Global Eyes
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Updates
The French Election Twitter Summit
Join Jérome Clavel, Arun Kapil, and me, Claire Berlinski, this coming Sunday at 9 pm Paris time on Twitter Space for our biweekly French Election Twitter Summit. This conclave will be interesting because Arun will be fresh from Valérie Pécresse’s rally, from which he’ll bring us a firsthand report.
Prepare with this explainer: How does France’s two-round election system work? Oh, wait—I just remembered! I have a much better one. Here’s a NAQ—Never-Asked Questions—about the French elections that I wrote about five years ago. I just re-read it, and I learned a lot.
Timely Book Club
The Cosmopolicast
The Cosmopolicast returns. We recorded it this morning with Vladislav Davidzon and Olga Tokariuk, both in Kyiv. We’ll have it up for you presently. We talked about the mood in Kyiv; whether Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself, what it still needs, and whether there's time to provide it. We also talked about the past 48 hours in diplomacy, Liz Truss and Macron’s visits to Moscow; pipelines and politics; and Tucker Carlson.
I asked them to rank, from 1-10, the support Ukraine has received from the US, NATO, the EU, and its member states. Olga gave the US an 8 and the UK a 10 (“except for failing to crack down on Russian money, which is a big ‘except.’”) Germany got a 3. We'll put this up for you later today or tomorrow, depending how long it takes us to figure out how to do it. (This was our first time flying solo—usually Monique Camarra walks us through the process.)
Stay tuned.
What we’ve been writing …
Thunder Out of China. By Yuri Deigin, the definitive account of the evidence that Covid escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Inference.
With Putin’s Russia, the impossible status quo. By Nicolas Tenzer (in French), for Desk Russie. “Even if there is no new attack on Ukraine, the status quo imposed by the Kremlin on Europe is unacceptable. No one can accept its stranglehold on parts of Georgia and Ukraine, Belarus, and Transnistria.”
Downing Street party police will be looking to make an example, writes Denis McShane. He warns everyone around Boris Johnson to lawyer up. Also: It is time to clean up party political funding.
Cristina Maza wrote three articles this past week (very productive, Cristina!):
European leaders are growing frustrated with Germany’s half-hearted response to Russia’s military buildup along the border with Ukraine.
She interviewed Congressman Ruben Gallego, the co-chair of the House Baltic Caucus, about his recent visit to Ukraine, how he assesses Ukraine’s fighting capability, and how much lethal aid should flow to Eastern Europe.
In tandem with the Olympic Games, US lawmakers are calling attention to China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the entities helping whitewash Beijing’s image. This led to a flurry of hearings, open letters, and several bills aiming to strip the International Olympic Committee of its tax-exempt status.
What we’ve been reading …
Biden warns Americans in Ukraine to “leave now.”
Ukrainians warn Russian invasion would trigger “largest Molotov cocktail party in the world.”
Russian naval buildup near Ukraine. “Over the past few weeks, Russia has pulled warships from across the globe to mass in the Black Sea and Mediterranean as part of one of the largest displays of naval firepower since the Cold War.”
Meet Russian spy boss Sergey Naryshkin. “The SVR chief pegs his rise to a chance meeting with Putin in the bowels of the KGB’s Leningrad Office.” A superb profile of a man the West will come to know better than it ever wished to do.
How to train Europe: the Kremlin’s exploitation of the Ukrainian crisis.
Westerners are wondering about Putin’s intentions regarding Ukraine. They take into account the slightest declarations that emanate from the Kremlin, the movements of troops, the evolution of propaganda. But the broader context of the crisis often escapes them. The destruction of the independent Ukrainian state is certainly a priority objective pursued by Putin because of his historical obsessions. But it must also serve as an instrument for realizing a goal no less important in Moscow’s eyes: the training of European elites.
France’s Macron bets on nuclear power to fight climate change. “French president tries to turn the tide on a slide in public support for the nuclear industry in the West.”
France’s Pécresse blasts Berlin and Brussels in presidential bid. “Facing pressure from far right, conservative candidate adopts critical stance on EU.”
As Finland watches: From alignment to alliance? “It is unusual for Finland’s defense policy to attract much international attention. But this is turning out to be an unusual year.”
British diplomacy gets a frosty reception in Moscow. “A highly-touted meeting between Britain and Russia’s top diplomats turns into Kremlin attack fodder.”
Putin, Ukraine, and Russia’s daddy issues. A highly-recommended podcast with the highly-recommended Peter Pomerantsev.
“German politicians are disgracing us before the entire world.” An interview with Nobel laureates Svetlana Alexievich and Herta Müller about Russia and Ukraine.
DER SPIEGEL: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says: “Those who talk, don’t shoot.”
Müller: What a stupid, hackneyed thing to say. People are always talking, even when they are shooting.
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