Media Interventions

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron was put on the spot this year in front of a room full of journalists when one asked, provocatively: Which man is more dangerous, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un; or Donald J. Trump?

Nearly two and a half years after the Russian military began an intensive bombing campaign in Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia is struggling to engineer a political solution in the war-ravaged country, analysts say.

President Vladimir Putin’s extra-heavy emphasis on new strategic missile systems in his March 1 address to parliament was quite unexpected and rather out of character. 

There are two main reasons the United States will maintain its primacy on the world stage. The first is that, in a world of weak or broken identities, theirs remains strong, despite racial tensions and the growth of social inequality. The US is a land of immigrants, who swept the plate clean – almost – of its indigenous populations.

Does China now have a president for life? China's leader Xi Jinping could stay in power indefinitely following the ruling Communist Party's proposal to scrap term limits. 

French President Emmanuel Macron is accelerating EU defense cooperation. The biggest obstacle are the French-German cultural differences. Can terrorism, Trump and Putin force closer military cooperation in Europe? Yes, says Barbara Kunz, research fellow at the French Institute for International Relations (Ifri) in Paris and expert on defense cooperation in the EU.

It's a watershed moment for South Africa and the party of Nelson Mandela. The leadership of the African National Congress is expected to force out Jacob Zuma. Will the president go quietly? Can he negotiate a deal in the face of long-looming corruption allegations?

Tokyo is ramping up international partnerships and investments to offer an alternative to Beijing’s signature foreign-policy project. For the first time in 15 years, Japan’s foreign minister last month paid a visit to the tiny island nation of Sri Lanka, shepherding a dozens-strong delegation of business leaders eager to deepen economic ties between the two countries after a year of increasing security cooperation.

If India has long been perceived, and rightly so, as a reluctant player in international affairs, but that perception is quickly coming to an end. Indeed, by organizing a major international forum, the Raisina Dialogue, for the third year in a row, Delhi is signaling that it is now seeking to play a much more active role in dealing with the colossal economic, environmental, and political changes and disruptions  affecting the world.

The US and China are headed for a technological arms race that could disrupt the status quo of global trade, according to Thierry de Montbrial, founder and executive chairman of the French Institute for International Relations, and chairman of the World Policy Conference.

"I came to tell you, is that Europe is back". French President Emmanuel Macron says China and Europe should work together on Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative. Macron began his first state visit to China with a stop in Xian, an eastern departure point of the ancient Silk Road.