Marine Le Pen’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Talk Echoes Trump. Will It Work in France?

Since a Paris court barred her from standing for public office, Marine Le Pen has denounced a “witch hunt,” accused “the system” of deploying “a nuclear bomb” against her, evoked “judicial tyranny,” and suggested her followers are treated as “subhuman.”…

Coalition Deal in Germany Clears Way for Friedrich Merz to Become Chancellor

Germany’s centrist parties announced on Wednesday that they had formally reached a coalition agreement to allow Friedrich Merz, a conservative, to take the reins as chancellor at a tumultuous moment when Europe’s economic and security order is being upended. Since…

Why Germany Wants to Loosen Its Debt Brake

The German Parliament is set to vote on Tuesday on a plan to loosen government borrowing limits in order to spend heavily on defense and infrastructure, in an effort to offset America’s pivot away from Europe and to lift the…

An Unexpected Trump Bump for the World’s Centrists

In Britain, a languishing prime minister is suddenly a statesman, while his up-and-coming populist rival has been thrown on his heels. In Canada, the incumbent Liberal Party has a chance to win an election long thought out of reach. In…

Trump’s Embrace of Russia Leaves Europe in Emotional Shock

For decades a core objective of the Soviet Union was to “decouple” the United States from Europe. Decoupling, as it was called, would break the Western alliance that kept Soviet tanks from rolling across the Prussian plains. Now, in weeks,…

A Europe in Emotional Shock Grapples With a New Era

For decades a core objective of the Soviet Union was to “decouple” the United States from Europe. Decoupling, as it was called, would break the Western alliance that kept Soviet tanks from rolling across the Prussian plains. Now, in weeks,…

Shocked by Trump Meeting, Zelensky and Ukraine Try to Forge a Path Forward

For months leading into the American elections last fall, the prospect of a second Trump presidency deepened uncertainty among Ukrainians over how enduring American support would prove in a war threatening their national survival. After President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous meeting…

In Former East Germany, the Hard-Right AfD Party Finds Most of Its Support

Three and a half decades after reunification, a line runs through Germany where the Iron Curtain once stood. Instead of barbed wires and dogs, that line now divides Germans by measures like income and unemployment — and increasingly by the…