STRATEGIC ALERT Service

Since the return of Donald Trump to the White House, French President Macron has been furiously pushing for implementation of a “war economy” in France and in Europe, implicitly offering himself as commander in chief of the effort. But in his televised address of March 5, he went even further in designating Russia as the enemy threatening freedom and democracy. […]

In Germany, the draft proposals to create an extra-budgetary fund for defense spending amounting to €400 bn, and an infrastructure fund of €500 bn, are expected to be presented to the Bundestag on March 13 for a first reading. But it is not completely certain that they will be adopted by the required two-thirds majority in the vote on March […]

As La Stampa senior correspondent Domenico Quirico remarked in a TV interview, media reports on the meetings organized by Macron and Starmer, without the United States, “look like the newsreels of 1956”, when the UK and France were preparing the Suez fiasco. Indeed, the propaganda against Russia flaunted today by Britain and France, which is used to justify the EU’s […]

The annual session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the two bodies of the Chinese legislature, met during the week of March 4. These gatherings, the “two sessions”, traditionally lay out the perspective for the coming year and beyond. This year, in an international context very much influenced by the first months […]

At the emergency summit of the Arab nations on March 4 in Cairo, participants endorsed Egypt’s proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza, as part of a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel. The plan calls for the massive rebuilding of the Strip, with a view to creating a modern urban and rural landscape. While the proposal would be substantially improved […]

A major reversal of U.S. energy policy toward Africa was announced by Energy Secretary Chris Wright at the 10th Powering Africa Summit in Washington, March 6-7. “This [Trump] government has no desire to tell you what you should do with your energy system,” Wright told the high-level representatives of 19 African governments and many businessmen gathered there. “It’s a paternalistic […]

In the extensive media coverage of the showdown in the White House last Friday between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, there is a notable omission, by which the intent of the U.S. leader’s message is obscured. “You’re gambling with World War Three!”, Trump exclaimed more than once. As for the Ukrainian president, his intent in coming to the White […]

The March 2 newsletter of The Economist reflects the despair spreading through the City of London as a result of the Feb. 28 meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. The magazine’s digital editor Adam Roberts writes that the fact that America has taken Russia’s side means European leaders must increase defense spending to allow the […]

The CDU and the SPD have begun talks on the formation of a new German government, but there is no indication that they are considering a break with traditional British geopolitics or support for U.S. President Trump’s new approach to Russia. On the contrary, the leaders of both parties have fervently taken the side of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. One […]

On Feb. 26, just as Romanian political leader Călin Georgescu was about to file his candidacy for the rescheduled presidential elections, armed with well over the 200,000 signatures needed to qualify, he was stopped by the police and taken to the General Prosecutor’s office. After questioning, he was indicted on several charges, including “actions against the constitutional order”; communication of […]