Media Interventions

A few months ago French environment minister Nicolas Hulot took the trip of almost 100m to the top of a wind turbine funded partly by a co-operative of poultry farmers. Back on the ground, he found the right analogy to tell his audience why the country needs plenty more of the same.

This Friday, April 27, the South Korean and North Korean leaders will meet in the demilitarized zone dividing their estranged countries to discuss improving relations and possibly even formally ending the Korean War, which has continued in the form of an often tense and fragile armistice since the cessation of combat in 1953. This inter-Korean summit, the first since 2007, signifies closer ties between the two Koreas—and will be an important bellwether for Donald Trump’s late-May or early-June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

PARIS - -- French President Emmanuel Macron has been notably active on the national scene since his election last year, launching initiatives aimed at modernizing France. He has also applied the same energy to foreign policy, with a global strategy dubbed "France is back."

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron was put on the spot this year in front of a room full of journalists when one asked, provocatively: Which man is more dangerous, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un; or Donald J. Trump?

Nearly two and a half years after the Russian military began an intensive bombing campaign in Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia is struggling to engineer a political solution in the war-ravaged country, analysts say.

President Vladimir Putin’s extra-heavy emphasis on new strategic missile systems in his March 1 address to parliament was quite unexpected and rather out of character. 

There are two main reasons the United States will maintain its primacy on the world stage. The first is that, in a world of weak or broken identities, theirs remains strong, despite racial tensions and the growth of social inequality. The US is a land of immigrants, who swept the plate clean – almost – of its indigenous populations.

Does China now have a president for life? China's leader Xi Jinping could stay in power indefinitely following the ruling Communist Party's proposal to scrap term limits. 

French President Emmanuel Macron is accelerating EU defense cooperation. The biggest obstacle are the French-German cultural differences. Can terrorism, Trump and Putin force closer military cooperation in Europe? Yes, says Barbara Kunz, research fellow at the French Institute for International Relations (Ifri) in Paris and expert on defense cooperation in the EU.

It's a watershed moment for South Africa and the party of Nelson Mandela. The leadership of the African National Congress is expected to force out Jacob Zuma. Will the president go quietly? Can he negotiate a deal in the face of long-looming corruption allegations?

Tokyo is ramping up international partnerships and investments to offer an alternative to Beijing’s signature foreign-policy project. For the first time in 15 years, Japan’s foreign minister last month paid a visit to the tiny island nation of Sri Lanka, shepherding a dozens-strong delegation of business leaders eager to deepen economic ties between the two countries after a year of increasing security cooperation.

If India has long been perceived, and rightly so, as a reluctant player in international affairs, but that perception is quickly coming to an end. Indeed, by organizing a major international forum, the Raisina Dialogue, for the third year in a row, Delhi is signaling that it is now seeking to play a much more active role in dealing with the colossal economic, environmental, and political changes and disruptions  affecting the world.

The US and China are headed for a technological arms race that could disrupt the status quo of global trade, according to Thierry de Montbrial, founder and executive chairman of the French Institute for International Relations, and chairman of the World Policy Conference.

"I came to tell you, is that Europe is back". French President Emmanuel Macron says China and Europe should work together on Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative. Macron began his first state visit to China with a stop in Xian, an eastern departure point of the ancient Silk Road.

On his first state visit to China, the French president has pushed for more European involvement in China's ambitious multi-billion dollar project to revive the ancient Silk Road trade route. China specialist Alice Ekman talks to RFI's Amanda Morrow about how China is likely to respond to pressure from France.

China and France see French president’s visit as chance to transform bilateral ties after Brexit and election of Donald Trump. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will make his first official visit to China on Monday for talks aimed at boosting the global influence of both countries and forging closer ties with the European Union.

RT, dubbed as an "organ of influence and deceitful propaganda" by President Emmanuel Macron in May during a joint news conference with Vladimir Putin, has now launched RT France. Has France become the latest front in Russia's information war?

PARIS — Minutes after it began broadcasting on Monday night, the new television channel RT France took aim at the country and its president, Emmanuel Macron. “President Assad accuses France of supporting terrorism,” the scroll at the bottom of the screen stated. France and the United States are part of a coalition committed to removing Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and Mr. Assad has accused France of merely prolonging Syria’s civil war, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since 2011.

Is the American economy doing well? Will the Tax Reform change this? How could the bond markets evolve in 2018?

Has Trump changed his views of transatlantic relations? What should Europeans do? Is Trump's Russia policy dictated by the Russia probe?

3 questions to Karlyn BOWMAN, Senior Fellow, American Entreprise Institute

3 questions to Jeffrey GOLDBERG, Editor in Chief, The Atlantic

PARIS — The United States may have withdrawn from the Paris climate change accord, but on Tuesday dozens of world leaders and philanthropists met to find solutions to the swiftly warming planet — and send a message of resolve to the White House. More symbolic than policy-driven, Tuesday’s summit comes two years after the landmark COP21 conference in Paris, when 196 participating countries — including the United States — vowed to keep this century’s global temperature increase below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. In one of the most controversial moments of his young presidency, President Trump announced in June that the United States would leave the Paris accord.

HELSINKI (AFP) - A century after gaining independence from its powerful neighbour Russia, Finland continues to consolidate its ties to the West, as tensions flare between Moscow and the West. Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and an uptick in military activity in the Baltic region have tested Finnish-Russian relations, painstakingly maintained over the years with scrupulous diplomatic efforts.

Increasingly, China’s diplomacy is using key words commonly used by liberal democracies, but the meaning differs greatly. This evolution is changing the terms of the debate without changing a single term.

China, Russia and the U.S. see potential and risks. And for now, there's still no form of governance to oversee AI development — technology moves faster than diplomacy.

What is the role of international NGOs regarding the sanctions process?

An interview with Jeffrey LABOVITZ, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Nairobi Regional Director

An interview with Jon WOLFSTHAL, nonresident scholar, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

King Salman received at the Kremlin with his 1,000-strong delegation, including 100 businessmen. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's official visit to Moscow is the first visit to Russia for a Saudi head of state. Can this visit be seen as the signal of a shift in the region or is it just window dressing?

On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved Japan’s parliament, the starting pistol for the snap elections he called a year early to get over a “national crisis.”

The French president’s speech on ambitious EU reform met politely raised eyebrows in Germany as Berlin struggles to build a new government. Any other day, a two-hour plea from the French president for a stronger European Union would have sent politicians in Germany rushing for the nearest mic. But just a few days after its own election, Berlin is distracted.

The provocative, contemptuous and threatening style of the American president even irritate Republicans. Facing his overflows at the national and international levels, what mechanisms could limit the potential damages ? 

An interview with William D. Magwood, IV, Director-General of the OECD Agency for Nuclear Energy

Vincent Thouvenin, Director for European Affairs of RTE, explains the role and challenges faced by transmission system operators in the energy transition at the 2030 horizon, and how the Clean Energy Package will accompany the transformation of our electricity systems.

Deputy Director, Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire, describes the main challenges for the French energy system at the 2030 horizon and highlights the need to find the right balance between EU harmonization and national measures to achieve energy transition at the lowest cost.

Florian Ermacora, Head of the Internal Energy Market Unit in DG Energy, explains how the Clean Energy Package will improve the functioning of the internal electricity market, and how the new market design will help integrating larger shares of renewables.

Laurent Schmitt, Secretary General, ENTSO-E, explains how to improve cooperation between transmission system operators and strengthen security of electricity supply, and how the Clean Energy Package will enhance the design of electricity market as a continuation of the network codes.