World

Friday

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Meloni is furious at the EU’s centrist stitch-up

The European Union has reached an agreement on the bloc’s political leadership for the next five years – and in the process again demonstrated that ineptitude is no barrier to promotion. The 27 leaders of the EU have reappointed Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission. Estonian Kaja Kallas is the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and António Costa has been nominated as president of the European Council. The nominations of von der Leyen and Kallas must be ratified by the European Parliament next month but Costa, the former Socialist prime minister of Portugal, has been endorsed by his peers and will take office on 1 December. Kallas

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Biden’s legacy has been left in tatters

Joe Biden did not simply alter his chances at winning a second term last night. He altered his legacy. It will remain forever changed, regardless of the outcome in November. In 2020 Biden was chosen to be president – first by his party, then by the public – to take some toxicity and radicalism out of the debate. This centre-left Democrat (or centre-left compared to the rest of his party, at least) had a decades-long history of working with his Republican counterparts. He had the once common, now miraculous, ability to get along with (and even on occasion praise) politicians outside of his own party.  This was a dereliction of

Yascha Mounk

Democrats have led America to the brink of the abyss

Before Thursday’s debate, the leading contender to win the upcoming presidential election was already Donald Trump, a man whose first stint in the White House provided all the necessary evidence that he is spectacularly ill-suited for the job. During that term in office, Trump ruled rashly and selfishly. He lavished praise on his appointees before firing scores of them for incompetence or insubordination. He picked constant fights with the independent institutions that preserve the separation of powers. And when he lost a hard-fought race, he refused to concede defeat, inspiring a mob to assault Congress, and breaking the key norm that has sustained the American Republic for the past centuries.

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Biden and Harris must go

For months US Democrats have been wondering why voters were not supporting Joe Biden. He has been a good president, and enacted many worthy reforms. Donald Trump, by contrast, is clearly a dictator in the making. The idea that American voters have elderly relatives and (love them though they do), know that an 81-year-old cannot take on a tough job, let alone stay in post until he is 86, did not seem to occur to them. You are in a fight to save your democracy. You can’t expect others to do your fighting for you Ah, Democrats were saying only this week, Trump is as rambling and senile as Biden. Maybe, but you need

Steerpike Steerpike

Biden’s descent: the five worst debate moments

Can Joe Biden cling on? That’s the question being asked in Washington DC after a painful performance from the US President in the first debate of the contest. While there’s still plenty of time between now and the November election debate, even dedicated Democrats are struggling to shrug off Biden’s performance. There’s already talk that the upcoming Democrat convention in August could provide on opportunity to change course. So, how bad was it? To let readers decide for themselves, Mr S has compiled Biden’s five worse debate moments. Warning: painful viewing ahead. 1. Medicare JUST IN: Trump seizes the moment after Biden completely froze on stage. Biden: "What I've been

Steerpike Steerpike

‘That was painful’: Democrat pundits mourn Biden implosion

Oh dear. The Democrats are reeling from Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate of the election. After the US president stopped and started, looked puzzled and struggled to answer questions, commentators are out in force suggesting Biden is not fit for a second term. Yet this time something has changed. It’s not just the usual critics. For a sense of how this time, Biden is in real trouble take a look at what Democrat pundits are saying. The CNN debate panel was a case in point. The US broadcaster is known for being the channel for Democrats – and against Donald Trump at all costs. Yet during

Jawad Iqbal

Iran’s sham election will change nothing

Voting takes place in Iran’s snap presidential election today – a contest brought forward by the death last month in a helicopter crash of the former president Ebrahim Raisi. A few predictions can be made with absolute certainty. Firstly, the winner will be a man (there are no women taking part – Iran’s ruling clerics take a dim view of the idea of a woman being allowed near the presidency). Secondly, the new president will be someone who swears absolute loyalty to the system and ultimately the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All of which prompts the question of why bother to have an election. The answer is that elections – the

