The uncertainties surrounding international navigation in the Strait of Hormuz are having effects on energy prices as well as on food and critical minerals essential for new technologies. These effects may be long-lasting as production infrastructure has also been bombed in the region. The conditions are therefore ripe for a global crisis that will impact economies worldwide. This should lead us to a strategic reflection on reducing our dependence on hydrocarbons, for both geopolitical and economic reasons.
The contrast is striking between the magnitude of the consequences of the Israeli-American operation against Iran and the lack of justification for this precipitated military action, the reasons for which have been changing and contradicting for a month now. Phillips O’Brien situates the American decision in the political context of the mid-term elections. Emboldened by the success of the Venezuelan operation, Trump thought he could repeat it against Iran. He is now caught in a trap, where every additional move to try to secure victory deepens him further into an operational quagmire. Trump has no easy or victorious way out within reach.
On the military front, Ukraine has been facing a new Russian offensive since mid-March. However, Ukraine is showing resilience and, more importantly, initiative. In military, diplomatic, and strategic matters, it is demonstrating that after four years of war, it can go beyond defensive reactions against Russia, as evidenced by the security agreement that Ukraine has just signed with Saudi Arabia, which attests to the Ukrainian operational experience in the drone domain.
In assessing the French municipal elections, it is useful to look closely at local situations. For example, the National Rally’s progress in the mining basin of Pas-de-Calais is the result of continuous work built on previously conquered bases, explains Pierre Mathiot. The city of Hénin-Beaumont appears as the focal point of the National Rally’s methodical progress in lands that have long been considered secure by the Left, whether socialist or communist.
To gain a broader perspective on current events, historian Patrick Boucheron’s work on the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the 14th century opens up a reflection on historical methodology in the face of a total event. How does the historian, questioned by Diana Filippova, approach such a vast and symbolically central topic in the West? What writing strategy can he find to shape the myriad of questions, discoveries, and divergences posed by his subject?
