"...promoting constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic Community's central role in meeting global challenges".Among the sponsors of the Atlantic Council are: private charity foundations; NATO; federal agencies including the CIA, the US State Department, the National Intelligence Council (NIC); the analytical center at the US Intelligence Community, which coordinates the work of 17 intelligence agencies; the Department of Defence; US energy companies; and also the leading American corporations (Chevron, Lockheed Martin, Exxon Mobil, 21st Century Fox).
Massive 'Yellow Vest' protests over fuel price hikes, which have swarmed the streets of French cities for almost two weeks, have the support of about two thirds of the French, a new poll shows.A dangerous situation in the longer run. The French people have dealt with autocratic rulers once before and it wasn't pretty.
Protests turned violent with rioters setting barricades ablaze and police unleashing tear gas and water cannon at the demonstrators. Some scenes, especially in the heart of Paris, looked like a warzone. The rallies were triggered not only by rising fuel prices, but also President Emmanuel Macron and his unpopular efforts to overhaul France.
It turns out that people across France strongly support the upheaval, a new OpinionWay poll showed. The survey asked over 1000 people and 66 percent answered that they stand for the protesters.
The poll was conducted on Tuesday when Macron addressed the demonstrators, offering them minor concessions. They included a three-month consultation with associations that lead the protests and a proposal of a mechanism to adjust tax hikes. He, however, refused to scrap the rise in fuel taxes on diesel and petrol which are due to come into force in January 2019.
The speech angered at least 76 percent of the respondents who called his measures "wholly" or "mostly insufficient," the survey showed. Nearly 80 percent still oppose the planned fuel tax hike.
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