Big changes are coming to the global information sphere, and the Telegram founder’s standing is a canary in the coal mine
The arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, when he had decided to take a little trip to Paris, has caused a stir in various spheres – from the business and tech world to media and politics. We will focus on the latter, especially as the incident is becoming another milestone in a wider political reorganization.
Durov comes from a niche that claims transnational status above...
... left the European Union a few years ago, there seems to be little room for significant changes. Furthermore, there are currently no ideas that could form the basis for such developments. In fact, the situation here may even be more challenging than in France, where it is possible to envisage the evolution of the political system along the lines of the “Belgian” or “Italian” models: without any party being able to establish a stable government on its own. A partial loss of control over economic ...
On June 10, 2024, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) held a seminar in Lagos themed “Geopolitical and Geostrategic Competition in Sahel: Positions of Russia, the U.S., France and the EU.”
On June 10, 2024, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) held a seminar in Lagos themed “Geopolitical and Geostrategic Competition in Sahel: Positions of Russia,...
... financial standing. “Rather than part to the feast with a fool, better in difficulty with the wise” – Romanian folk saying.
Inconsistencies: Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi ? … manifest themselves as trust breakers. Illustratively: in the EU, France and Germany were imposing a 3% budget deficit maximum, while themselves were not capable of taming their own budgets. Similarly, today only naïve EU countries sanction Russia, the sanction-initiators themselves having found finance intermediaries ...
Throughout the years, France has maintained an interest in the South Caucasus, as is reflected by its membership in the OSCE Minsk group, alongside the US and Russia, aiming to help find a solution in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is thus important to analyze the reasons ...
... another debacle suffered by French diplomacy on the African continent, these sentiments seemed more like an attempt to save the blushes by presenting the erstwhile neocolonialism clothed in a more alluring mantle.
Useful recalcitrance
Alexei Chikhchev:
France and Africa: Another Fresh Start?
Setting the French leader’s speech in a broader context, it is appropriate to recall that reflecting on the desired structure of the international system is not something new either to the foreign policy of the ...
France was once home to a far-flung empire in Africa. After World War II, independence movements resulted in the empire’s breakup, followed by the establishment of new post-colonial states. Though France officially left the continent, it still maintained ...
... course of events will be for West Africa or the people of Niger itself. It is very likely that the radical change of power will not continue in Niger with the same success as in neighbouring Mali or Burkina Faso. However, it is already obvious that France’s system of post-colonial influence in this region is in a deep crisis, the consequences of which remain uncertain, including the general interaction of the West with the developing countries which are least protected from its claims.
France,...
... where he heralded a postcolonial “new era” in Franco-African relations. This statement was made on the eve of the French leader’s second tour to several local countries in recent months, with the intention to set the tone both for the trip and for France’s regional strategy for the coming years. In an attempt to mitigate the failure of anti-terrorist
Operation Barkhane
, the president introduced new policy outlines and the methods of its implementation. However, Macron’s reasoning, as well ...
... the case of “Russia is losing to NATO and produces its nuclear big stick,”
other nuclear powers
also envision, both
overtly and covertly
, such ways of using nuclear weapons. So far, it is certainly difficult to imagine a situation when, say, France gets involved in the hostilities around Ukraine and suffers horrendous losses, but life is full of surprises. At the same time, given the current available forces and the
“conventional deterrence” concept
in its various forms, first there ...
