The question is not simply how much we spend on defence, but what we understand defence and security to mean, says SIMON BRIGNELL
French crisis: Macron’s desperate power play backfires spectacularly
As heavy industry flees and public-sector strikes paralyse the nation, the French leader’s increasingly desperate attempts to rule without a majority reveal the deep crisis at the heart of European liberal democracy, writes KEVIN OVENDEN
BY POPULAR DEMAND: Michel Barnier leaves
Given the recent rejection of peace proposals by Israel the world must provide an immediate and resolute response to force accountability on Gaza, argues RAMZY BAROUD
MARK SEDDON tries to cool off in the countryside to avoid the heatwaves but the greed and incompetence of the privatised water industry is now at boiling point
The disputed election of a far-right president, who is also a US citizen, signals further consolidation of Washington’s regional power and represents a threat to the country’s democracy and sovereignty, writes WT WHITNEY JNR
by Her Excellency Ismara Mercedes Vargas Walter, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the United Kingdom
DR STEPHEN WILKINSON assesses the life and legacy of a revolutionary giant
“ARROGANCE made flesh.” Left-wing lawmaker Clemence Guette’s reaction to President Emmanuel Macron’s emergency address to the French nation on Thursday spoke for most of the country.
France this week is plunged into a deeper phase of ongoing, almost existential crisis. To listen to Macron, it is everyone’s fault but his own.
“I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility,” snapped the popinjay whose own authoritarian recklessness has concentrated social and political tensions into the fall of his government, inability to pass a Budget, threatened financial meltdown and a sense of national calamity.
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While Italy’s communist tradition remains fragmented and politically marginal, France’s party is attempting to re-establish itself as an independent force rooted in working-class organisation, says NICK WRIGHT
While millions face poverty and public services are squeezed, France is committing billions to defence spending and weapons production, in a dangerous shift towards permanent preparation for war, says CONOR BOLLINS
The desperate French president keeps running up the same political cul-de-sac. DENNIS BROE offers an explanation