8 h. ago France is not alone in its political crisis – belief in a democratic world is vanishing | Simon Tisdall

The populist right offers a solution in the form of turning back the clock. Macron and his counterparts need to find a different answer fastEmmanuel Macron sounded like a man in grief. Not angry, not defiant, just a little triste. Europe, he lamented, was suffering a “degeneration of democracy”. Many threats emanated from outside, from Russia, from China, from powerful US tech companies and social-media entrepreneurs, France’s president said. “But we should not be naive. On the inside we are turning on ourselves. We doubt our own democracy We see everywhere that something is happening to our democratic fabric. Democratic debate is turning into a debate of hatred.”Squeezed between vituperative extremes of right and left, Macron knows of what he speaks. But “ungovernable” France is not alone in its bitter, intractable divisions. Across Europe, in the UK and the US, distrust and grievance daily deepen political dysfunction and social discord. Macron’s words apply, in fact, to almost an...

Politics

5 d. ago Macron should announce early election, says former PM as France’s political crisis deepens

Édouard Philippe, a contender to succeed Macron, says situation is ‘distressing’ amid last-ditch efforts to get cross-party support for cabinetEurope live – latest updatesÉdouard Philippe, a former French prime minister and one-time ally of Emmanuel Macron, has said he favours early presidential elections given the gravity of the political crisis rocking the country.The remarks by Philippe, a leading centre-right contender to succeed Macron, came as the outgoing prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, began a last-ditch effort to rally cross-party support for a cabinet to pull France out of its deepening political deadlock. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Trump’s bullying of Latin America isn’t part of any plan – he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing | Simon Tisdall

The president’s threats to attack Venezuela are regressive, dangerous and almost certain to backfireRunning for president in 2024, Donald Trump vowed to avoid costly, often disastrous overseas US military interventions like Iraq and Afghanistan. This was a key plank in his isolationist “America first” platform. Yet within months of his inauguration, US forces were bombing Yemen and Iran. Looking south, Trump threatened to seize the Panama canal. Now, the Pentagon is gearing up for attacks on “terrorist” drug cartels deep inside Colombia and Mexico. Of most immediate concern is a possible renewed White House effort to forcibly impose regime change on Venezuela.Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s hard-left authoritarian president, believes this effort is already under way. He says the US is waging “undeclared war” on his country after several deadly strikes on Venezuelan vessels in international waters. Trump notified Congress last week that the US is engaged in “armed conflict” with drug car...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump and Putin are threatening to carve up Europe between them. Suddenly, it all feels a bit 1939 | Simon Tisdall

Forget the US president’s seeming volte-face on Ukraine this week: he and Putin fundamentally agree that European liberal democracy is the problemFor many people in eastern Europe, August 1939 may not feel that long ago. That was the moment Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union secretly agreed to partition Poland and forcibly subsume the sovereign Baltic republics and Finland into their totalitarian “spheres of influence”. The world knows what came next.Now the question arises: is it happening again? This time around, it’s Donald Trump’s United States and Vladimir Putin’s Russia making the big geopolitical power-play – and, once again, all of Europe is potential prey. Notwithstanding last week’s sparring over Ukraine, the two leaders’ core aims appear closely aligned.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Look to Myanmar for a vision of a world where authoritarians have unfettered power | Simon Tisdall

The brutality and repression there highlight the failings of a dysfunctional world order. Unless we do better, this is the futureThe children were sleeping when death came from the air. A military warplane dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on their boarding school, witnesses said. Imagine, if you can, the carnage and the horror. At least 18 died. Others suffered life-changing injuries. The ruling regime claims to be fighting terrorists. Yet more often than not, it is defenceless, blameless civilians who are killed, maimed and displaced. No, this isn’t Gaza. It isn’t Ukraine. It’s Myanmar, where appalling atrocities, including crimes against humanity, often go unreported and unpunished. That doesn’t render them any less heinous or less deserving of universal condemnation.Myanmar, formerly British-run colonial Burma, where civil war has raged since an army coup overthrew the elected government in 2021, is a microcosm of today’s fractured world. National leaders gathering at the UN gener...

Culture

3 w. ago Strikes and marches against budget cuts cause disruption across France, with 141 arrests – Europe live

At least 476 separate demonstrations are taking place over public services and wages, a week after the appointment of new PM Sébastien LecornuPeople in France: share your views on the strikeFull report: France’s biggest strike in years under way amid political crisisI am keeping an eye on the EU’s midday briefing just now, but there is no substantial update from the EU on the 19th package of sanctions against Russia.The European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, repeated that “we expect to present [them] soon”, as he asked journalists to “please bear with us on that”, without offering more detail. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Strikes and marches against budget cuts cause disruption across France, with 94 arrests – Europe live

Up to 800,000 people are expected to protest over public services and wages, a week after the appointment of prime minister Sébastien LecornuPeople in France: share your views on the strikeFull report: France’s biggest strike in years under way amid political crisisI am keeping an eye on the EU’s midday briefing just now, but there is no substantial update from the EU on the 19th package of sanctions against Russia.The European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, repeated that “we expect to present [them] soon”, as he asked journalists to “please bear with us on that”, without offering more detail. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago New French PM under pressure as strikes disrupt schools and transport across country – Europe live

Up to 800,000 people are expected to march over budget cuts, public services and wages a week after Sébastien Lecornu’s appointmentPeople in France: share your views on the strikeFull report: France’s biggest strike in years under way amid political crisisI am keeping an eye on the EU’s midday briefing just now, but there is no substantial update from the EU on the 19th package of sanctions against Russia.The European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, repeated that “we expect to present [them] soon”, as he asked journalists to “please bear with us on that”, without offering more detail. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Trump is no 'strongman' when it comes to Russia or Israel. If other democracies don’t step up, anarchy awaits | Simon Tisdall

Putin and Netanyahu are creating chaos in the vacuum left by a weak US president. But there are still ways to foil themIt is too easy to blame Donald Trump for everything that goes wrong in the world. The ability of any US president to fundamentally change or control the behaviour of other major powers is frequently overestimated. Yet by posing as a sort of uncrowned global monarch and grand arbiter of war and peace, Trump perpetuates fantasies of US hegemony, omnipotence and divine right. Intoxicated by such ego-inflating delusions, he pledged before taking office to swiftly end the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts. Perhaps, in his vanity and hubris, he truly believed he could.Eight months on, the exact opposite is happening. Both crises are expanding and escalating. The bubble has burst, his bluff has been called, the emperor has no clothes – and there is no denying that Trump, by alternately appeasing, excusing and encouraging the two foremost villains of these twin tragedies, is great...

Politics