From early October students have taken the lead in expressing their discontent with the economics of educational administration in France.

The walkouts, strikes and rebellions did not erupt in a political vacuum in France or in the broader European context.

Students in France are serving as a behavioral social barometer which is measuring the pulse of the people living within the capitalist states.

The implications for events in France which have spread to several other European countries extends beyond their continent. Events over the last several months have aggravated underlying weaknesses and contradictions internationally.

When United States President Donald Trump took office in his second non-consecutive term, uncertainty became the order of the day regarding economic, political and foreign policies. The imposition of tariffs on countries across the globe defied the fundamental principles of capitalist thinking over the last century.

Severe economic stress was placed on other industrialized capitalist states through the hostility of the Trump administration. This was exemplified through the blatant threats to their neighbors and main trading partner to the north as well as the Kingdom of Norway over territorial claims over Greenland along with the reemergence of a secessionist movement in western Canada. Both of these states are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which was founded by the US in the aftermath of the conclusion of World War II in 1949.

Yet, the price for being members of NATO has risen immensely since January 2025 when Trump unilaterally mandated that other states raise the level of military expenditures up to 5% of their national budgets. Although the impact of US military policy towards Europe is rarely discussed in the corporate and government-controlled media outlets, it is quite obvious that the burgeoning economic problems in the United Kingdom and Western Europe are closely linked to the outdated strategic alliances such as NATO.

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