Thursday

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Downfall: how Nigel Farage became the left’s greatest weapon

44 min listen

This week: Downfall. Our cover piece examines Nigel Farage’s role in the UK general election. Spectator editor Fraser Nelson argues that Farage has become the left’s greatest weapon, but why? How has becoming leader of Reform UK impacted the campaign and could this lead to a fundamental realignment of British politics? Fraser joined the podcast to talk through his theory, with former UKIP MEP Patrick O’Flynn (02:10). Next: Spectator writer Svitlana Morenets has returned to Ukraine to report on the war, which is now well into its third year. How are Ukrainians coping and what is daily life like? Svitlana joined the podcast from Kyiv with Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov (21:53). And finally: has

Michael Evans

Sending US contractors to Ukraine could provoke Moscow

Call it ‘slippery slope’ or ‘mission creep’, America’s strategy for helping Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion has adapted and expanded many times in the last 28 months. However, there was a golden rule laid down by President Biden almost on the first day of Russia’s aggression against its neighbour. There would be no ‘boots on the ground’, he said. No US troops would be deployed to fight the Russians. Civil contractors have played a significant role in the field in every US war in modern times. But the US is not at war in Ukraine That Biden doctrine has not changed. And yet now there is serious consideration

Nigel Jones

Why the Bolivia coup failed

Latin America has long been the traditional home of the military coup – or ‘golpe’ in Spanish – so the sight yesterday of soldiers rushing the presidential palace in La Paz, capital of Bolivia, and ramming its doors open with an armoured vehicle, may not have seemed surprising. The abortive coup attempt was aimed at toppling Bolivia’s left-wing president, Luis Arce After hours of confusion, the leader of the coup, General Juan Jose Zuniga, was led away under arrest, with his attempt to ‘restructure democracy’ having clearly failed. Earlier, crowds had taken to the streets in response to presidential appeals to defend democracy and oppose the coup. The abortive coup

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Why the plot to kill Putin would be a mistake

Is the assassination of Vladimir Putin the answer to ending the war in Ukraine? A collection of émigré Russians who have declared themselves the ‘Congress of People’s Deputies’ and a Russian parliament in opposition have called for the West not only to support them in a campaign to overthrow Vladimir Putin, but actively to play a role. This would be a serious mistake. At a recent gathering in Warsaw, these émigrés, all of whom at some point or another had previously been elected as parliamentarians in Russia, agreed their ‘victory plan,’ a seven-point programme, due to be presented during Nato’s forthcoming Washington summit. Their fundamental view is that the war

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

The shooting of Nahel Merzouk still haunts France

One year ago today, a 17-year-old called Nahel Merzouk was fatally shot by a policeman as he sped away from a vehicle checkpoint in western Paris. What followed shocked France. Days of rioting, looting and burning across the country. Not just in the inner cities but in provincial towns such as Montargis in central France, where a mob vandalised the town hall and pillaged scores of shops. ‘I still have people who almost a year later don’t want to come back to the centre because of the riots,’ said one shopkeeper this week. ‘They’ve been apprehensive ever since, traumatised, even though we’re a fairly quiet town.’ For millions of French

Arieh Kovler

Why Israel’s ultra-Orthodox don’t want to serve

In the middle of a war, Israel’s government is wobbling. Not because of the policy failures that led to the country’s worst disaster ever when Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023; not because of the slow progress of the war, its high human cost or its failure to recover the hostages; not even because of the looming threat of a major escalation in northern Israel and Lebanon. No, the threat to the stability of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition comes from within, after the Supreme Court ruled that the government must start drafting Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) men into the Israel Defence Forces. In 1948, as the newly-formed State of Israel fought for

Daniel Rey

Biden’s health is a worry for Republicans and Democrats in tonight’s debate

Tonight, Donald Trump and Joe Biden face each other in the first of two presidential debates. With about ten per cent of the electorate undecided, the debate – the first between a current and a former president – could change the momentum of the race. Both candidates want to debate. Trump thinks he can trounce the rival he has often dubbed ‘Sleepy Joe’. Biden, a doddery octogenarian, urgently needs to persuade voters he is not too frail for office.   Tonight’s debate helps cement the choice as Biden or Trump Debating against a much more dynamic candidate might seem like a risk for Biden. But in fact, it’s a good

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Will the French Blob thwart Marine Le Pen?

