'Examining the authoritarian nationalism toward which the United States has shifted can help make sense of France's own democratic crisis'
Comparing nations can be misleading. While Western democracies have much in common, the weights of history, culture and tradition are often underestimated. American political life, marked by federalism and the ubiquity of religion, is fundamentally different from that of France, which is centralized and secular.
Nonetheless, examining the authoritarian nationalism toward which the United States has shifted can help make sense of France's own democratic crisis. In his new book, Le Miroir américain. Enquête sur la radicalisation des droites et l'avenir de la gauche ("The American Mirror: An Investigation into the Radicalization of the Right and the Future of the Left"), French-American journalist Cole Stangler argues that certain trends observed in both countries are comparable and could ultimately result in disasters on a similar scale.
Chief among them is deindustrialization. Page after page, Stangler paints a portrait of small towns, such as Weirton, West Virginia, where a once-thriving steel industry has been devastated by international competition, leaving residents steeped in resentment and anger. "This town is finished, we're just totally screwed," one local resident told him. On Donald Trump, she added: "Honestly, I don't give a damn, I'm going to vote for the criminal."
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France 24
18 minutes ago
- France 24
NATO learns as Ukraine's 'creativity' changes battlefield
"What the Ukrainians did in Russia was a Trojan horse -- and the trojan horse was thousands of years ago," French Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, said in an interview. "Today, we see this kind of tactic being reinvented by technical and industrial creativity." Vandier said the operation showed how crucial innovation and adaptation were for victory, as modern warfare changes at lightning speed. "It was a real coup." "We are entering a dynamic era where armies must rely on both major planning but also adaptive planning," the navy commander said. "We will witness continuous innovation where, week by week, month by month or year by year, we will be able to invent things we hadn't anticipated." 'Must act quickly' Faced with the Russian threat, NATO this week adopted new objectives for its defence capabilities to ensure it will be able to repel Moscow. But Western intelligence agencies have warned that the Kremlin is reconstituting its forces at a pace far outstripping NATO and could be ready to attack the alliance in as little as four years. "Time is truly a crucial parameter. We must act quickly," Vandier said. The admiral, who previously commanded France's flagship Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, said NATO needed to amass the forces to dissuade any adversary from trying an attack. "When you say 'I'm defending myself', you have the weapons to defend. When you say you deter, you have the weapons to deter," he said. "That's what should prevent war -- making the adversary think: "Tomorrow morning, I won't win." NATO countries under pressure from US President Donald Trump are expected to agree a major increase in their defence spending target at a summit in The Hague this month. That should see a dramatic surge in spending on military hardware. But if cheap Ukrainian drones can inflict billions of dollars in damage on Russian bombers, is it still worth investing in vastly expensive systems? "No-one in the military sphere will tell you that we can do without what we'll call traditional equipment," Vandier said. "However, we are certain we need new equipment to complement it." Officials say that over 70 percent of battlefield casualties in Ukraine are caused by drones. But while drones are indispensable in modern warfare, they are not omnipotent. "Today, you won't cross the Atlantic with a 10-meter-long (33-foot-long) drone. You won't easily locate submarines with such tools," Vandier said. "If they accompany your large platforms, you'll be able to achieve much better results at much lower costs." Integrating new technologies The admiral, who works out of NATO's US base in Norfolk, Virginia, said the major challenge was "integrating new technologies and new combat methods, based on what we've witnessed in Ukraine". NATO and Ukraine have established a centre in Poland designed to help the alliance learn lessons from Russia's invasion of its neighbour. Artificial Intelligence and robotics are also increasingly having an impact and are set to help reshape the battlefield. "All modern armies will have piloted and non-piloted capabilities," Vandier said. "It's much more efficient to deliver ammunition with a ground robot than with a squad of soldiers who could face a 155-millimeter (six-inch) shell." This transformation of military capabilities within the alliance, which NATO aims to expand by at least 30 percent over coming years, will come at a significant cost, estimated in hundreds of billions of euros (dollars). Vandier insisted that while the financial effort was "substantial" it was "fully realistic". "Today, we have all the tools. We have the engineering. We have the expertise. We have the technology. So, we need to get started," he said.
LeMonde
4 hours ago
- LeMonde
'Examining the authoritarian nationalism toward which the United States has shifted can help make sense of France's own democratic crisis'
Comparing nations can be misleading. While Western democracies have much in common, the weights of history, culture and tradition are often underestimated. American political life, marked by federalism and the ubiquity of religion, is fundamentally different from that of France, which is centralized and secular. Nonetheless, examining the authoritarian nationalism toward which the United States has shifted can help make sense of France's own democratic crisis. In his new book, Le Miroir américain. Enquête sur la radicalisation des droites et l'avenir de la gauche ("The American Mirror: An Investigation into the Radicalization of the Right and the Future of the Left"), French-American journalist Cole Stangler argues that certain trends observed in both countries are comparable and could ultimately result in disasters on a similar scale. Chief among them is deindustrialization. Page after page, Stangler paints a portrait of small towns, such as Weirton, West Virginia, where a once-thriving steel industry has been devastated by international competition, leaving residents steeped in resentment and anger. "This town is finished, we're just totally screwed," one local resident told him. On Donald Trump, she added: "Honestly, I don't give a damn, I'm going to vote for the criminal."
France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
Iran says no sanctions relief in US nuclear proposal
The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to replace a landmark agreement between Tehran and world powers that set restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before US President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 during his first term. In a video aired on Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that "the US plan does not even mention the lifting of sanctions". He called it a sign of dishonesty, accusing the Americans of seeking to impose a "unilateral" agreement that Tehran would not accept. "The delusional US president should know better and change his approach if he is really looking for a deal," Ghalibaf said. On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with officials later taking issue with "ambiguities" in the draft text. The US and its Western allies have long accused the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic programme was solely for peaceful purposes. Key issues in the negotiations have been the removal of biting economic sanctions and uranium enrichment. Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while the Trump administration has called any Iranian enrichment a "red line". Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal. On Tuesday, Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the country "will not ask anyone for permission to continue enriching uranium". IAEA meeting According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent -- close to the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear programme. The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna starting Monday and discuss Iran's nuclear activities. On Sunday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned it could reduce its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it adopts a resolution against it. "Certainly, the IAEA should not expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue its broad and friendly cooperation," the Iranian agency's spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV. Araghchi on Friday accused European powers of "opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors", warning on X that "Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights". A quarterly report from the IAEA issued last week cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material. Tehran has rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel.
