Press Review

Metz vaut bien une messe
Press Review

Happy as Leo XIV in Europe! (1)

1 October 2026
Four days, five stops, a press corps mobilized across the globe. Le Monde counted 2,500 accredited journalists in the Paris press center alone, and many countries broadcast the visit live. Around 800,000 people at the […]
Donald Trump arrose ses potes — Illustration IA European-Security
Press Review

Heavy on Pomp, Light on Substance

26 September 2026
Three days of red carpet, a two-month tariff truce, and a verdict that runs through the entire international press: the Xi-Trump summit in Washington (24-25 September 2026) will be remembered as an exercise in diplomatic staging, all but empty of substance. Beijing nonetheless walks away with a very real benefit — without conceding anything. On the Chinese side, the essence of the gesture came down to two offerings: a promise to invite 100,000 young Americans to China over five years, and the loan of two pandas to a zoo in Atlanta. For a man who boasts, with planetary modesty, of being the champion of deals of every kind, this new “deal” looks just as thin as the previous ones. Hardly cause to declare victory — which explains why the White House took care to keep the press at arm’s length

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Le bateau de la CDU sombre dans la Spree avec son commandant, Friedrich Merz © European-Security
Press Review

Fluctuat et mergitur (2)

23 September 2026
On September 20, 2026, Germany suffered an electoral shipwreck of a brutality unseen since 1949. France has not yet had its own September 20 — but it already shows every symptom, simply spread over a slower calendar: a radical left gaining ground method by method rather than election by election, a radical right split between de-demonization and one-upmanship, and two outside patrons, one in Washington, the other in Moscow, applauding on both sides of the Rhine. “Fluctuat et mergitur”: Paris’s motto, with one word reversed, could just as well apply to Berlin. The question raised at the close of the first piece deserves an answer: the same vertigo grips both countries. It simply doesn’t move at the same speed.

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Friedrich Merz seul sur les décombres de la CDU au Konrad-Adenauer-Haus : personne à ses côtés, personne derrière lui — Illustration IA © European-Security
Press Review

“CDU: Sehen Sie das auch?” (1)

22 September 2026
Germany voted twice in two weeks, and twice the verdict came down to the same word: “disaster.” On September 20, 2026, Friedrich Merz’s CDU was purely and simply ejected from the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Landtag — a first in the history of the Federal Republic — while in Berlin it was overtaken by a radical left party, Die Linke, whose candidate came within a hair of the mayoralty. On the night of the results, Friedrich Merz found himself standing alone on the stage at the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus. This time, no one waited until the next day to speak.

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Ulrich Siegmund, le grand vainqueur de l'AfD — Illustration IA © European-Security
Press Review

CDU: The Revolt Ahead of Schedule

11 September 2026
Germany is going through a major political crisis following the AfD’s crushing victory in Saxony-Anhalt in September 2026. This electoral earthquake has triggered the historic collapse of the CDU, plunging its leader Friedrich Merz into a state of extreme fragility amid internal challenges and rival ambitions. While the far right deploys a deliberate strategy to dismantle the traditional parties, a “shadow republic” made up of former officials fears a possible systemic breakdown. Internationally, this shift has drawn enthusiasm from populist leaders such as Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán, while alarming Germany’s European partners. The press, finally, points to the risk of a constitutional deadlock and a deep identity rift at the heart of Europe’s leading economic power.

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"Une du Spiegel n° 34, 14.8.2026 — © Der Spiegel",
Press Review

Saxony-Anhalt: The AfD Landslide

7 September 2026
On Sunday 6 September, 1.7 million voters in Saxony-Anhalt renewed their Landtag. The result — the AfD near 44%, the CDU flattened, an SPD limiting the damage without recovering — was described as a “Zäsur” […]
Projection d’une frégate FDI naviguant en environnement arctique — illustration imaginant le futur rayon d’action des unités suédoises de classe Luleå, appelées à opérer bien au-delà de la seule mer Baltique — Illustration IA © Naval Group
Press Review

Who Loses Wins in the Far North?

1 September 2026
On Monday, August 31, aboard the frigate Amiral Ronarc’h moored in Stockholm, Emmanuel Macron and Ulf Kristersson sealed a ten-year-old Franco-Swedish defence partnership set to run for decades to come — four frigates, a strategic framework agreement, a nuclear steering group, French troops in the Swedish Arctic. In France, the event remained largely off the media radar. In Scandinavia, it made headlines, sparked debate, and, at times, controversy. A press review.

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Illustration générée par AI diffusée sur X
Press Review

Epstein: The Silences and the Screams

6 February 2026
January 30, 2026, will remain the date when a “tabloid story” mutated into a generalized state crisis. With the declassification of 3 million pages by the US justice system, Pandora’s box has opened, unleashing a brutal and discordant symphony. On one side, the screams: the shattering fall of Lord Mandelson in London, the political turmoil surrounding Jack Lang in Paris, and the security alarm ringing in Berlin. On the other, the silences: the diplomatic omertà of Moscow, Beijing, and the Gulf, as heavy with meaning as the revelations themselves. Here is the anatomy of a week where the Western world discovered, with horror, the true extent of the trap set by Jeffrey Epstein.

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Poutine radieux, Trump le regard vide — Photo kremlin.ru
Press Review

Symbols Anchored, Substance Loose

16 August 2025
The August 15, 2025, summit in Anchorage, Alaska, between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has emerged in American media analysis as a case study in political theater. Designed to produce a major diplomatic breakthrough, it primarily generated symbolic and narrative outcomes while failing to achieve its main stated objective: ending the war in Ukraine. US press coverage, across the ideological spectrum, has largely defined this summit not by what was agreed upon, but by what was missing. The narrative crystallized around the stark contrast between a grandiose, high-stakes staging and the glaring absence of a concrete agreement.

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