Thus Der Spiegel quoting Marine Le Pen today. “French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen discusses the European election victory by her Front National, German dominance in the EU and her admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin,” elaborates the newspaper. As she argues, all the French want is to regain control of their own country, but the language in the title of the article and the byline is still baffling. European Soviet Union? Admiration for Putin? In Le Pen’s mind, the European Union is a leftist sham. The way she sees things, each country should go on its own. “I have a certain admiration for Vladimir Putin because he doesn’t allow decisions to be forced upon him by other countries,” she says. “I think he focuses first on what is good for Russia and the Russians. As such, I have the same respect for Putin that I do for Angela Merkel.” Which rounds things off in an interesting way. Each country should fend for itself once again. Russia and Germany are good examples of what she wants for France and every other country. Each of them should have a strong leader minding the national interests. Everything else is a leftist sham, according to Le Pen. Chances are that a growing number of Europeans agree with her, too.