Joe Biden's term in office, which began with the debacle in Kabul, could well end with a widespread conflict in the Middle East. Between the two,  there was Ukraine, where no one would dare bet on a victory for Kiev and its NATO allies. A month after the conflagration started in Gaza, the Democratic administration finds itself in the worst possible configuration. It is caught between its unconditional support for Israel and the anger of the Arab public opinion, which takes it back to the...

The events that have been unfolding in Niamey over the past week are breathtaking. If the situation was not so ominous, it would be comical. How could we have gone in the space of a few hours from a highly predictable purely Nigerien coup to a Cold War episode, with the potential to set Niger and the whole of West Africa ablaze? It's a cocktail of blindness, analytical errors, self-fulfilling prophecies and emotions, beyond reason. Putting an end to the myth... First and foremost, to...

The war in Sudan started on April 15. It has been a month that the two generals fighting each other, Al-Burhan and Hemedti, have plunged the country into chaos. The two former accomplices, now enemies, have no intention of ending the fight, each side hoping to win militarily. The conflict is therefore internal, but their respective external sponsors are internationalizing the crisis, fuelling it and keeping it going. Since the fall of Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, there have been...

One month after the announcement of the Iranian-Saudi peace agreement signed in Beijing, the first signs of appeasement in the Near and Middle East are visible in Lebanon and Syria, with a sustained diplomatic ballet between Arab capitals. After nine years of conflict, Yemen is preparing for peace, with an exchange of prisoners and the reopening of embassies between Riyadh and Sana'a scheduled for May 9. It is always a relief to know that a war that has caused so much death and suffering for...

Ten days after the agreement signed in Beijing that puts an end to the seven-year freeze on diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, it is still difficult to measure all the consequences. However, it is already certain that this is a major event that will have implications far beyond the Middle East. In a few months, the Chinese "method" will have succeeded where the American and European method failed for ten years with the Iranian nuclear agreement. This may herald a new era of...

For non-soccer fans, the World Cup in Doha was to be dull, with its litany of expected polemics such as the choice of this country to organize the global event, democracy, human rights, boycott, etc. But nothing happened as expected. The Western narrative was disregarded, the reality of the Arab world escaped from the stands and it was the fans who dictated the narrative, trapping everyone, Westerners and leaders of Arab states alike. The river has burst its banks, and if the first...

The Sahel has been at war for ten years, but never has the situation been as worrying as it is today, even if there have been dark years like 2019. The reality is such that the collapse of Burkina Faso can be envisaged, while in Mali, its "somalization" continues. Even more seriously, the Islamic State is strengthening in the so-called Three Borders area with a massive arrival of foreign fighters from the Middle East. A "Syrian-style" scenario with the establishment of a caliphate is therefore...

La France est contestée de toutes parts sur le continent au point qu'elle n'a plus de marge de manœuvre. Si elle avance à visage découvert c'est un tollé, si elle avance masquée, elle se fait repérer et c'est pire encore. Le rejet de la politique française - car c'est bien de cela dont il s'agit et non pas de sentiment antifrançais, les expatriés n'ont aucun problème sur le continent - a de multiples ressorts et est antérieur à l'arrivée au pouvoir d'Emmanuel...

Lors d’une réunion sur le Sahel, en marge de l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU, Antonio Guterres a déclaré : « La communauté internationale doit trouver des solutions audacieuses pour aider la région du Sahel à sortir de la crise sécuritaire, humanitaire et financière qui l’affecte ». Il en faudra des solutions audacieuses pour affronter les temps qui viennent car les crises énergétique, économique et financière qui se profilent en Europe viendront aggraver la situation déjà paroxystique de cette...

Le terme de «  diplomatie publique  » associé à l'USIA, l'agence de l'information des États-Unis est apparu en Amérique pendant la guerre froide. Cette expression est restée inusitée en France, jusqu'à la nomination en octobre 2020 d'un envoyé spécial pour la diplomatie publique en Afrique. Il faut dire que pendant longtemps, le pays a vécu sur ses «  beaux restes  », et n'avait pas besoin d'un monsieur propagande 2.0 pour soutenir sa politique étrangère et promouvoir ses intérêts nationaux....