BUSINESS

Like Putin, Trump is a megalomaniac. In Europe, we can shield ourselves, not look for rational motives | Robert Habeck

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Yes, there are big differences between the war of aggression that Russia has now been waging against Ukraine for four years and the war the US and Israel launched against Iran. The biggest difference: the US is still a democracy. Even a president who considers himself all-powerful is not. From scathing press coverage to anger … Read more

The global authoritarian right loves Orbán – and that could cost him in Hungary’s elections | Gellert Tamas

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“Viktor Orbán is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Hungary,” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social last month. The US president followed up with a video message to far-right leaders meeting in Budapest, describing Orbán as a “fantastic guy”. Orbán, a long-term … Read more

The Guardian view on France after Macron: local elections offer clues to seeing off the far-right threat | Editorial

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In 2002, divisions on the left allowed Jean-Marie Le Pen to shock France by reaching the run-off in that year’s presidential election. Lionel Jospin, the defeated Socialist candidate in the poll, would subsequently recall the humiliation to remind progressives of the need for unity in the face of the far-right threat. Mr Jospin’s death, announced … Read more

Jean-Luc Mélenchon is problematic, but ostracising France’s radical left is a failed strategy | Rokhaya Diallo

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As the results of the French local elections sink in, it is useful to reflect on the shifting moral boundaries in public debate that characterised the campaign. In the weeks leading up to the first round of voting on 15 March, criticism directed at the radical-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) and its confrontational leader, … Read more

Is it time for the UK to acknowledge the ‘rhetoric to reality gap’ on its military power? | Defence policy

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It will have been more than three weeks since the US and Israel first attacked Iran when the first British warship finally arrives off the coast of Cyprus, a belated defensive deployment that has highlighted the lack of military capacity available to the UK. Nominally, HMS Dragon was one of three destroyers available out of … Read more

‘We need to think much bigger’: trade minister calls for greater ambition in UK-EU reset | Trade policy

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It was all smiles and warm handshakes when the two men in charge of renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU met in Brussels this week. Maroš Šefčovič and the UK minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, sharing a stage on the third floor of the vast European parliament building, were at pains to show … Read more