the Paris Police Prefecture Headquarters. An investigation after the civil war ended showed she had tried several times to report her abusers but the case was never picked up on. The person she reported was convicted last month for the exploitation of 280 girls and young women. Most happened after she began filing reports.

Before Aurore died she left a diary behind in which she told her life's story as well as the many atrocities she suffered while forced to work as a child prostitute in a brothel owned by the Corsicans near the heart of the French government. In her diary she also left drawings of the clients, the Paris Prefecture Headquarters has over the past week used software to compare the pictures to the extensive National Criminal Database, Municipal Citizen Registries, and personnel records of government agencies working in the area. Using this data they have already requested arrest warrants for 190 out of the 250 faces in her diary. Operation: Aurore as it has been dubbed will seek to arrest and prosecute every single man that abused her.

It is time for the people of France to take a stand. No more distractions. Nothing is more important than the safety of France's daughters. Regardless of wars, terrorism or whatever, this needs to be frontpage news every day. Politics must pass laws protecting the girls and making the punishment for their abuse so horrific that no scumbag will even consider it, police must take the reports seriously and stop punishing the girls and women rather than their abusers, public funding needs to be made available to address the mental health crises and to provide a safety net for young people. How many more daughters must France lose?

If you want to take action yourself please visit the website of the Safiyyah Foundation at www.safiyyah.fr, there you can download a template message to send to your members of Parliament. The website also lists all missing girls and young women in France, and you can donate money for the organization's lobbying activities as well as the programs they have set up to help girls like Aurore, Anh, and Safiyyah before they get in trouble.

 

[Alexander]

Disregard, will be reposted

 

[Alexander]

Canadians Withdraw from French Territories, Peace Achieved

Cayenne, Guiana - Following the surprise agreement of Canada to an unconditional white peace French forces are returning to the Western Territories following the withdrawal of Canadians. The government was expecting some kind of ceasefire or peace agreement but did not anticipate a full Canadian withdrawal. Now the effort will begin to rebuild the damaged infrastructure and for the French citizens of the territories to begin the healing process. The Empress has guaranteed that the French government will cover any damage done by the war. Analysts predict the cost of repairs from Canadian military and French Maquis activity will amount to a 450 million franc expense for the government.

The Empress has today in an official statement announced the unconditional withdrawal of all Canadian forces from all French territories previously under occupation. To coincide with the withdrawal of Canadian forces newly recruited French forces are rapidly being deployed to prevent any power vacuum. Currently communication to the territories is still made difficult by Canadian efforts to block internet and telecommunications traffic to and from the territories. Contact can still be made by satellite, however physical connections have been cut by the Canadians. The Canadian agreement to peace without terms on either side came as a surprise, as until then Canada had resisted almost all efforts to achieve peace. Unfortunately, the public will not know the true extent of diplomatic communications until 2054 as the Secrets Law maintains the classification on these communications for fifty years.

With Canada withdrawing, the Imperial Armed Forces are filling the vacuum through the deployment of ground, air, and naval forces to all western territories to deter any future aggressio, plans were already in place for the protection of Metropolitan France and the eastern territories. In addition to the permanent presence, the CBG Jeanne d'Arc, headed by the aircraft carrier of the same name, will remain in the area as extra security while communication with the territories is difficult and infrastructure is being rebuilt.

The Empress pre-empted critics of the peace agreement, however calls have already come from Imperial Assembly members from the far-right Front National criticizing her for her agreement to the peace and that France should attack Canada proper to seek the liberation of Quebec. Fortunately, the party holds only two seats and every other party in the Imperial Assembly has expressed strong or limited support.

Recognizing the damage done to the civilians of the formerly occupied territories both by Canada and Maquis operating under the flag of France, the Empress has announced that the government will cover any damages. Experts predict that the total burden on the French treasury will amount to 450 million francs, most of this will go to the reparation of communication lines as well as port facilities and other infrastructure damaged in the opening moments of the war to prevent their use by Canada.