GG news and notes

Plus: Global Eyes. Plus: Jolly amusements for your Sunday morning.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the Cosmopolitan Globalist’s favorite brother, Mischa Berlinski! We’ve marked this auspicious day with song and merriment:

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By the Cosmopolitan Globalists

Robert Zubrin excoriates “Putin’s Green fifth column” in the National Review. “By stopping nuclear power and fracking,” he writes, “the Greens are putting Europe under Putin’s thumb, sabotaging any effective effort to deter invasion of Ukraine.”

Robert also wrote a terrific piece for the Kyiv Post. “The British bulldog spirit: Here’s how to deter a further Russian invasion of Ukraine.” “Ukraine,” he writes, “should place demolition charges on the Molotov-Ribbentrop pipelines and promise to destroy both of them as soon as Putin’s blitzkrieg begins.” He’s worked out all the details of this. We were pleased to see the article on the front page, above the fold.

Nicolas Tenzer, writing for the Center for European Policy Analysis, asks, “Does France Have a Russia Policy?” “The French President’s call for dialogue with Russia,” he writes, “revived some old suspicions that he talks over the heads of smaller countries. The Élysée must clarify.” There’s more by Nicolas at his newsletter, too “Does the notion of populism have any bearing on foreign policy? The cult of the people and the decline of democratic leadership.”

At Lazo Letters, Cristina Maza interviews Rahim Hamid, an Ahwazi writer and human rights activist in exile. She also wrote three articles last week for National Journal:

• Diplomats are running out of time to save the Iran nuclear deal. Officials warn there are only a few weeks left to finalize the negotiations.

• Senators urge the State Department to act to preserve Bosnia’s fragile peace. Twenty-seven years after the end of a bloody conflict, observers say Bosnia and Herzegovina could be on the brink of breaking up.

• Can Congress provide enough aid to deter Russian aggression in Ukraine? Experts agree that Ukraine likely can’t repel a full-scale invasion. But getting the right type of materiel in Kyiv’s hands could make an incursion much more painful for Moscow.

• Ukraine’s neighbors are preparing for the worst. NATO allies are spending more on defense, offering training and weapons shipments to Kyiv, and calling for US boots on the ground. Estonia announced it would add approximately US$428 million to its defense budget over the next three years. The current annual defense budget is around $800 million, so that sum is significant. Latvia’s government made a similar announcement this week, increasing its defense spending by almost $400 million.

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The International Translation Superhighway

We’ve updated our Russian-language page, come have a look. Here’s the front page of Vzglyad, which you can read in full at the Cosmopolitan Globalist.

In response to our readers’ requests, the next language we’ll be adding to the site will be Farsi; Vivek is working on that right now. Meanwhile, check Global Eyes, below, for English-language news from Iran.

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The French Election Twitter Summit

If you’re on Twitter, join Jérome Clavel, Arun Kapil, and me today at 6:00 pm Paris time (noon in New York) for our twice-monthly French election Twitter Summit.¹ We’ll talk about the latest developments in the French presidential election campaign, gossip about the candidates, and handicap the race, in English. If you don’t feel like speaking but you’d like us to answer a question, feel free to send it to us. Among the questions we’ll be asking:

1. Does the Russia crisis matter to French voters? If so, what effect will it have on the race?

2. Foreign policy, generally: If French voters care about foreign policy at all, does it matter to them who is Euroskeptical and who is pro-European? Which candidates are at ease with authoritarian regimes (be they Russian or Chinese) and which think French foreign policy should be motivated by principle? Where do the candidates say they stand on these issues, and where do we think they really stand? Do the French care?

3. Perhaps it matters in so far as the question of energy has been central, with Pécresse stressing her adamant opposition to the closure even of older nuclear plants?

4. What laws govern campaign finance in France? Who’s winning the donation race?

5. Is there any energy in Pécresse’s campaign? Have her events been well-attended?

6. France’s economy has rebounded spectacularly, showing the strongest growth in five decades. Does this mean it’s a lock for Macron?

7. Defections from the National Front to Zemmour: Even Marion Maréchal is considering it (or maybe, given that family, especially Marion Maréchal.) What’s prompting this?

8. Who’s going to win the primaire populaire de la gauche? If they announce it on time, we’ll even know by the end of today’s summit.

9. What issues, besides crime, immigration, and national identity, really matter in this election? Where are the candidates positioning themselves on Covid19, healthcare, innovation and industry?

10. The youth vote: Does it matter? Will Pécresse’s idea to create a “banque des jaunes” appeal?

11. Will the other candidates recognize the result?

12. Parrainages: Is anyone out by virtue of failing to get enough signatures?

13. Would it be correct to describe the French left as fragmented among écologistes, socialistes and insoumises? Is this unique to France or a problem for the left universally?

14. Who are the journalists who’ve been writing most compellingly about this election?

Want to read up on the campaign in advance of the summit? Try this:

• 17 clusters: A quiz to discover your French political personality. (In French.) It’s surprisingly accurate. They pegged me—accurately—as a member of Cluster 5. Jérome, too. Arun is in Cluster 2. Where are you? Take the quiz and tell us in the comments.

• Poll: Macron remains in the lead, Le Pen slightly ahead of Pécresse, Zemmour stagnates. (In French.)

• French presidential election: Key candidates and their main policies

• French hold symbolic “people's primary” vote for left-wing presidential ticket

• Anne Hidalgo vows to stay in race for French presidency despite dismal poll

• Learn about the candidates running in the left’s “Popular Primary.” This is an online competition to winnow the competing array of left-leaning candidates down to a single standard-bearer. (In French.)

• Arun recommends “Only Pécresse can beat Macron,” an interview with Daniel Cohn-Bendit about the presidential campaign, post-Merkel Germany, and tensions between Europe and Russia. (In French.)

• Marion Maréchal is thinking of joining Eric Zemmour. (In French.)

• Valérie Pécresse proposes to create a "youth bank" to finance projects for 18-30 year olds. (In French.)

• 'Spectacular rebound' as French economy swells by 7 percent

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Global Eyes

Europe

Mariana Zhaglo, a mother of three, holds her Z-15—Zbroyar rifle in Kyiv, on January 28, 2022. “We’re ready to give them a welcome they’ll remember,” she said. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP)

NATO and US say No to Putin’s ultimatum.

US sanctions aimed at Russia could take a wide toll. “The boldest measures that President Biden is threatening to deter an invasion of Ukraine could roil the entire Russian economy—but also those of other nations.”