Putin is moving towards a much wider and more dangerous conflict.

The dust has now settled on the French elections and Macron, recently re-elected President of France,  now finds himself caught in a political vice by the leftwing and rightwing in the French National Assembly.

As reported by Hugh Scholfield (right),

"The results of Sunday's legislative election confirm that this second term will be a different beast from the first, with Mr Macron cutting the figure of a chastened and greatly weakened leader.
...
Instead of being able to rely on (and basically therefore ignore) a compliant legislature, the president now faces a National Assembly which cannot guarantee the passage of his reforms." (BBC News : 20 June 2022) (my emphasis)

For Zelensky, President of Ukraine, what is disconcerting about the French election results is the success of the far-right Rassemblement National led by Marine Le Pen, a staunch supporter of Putin.

As reported by Ivanne Trippenbach,

"For the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, the far right has stormed into the Assemblée Nationale with 89 MPs, compared to six in the previous elections.
...
Ms. Le Pen was easily re-elected as MP for Pas-de-Calais with 61.03%. She made an emotional congratulation speech to celebrate achieving "a very powerful group of RN MPs in the Assemblée, which makes it a little more national." The far right will now benefit from increased resources, influence, speaking time and parliamentary staff." (Le Monde : 20 June 2022) (my emphasis)

Let us recall that in 2015, shortly after Putin illegally invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimea,

"France's Front National [led by Marine Le Pen] may have been given a multi-million-euro loan by a Russian bank as a "reward" for backing President Putin's annexation of Crimea, according to text messages released by Russian hackers...." (David Chazan : The Telegraph : 4 April 2015) (my emphasis) (cf also: Blog Entry 19 January 2016, and Romain Geoffroy and Maxime Vaudano: Le Monde: 22 April 2022)

And as Putin's friends in the newly reconstituted National Assembly in France celebrate their victory, David M. Herszenhorn points out that,

"Each of the three EU leaders [ France's Macron,Germany's Scholtz, and Italy's Draghi] has come under criticism in recent months for seeming to be too accommodating of Russia’s gripes and demands, and potentially too willing to appease Putin. Macron, for instance, negotiated endlessly with Putin to no success, and has repeatedly urged that Russia not be “humiliated.” Berlin, in turn, has been slow to send urgently needed weapons." (Politico : 16 June 2022) (my emphasis)

Deutche Welle : 16 June 2022 : YouTube

We can now only wait and see whether this 'historic' win of Le Pen's far right movement will 'further affect' Macron's rather 'feeble' support of Ukraine. 

Macron's political ambitions for the EU now has to confront the anti-EU stance of Marine Le Pen and the left-wing Eurosceptic Jean-Luc Melenchon in France's National Assembly.

As Michael Wohlgemuth (left) writes,

"..... one should bear in mind that in the April 10 first round, a majority of French voters chose a candidate of the radical right (Eric Zemmour, Ms. Le Pen) or radical left (Jean-Luc Melenchon). Each of these candidates advocated dismantling the EU from within by deliberately breaking or ignoring basic rules of the EU treaty that conflicted with the French national interest." (GIS Reports : 6 June 2022) (my emphasis)

And against this political backdrop in France, Sabine Siebold and Charlotte Van Campenhout report that,

"Russia is committing a war crime by blocking the export of millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain, the European Union's foreign policy chief [Josep Borrell] said on Monday as EU foreign ministers met to discuss ways to free up the crop amid a global food crisis." (Reuters : 20 June 2022) (my emphasis)

MSN News (Newsweek) 21 June 2022

Le Monde also reports that,

"Kyiv warned that Russian troops were intensifying their battle for control of eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of holding Africa "hostage" by blocking wheat deliveries, which has spurred food shortages and fears of famines in vulnerable areas." (Le Monde : 21 June 2022) (my emphasis)

As Putin's desperation leads him to intensify his war with Ukraine in the Donbas, US President Biden is stepping up his support for Ukraine.

As reported by AlJazeera, President Biden said,

“I informed President Zelenskyy that the United States is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, including additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems that the Ukrainians need to support their defensive operations in the Donbas,” Biden said." (AlJazeera : 15 June 2022) (my emphasis) 

And, as reported by George Bowden (right),

"The new head of the British Army has issued a rallying cry to troops -

telling them they need to be ready to face Russia on the battlefield.
...
Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, who started the job last week, addressed all ranks and civil servants in an internal message on 16 June, seen by the BBC.
...
Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows the need "to protect the UK and be ready to fight and win wars on land", he says." (BBC News : 19 June 2022) (my emphasis)

Putin's desperation is best exemplified by the fact that, as reported by Sky News,

"Moscow has threatened EU and NATO member Lithuania by saying it will take measures to defend its national interests unless the transit of goods to Russia's Kaliningrad exclave is swiftly restored." (Sky News : 20 June 2022) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, as reported by Michael Curzon,

"A Russian warship has twice violated Denmark's territorial waters in an event that has been branded "completely unacceptable".
...
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod (left) described the intrusion as “a deeply irresponsible, gross and completely unacceptable Russian provocation”. (Express : 18 June 2022) (my emphasis)

In his bunker, Putin may be pleased that the recent French elections have increased his friends in the French National Assembly.

However, his ongoing war crimes in Ukraine, his war crimes against the world by using food as a weapon of war, and his threats against Lithuania and Denmark, could be the 'Black Swan' events that leads to a much wider and more dangerous conflict. 

9 News Australia : YouTube : 21 June 2022

 (to be continued)