Macron's world

The UN is choosing a new secretary-general at a time when it’s struggling to remain relevant. Sidelined in the wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East, and facing a severe funding crisis, the organisation is under growing pressure. This week, guest host Alec Russell speaks to ... Show More

Gideon Rachman speaks to historian and author Simon Sebag Montefiore about his new book, The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East. They discuss the forces that shaped the region, from the Ottoman Empire and Ataturk to the ongoing tensions between the US, Israel and Iran ... Show More

Gideon talks to Vali Nasr, author of Iran’s Grand Strategy and professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, about how the balance of power in the Middle East is changing. After six months of on-off hostilities, Nasr argues, Iran’s core aims are unchanged ... Show More

<p>France’s president is known for pronouncements of grand scope with one eye toward history. But when our journalists visited him at his residence his assessment of the state of the world was bleak—a dark, prophetic <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/05/02/emmanuel- ... Show More

Emmanuel Macron is one of Europe's key figures during the Ukraine crisis, but has failed to find a diplomatic solution. Matt Chorley finds out what his ambitions are and what he's really like. PLUS: Danny Finkelstein and David Aaronovitch <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75e ... Show More

David talks to Shahin Vallee and Chris Bickerton about the upcoming French presidential elections. Can anything or anyone stop Macron? Why has French politics moved so far to the right? And what do left and right still mean in the absence of economic disagreement? Plus we discuss ... Show More

<p>Behind the pageantry, Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron will have <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/11/24/on-a-visit-to-america-frances-president-will-confront-new-problems?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content ... Show More

<p>Behind the pageantry, Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron will have <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/11/24/on-a-visit-to-america-frances-president-will-confront-new-problems?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content ... Show More

President Emmanuel Macron embarks on a serious policy challenge today over pensions. Will his efforts at reform re-ignite the protests that have dogged his presidency? And, a look at the legacies of two opposing figures of environmentalism: David Koch, a billionaire industrialist ... Show More

This week the French president Emmanuel Macron travelled thousands of kilometres across Europe in a diplomatic effort to avert an escalation of the war in Ukraine. He met Presidents Putin and Zelensky in Moscow and Kyiv, as well as German and Polish leaders in Berlin. Diplomats s ... Show More

The meeting between France’s and America’s presidents had a familiarly chummy feel. We ask whether Emmanuel Macron’s charm offensive might have changed Donald Trump’s mind on security matters. Norway’s stocks of wild salmon are in trouble—owing in part to their farmed brethren (9 ... Show More

President Emmanuel Macron’s bold promise to break the political mould in France has collided with reality. His reform plans, from tax to pensions, have stirred a backlash against what protesters call his neo-liberal elitism. And as his internal problems have mounted, so too have ... Show More

<p>The meeting between France’s and America’s presidents had a familiarly chummy feel. We ask whether Emmanuel Macron’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/02/25/has-emmanuel-macron-managed-to-reason-with-donald-trump?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_s ... Show More