Worldcrunch
China has conducted military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of the island that Beijing seeks to take over — a test of the Trump administration’s resolve to defend the self-governing territory. So far, the U.S. president has kept his cards close to the chest in East Asia.
The EU should resist the temptation to retaliate against U.S tariffs on European cars. If we look closer at the recent past and the uncertain future, Trump’s bad intentions produce some good.
The Russian president has no problem talking about negotiations and peace treaties. But he’s a master decoy artist. Putin has built his power on conflict, and now he needs war to hold on to it.
In Paris where he met with Emmanuel Macron, the Ukrainian president urged Europe to provide more weapons and soldiers, accusing Putin of having no interest in a ceasefire. French daily Le Figaro’s Isabelle Lasserre spoke with him in an exclusive interview.
Would you fight for your country? My generation hears this question a lot these days. But my generation was taught to fight for peace — so why aren’t we holding onto that aim, especially now?
We’re still far from the 30-day ceasefire the Americans had hoped for. Even Tuesday’s announcement of a halt to hostilities in the Black Sea comes with Russian conditions. The negotiations are shaping up to be a long game — one that feels more like a high-stakes bluff than a real path to peace.
An exchange among U.S. leaders, witnessed online by a journalist, lays bare the level of disdain for Europe — just like Washington’s latest provocation toward Greenland. Europe has yet to come to terms with this de facto rupture in transatlantic relations.
When Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested, it sent shockwaves through Turkey, igniting fears that no opposition figure was safe. But instead of silencing dissent, Erdoğan’s crackdown has sparked a nationwide movement that could shape the country’s political future.
The Russian president has no problem talking about negotiations and peace treaties. But he’s a master decoy artist. Putin has built his power on conflict, and now he needs war to hold on to it.
After more than two hours of talks with Trump, Putin agreed only to a partial truce on energy infrastructure and laid out his conditions for moving forward — chief among them, an end to Western aid for Ukraine. Who knows if Trump pushed back at all.
The global “disorder” didn’t start with Trump, but he has joined the ranks of those who oppose the existing world order. Now, it’s up to leaders and nations in Europe to rethink a new world order of values before one of pure power is imposed on them.
Russia announced that it has taken back Sudzha, the biggest town in Kursk, just hours after a surprise visit from the Russian president in the region and as a U.S. delegation arrives in Moscow to discuss a ceasefire proposal. All eyes are now on Putin.
Known in France and on social networks under several false identities, the daughter of a Russian millionaire was born in 2003 from an extramarital relationship with the Russian president, who never recognized her.
Following Volodymyr Zelensky’s Washington visit last week, Russia has started exerting more pressure on Ukraine, confident that Trump will do little to interfere. Monica Perosino reports from the Ukrainian side of the frontline.
Donald Trump has suspended U.S. military aid to Ukraine until Volodymyr Zelensky demonstrates “good faith” in negotiating with Vladimir Putin. It’s an unprecedented move with an interesting parallel with what’s happening with Israel, where the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expedited the delivery of $4 billion in military aid.
An election victory, a literary debut, and the birth of a Baroque legend.
After walking the 50 kilometers that separate the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the Russian border, Spanish reporter Unai Aranzadi arrives in the small village of Kozacha Lopan. Places like these are perhaps the ones where it will be most difficult to heal the wounds of all that has been suffered to date.
It’s as if, before our very eyes, the president of the United States were reading a script written by the Kremlin. French political analyst Dominique Moïsi, says the reversal on Ukraine is an ally’s betrayal of historical proportions.
French President Emanuel Macron is on a whirlwind visit to Washington in a bid to avoid a U.S.-Russia deal at the expense of Ukraine and European security. It’s as much a transatlantic mission of psychology as politics, but Macron believes he can persuade the U.S. president.
February 21 – February 28, 2025
This week, U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his accusations against Ukraine. It looks as though Kyiv may have to rely solely on European military aid. But France’s president, along with the British prime minister, have made urgent plans to visit Trump.
Vladimir Putin says he is “ready” to talk with Volodymyr Zelensky. But it’s a feigned openness to dupe Trump, since he continues to question the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president and does not alter one iota his demands for a kind of capitulation by Kyiv and a reversal of Baltic entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
There isn’t much holding Europe and the U.S. together anymore: neither interests nor values. It’s time to start envisioning what comes next.
Ukraine isn’t backing down after the Trump-Putin exchange. It’s fighting to ensure that any negotiated plan includes strong security guarantees to prevent another Russian attack — and that Europe, sidelined by Trump, has a seat at the table.
February 7 – February 13, 2025
Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin for 90 minutes and announced “immediate” negotiations on Ukraine. But will Ukraine be a topic of discussion or an active participant in these talks? Will Europe have a seat at the table? And what security guarantees will remain for a Ukraine left diminished by the outcome?
As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in office — a deadline the US president has now missed. Even so, negotiations to end the three-year conflict are expected to accelerate. What are Russia, Ukraine and the United States’ current positions? And what do experts think will happen?
Elon Musk is hosting Alice Weidel in an interview on X, having tried to convince the American tech billionaire she’s not an extremist. But who is Weidel, really? She’s described the Germans as “slaves” of the U.S. and quotes the infamous text of a nationalist philosopher that is a dog-whistle for the far right in Germany.
Kursk is becoming synonymous with a nightmare for Vladimir Putin, a dynamic that the Kremlin prefers not to talk about, a flaw in the apparently invulnerable Russian shield.
With the unpredictable Donald Trump returning to the White House in January, what will global politics be like in 2025? In addition to major issues like the war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East and China, there’s another nagging question: What about Europe?
While Russia had to negotiate with former Syrian rebels for the withdrawal of around 500 Russian soldiers trapped in Damascus, Vladimir Putin remained silent on the crushing defeat he suffered in Syria. Instead, he has threatened the West, as if to show he is not weakened by the fall of his ally Assad.
The overthrow of the Assad regime is about more than just Russia’s boasting rights as a major power. It will have consequences on the war in Ukraine, and Russian expansion in Africa. Indeed, it may be proof that it is not a major power.
France caused a stir by declaring that the Israeli leader enjoyed “immunity” from the ICC arrest warrant. It’s a legal statement, but also a highly political one, as Israel has threatened to remove France from the Lebanese Ceasefire Monitoring Committee. Human rights activists are appalled.
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He says it’s an antisemitic move, and is backed by the U.S., but France and other EU countries have stated they will respect the warrant, meaning the Israeli leader is now unable to visit these regions.
Russia is expanding its nuclear doctrine and intensifying strikes on Ukraine, including Thursday’s unprecedented launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. This is an apparent response to new U.S. authorization of use of its weapons in attacks on Russian territory. All can be traced to the radical White House transition underway.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago. Since then, many Western nations, scholars and politicians have suggested negotiating for peace with Russia, rather than letting the war go on. But negotiations will not stop Putin’s imperial ambitions.
The U.S. has finally allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles following massive Ukrainian bombings of power infrastructure. Though only two months remain for the Biden administration before the uncertainty of the Trump era begins, the terms of any future negotiations are being fought over now.
The election of Donald Trump has begun affecting global dynamics. In Ukraine, Zelensky fears losing U.S. support and has warned Europe against “suicidal” concessions to Russia. In Israel, Netanyahu stands as the main beneficiary, as Trump’s victory grants him the freedom to pursue his objectives unfettered.
With the U.S. elections on the brink, and polls extra tight in swing states, the Kremlin is lapping it up. Rather than outwardly pulling for a Trump victory, however, Wacław Radziwinowicz argues that Moscow is above all, hoping for the high level of chaos that would come with a hung election.
