UNITED STATES
The “Musk revolution” on Twitter
The American billionaire, who arrived at the head of the social network since its takeover for 44 billion dollars, announced on November 4 the dismissal without notice of half of its employees, or 3,700 people. Elon Musk plans to create a paid subscription and relaunch a short video service. “Musk runs Twitter like Trump does,” notes Axios. In other words, without internal consultation and keeping the company “in a state of uncertainty and fear”. Not very reassuring, insofar as “Trump has achieved” only a fraction of his objectives” recalls the news site.
UKRAINE
kyiv accuses Moscow of “energy terrorism”
In the absence of a military victory, Moscow wants to expose the Ukrainian population to the biting cold of winter. “After suffering a series of painful defeats on the battlefield, Russia has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on the electrical infrastructure of towns far from the front lines”, decrypts the BBC.
On November 3, new strikes deprived more than 4.5 million Ukrainians of electricity. “They can’t beat Ukraine, so they’re trying to break our people that way,” Volodymyr Zelensky said, accusing Putin of “energy terrorism.”
ETHIOPIA
Hope after two years of civil war
It took two years of atrocities and hundreds of thousands of deaths to reach a truce, signed on November 2 between forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the separatists of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, in power in the north of the country.
The agreement provides for the restoration of the “constitutional authority” of the federal government over the region, and the composition of an “inclusive” local administration pending future elections. “The Ministry of Finance hopes that the agreement will lead to a rapid resumption of an IMF program essential to save the Ethiopian economy”, specifies The Economist.
EGYPT
Al-Sisi top of the bill at COP27
Failing to get his country out of the economic slump, President al-Sissi is taking a golden opportunity to shine his international image: he has been hosting the 27th Climate Conference since November 6 in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the presence of a hundreds of heads of state and government. The latter cannot, however, turn a blind eye to the reality of the Egyptian regime, a “ruthless police state”, says an editorial writer for the Washington Post. “They should ask why some of those best equipped to help Egypt fight climate change are behind bars,” he writes.
GERMANY
Scholz in China, controversial visit
The authoritarian turn of the last congress of the Communist Party did not cool him. Olaf Scholz was in Beijing on November 4 to meet President Xi Jinping.
Paris wanted a joint, more political visit with Emmanuel Macron, but the Chancellor preferred to go there alone, accompanied by industrialists, with the priority of defending German commercial interests on the spot. “Groups such as BASF, Siemens and Volkswagen have become dependent on China, worries Deutsche Welle radio. As much as Germany was on Russian gas, with devastating consequences.”
CHINA
Cold snap on exports
For the first time since 2020, Chinese exports fell in October (-0.3%). This shift comes “as policymakers struggle to contain a nationwide housing meltdown,” says the Financial Times. In question, too, the strict “zero Covid” policy led by Beijing has caused growth to falter: “the closures of large cities to contain small epidemics have weighed on consumer demand”, specifies the daily.
SOUTH KOREA
High tension exercises
Nearly 240 combat aircraft including, for the first time, F35 stealth fighters: the air exercises jointly conducted by the United States and South Korea took place in a very tense context with Pyongyang. While the North Korean regime has just adopted a law expanding the conditions for the use of its nuclear weapons, “the American Department of Defense has clearly stated that the Kim Jong-un regime will not survive an attack against the United States or its allies,” says The Diplomat.
