LEBANON – ISRAEL
A border under tension
After violent arrests of Palestinians in Jerusalem, around 30 rockets were fired at Israel from southern Lebanon on April 6. The next day, the Jewish state struck Hamas targets in Lebanon and Gaza, but did not appear to want war. “Faced with an unprecedented internal crisis, forced to give pledges to the most extremist fringes of his government, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is on a tightrope, underlines the Lebanese daily The East-The Day. The situation can quickly spiral out of control, including for him, if it flares up simultaneously in Gaza, Jerusalem and on the border with Lebanon.”
CHINA
Xi Jinping’s charm offensive against Macron
The French president ended his three-day state trip to China, from April 5 to 7, without succeeding in changing the position of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the war in Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron’s insistence on defending Europe’s “strategic autonomy” must, on the other hand, have delighted China. “Beijing wants to prevent the European Union from falling further under the influence of the United States, at a time when the White House is pursuing a more assertive policy to counter China’s geopolitical and military power,” notes Politico, for whom “the Chinese counter-offensive has moved up a gear”, with the sumptuous welcome that Xi Jinping reserved for Emmanuel Macron.
POLAND
Zelensky on an official visit
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (l) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a press conference on February 24, 2023 in kyiv
© / afp.com/STR
Marching bands and parade of soldiers: President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed with great fanfare to Poland on April 5 for his first state visit abroad since the outbreak of the war. The Ukrainian leader took the opportunity to thank the Poles for their reception of more than a million refugees and their military aid, which was crucial in the face of the Russian invasion. “Poland has clearly taken the side of a fighting Ukraine, rejoices the weekly Polityka. It is a strategic choice. When Poland is governed by the current opposition, it will maintain this choice.”
SCOTLAND
The separatists in turmoil
Nothing is going well with the SNP, the party that dominates Scottish political life. Its former managing director, Peter Murrell, was arrested on April 5 as part of an investigation into the finances of the independence movement. Although he was released without prosecution, this episode nonetheless heightens the crisis that has affected the party since the surprise resignation of Murrell’s wife, former Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon. “Once dominant in Scotland, the SNP have never looked more vulnerable,” notice The Guardian.
UNITED STATES
Leak of confidential documents
Dozens of classified documents, from the Pentagon and the CIA, leaked on the Internet on April 6, revealing “the way the United States spy, friend and foe”, comments the washington post. Thus, “the American intelligence community has penetrated the Russian military and its commanders so deeply that it can warn Ukraine in advance of attacks”. Conversely, the dissemination of embarrassing information for kyiv, such as “its vulnerabilities linked to ammunition shortages”, aroused the ire of the Ukrainian authorities.
MOROCCO
Protests against inflation
Demonstrations took place in several cities in Morocco on April 8 to denounce galloping inflation (9.4% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 4% in the same period last year, according to the High Commission for Planning) and “the absence of a concrete response from the government”, reports the daily The Economist. Food prices notably soared by 18.2% in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, a time during which consumption usually increases in the kingdom.
TAIWAN
New Chinese reprisals
Beijing began on Saturday April 8 three days of military exercises around Taiwan, described as a “severe warning”, after the meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. After last summer’s spectacular maneuvers, “China’s latest exercises are part of its long-term efforts to convince Taiwanese that unification under Beijing is inevitable and to warn them that any attempt at formal independence could lead to war”, notes the New York Times.