The National Rally presented its manifesto to the French people on Monday ahead of Sunday’s first round of voting in the parliamentary election. ‘I have made my priorities very clear: purchasing power, restoring security and controlling immigration,’ was how the party’s president, Jordan Bardella, summarised the manifesto. ‘I want to embody unity, to bring people together, and I aspire to be the Prime Minister of the French who did not vote for the National Rally.’ The manifesto has been eviscerated by Bardella’s political and media opponents. ‘An economic shipwreck’, was the headline in the left-wing Liberation. Underneath was a tribune signed by ‘The Appalled Economists’, a collective of French thinkers and

Sean Thomas

The day I met a sun priest

Palomino, Colombia I’m in a truly wonderful place: the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It’s got more bird species than most of Europe, exquisite cotton-top tamarin monkeys that hop through jungles, and one of the world’s highest coastal mountain ranges. There are empty beaches, shimmering lakes, colonial townscapes and a recent folk memory of terrible gangsters. Some male babies are largely kept in caves from birth, in the darkness, until they are nine  It also boasts several indigenous tribes, one of which – the Kogi – I had never heard of until I got here. But the more I read about them from my hammock on the beach, the more I

Ivan Krastev

Putin is trying to annexe people, not just land

On 1 September 2021, six months before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin was speaking at the All-Russian Children’s Centre, known as ‘Ocean’, near the harbour city of Vladivostok. He turned to a topic that obviously haunted him during his long Covid-19 isolation. He told his audience of children that Russia’s population could have been about half a billion today, rather than the current 146 million, if it hadn’t been for the shocks of the past century: two world wars, the Bolshevik Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having a smaller population can make a country richer, but never more powerful A country’s population, Putin said, is

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

My return to Ukraine

I arrive at Lviv station just before 9 a.m. As the clock strikes, the conductor announces a minute’s silence: a daily commemoration for those who have fallen in the war. But it’s observed only by the railway staff, who stand up to bow their heads. The passengers just carry on. After all, isn’t part of the resistance to carry on life as normal, despite the war? This was the idea at first, but soldiers at the front line have come to resent the chasm between those who are fighting and those who don’t want to have any part in the war. It’s just one of many ways in which, returning to

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France’s ‘Somewheres’ want revenge

The builder who has been working on my house in Burgundy will be voting for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally on Sunday in the first round of the French parliamentary election. So will the electrician. I haven’t asked the plumber, but I suspect I know where his vote will go, given that his assistant is voting for Le Pen. My neighbour, a farmer, is voting Le Pen, as is a teacher acquaintance. The local policeman is also voting Le Pen. ‘What do I think of Macron?’ retorted the electrician. ‘Put it this way, he’s not my friend’ It’s not that surprising in this neck of the woods. The National Rally

Wednesday

John Keiger John Keiger

Macron’s ‘civil war’ warning might be closer to reality than he realises

Of the 20 or so opinion polls since France’s president Emmanuel Macron announced a snap election this month, the vast majority put Marine Le Pen’s right-wing party ahead. The Rassemblement National and its allies are predicted to get around 35 per cent of the vote, with the left-wing coalition Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) on 29 per cent and Macron’s centrist coalition Ensemble pour la République trailing on 20 per cent. Barring a black swan moment, Jordan Bardella’s RN will win the most seats in the chamber. But no one party is likely to have an absolute majority. Bardella announced on 18 June that, without a working majority, he will turn down the premiership, which he has