Category: VIEWS

In the centre, on the left wing, on the right wing, and everywhere else, a wall of mistrust rises immediately. In Poland, try it – I have just been doing so, for three days – try to evoke the idea of a search for a modus vivendi between the European Union and the Russian Federation, and all the rifts in this divided country instantly give way to a common front against the major European powers.

It is said cautiously. It is said deliberately in a tone that is monotonous enough so as not to trigger “urgent” and “breaking news” on the press sites. This is, in a word:, Merkel, but how can one explain that the Chancellor’s words reported last week by the Financial Times were not more noticed and commented on?

The situation is so obvious that you might think you can hear them debating. For the Iranian leadership, not to repress the protest that began on Saturday, to deal with the anger that has gripped the youth since they acknowledged that the Ukrainian airliner shot down on Wednesday was hit by one of their mistakenly fired missiles, would be to risk that the protests could escalate and become permanent.

Appearances matter, but they are not everything. With the Iraqi Parliament’s vote on Sunday demanding the departure of the American troops, Donald Trump seems to have played a very bad game. Far from leading to a weakening of Iran, the assassination of General Soleimani, an essential figure of the Islamic Republic, seems to flood the United States with opprobrium throughout the Middle East and make them lose Iraq to the advantage of the mullahs.

At the side table, two young women were talking, about the pensions, of course, like everyone else in France. “Do you realize, said one of them, that there is a seven hundred euro gap between the pensions of men and women? – And the worst thing, the other said, is that it’s everywhere like that, in all of Europe.” They looked at each other, overwhelmed, and, as talking to nobody in particular, the first one whispered: “And Europe is not even capable of doing anything about it! What’s the point of Europe?”