Elections in extremis: France, Georgia, Romania, Syria, S. Korea...Biden not gone but forgotten...Europe soldiers on with Ukrainians? Disparition of a jazz immortal...and for our paid: a performance!
In this weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, we continue to explore how the media of other nations are reporting and commenting on the United States, and how they are viewing the rest of the world. Again, back in America!
To emphasize, we cover lots of ground….You may not want to read it all, but it's all here for you!
But how could we not begin (again) with elections, not to mention changes of government, whatever fashion they may have taken?
Elections 2024: France, Georgia, Romania, Syria and South Korea
OK…France has a new prime minister, Georgia has a new president, new revelations in Romania, and Syria shed (at gunpoint, hardly the ballot box) a murderous dictator with a new map across the Middle East, South Korea’s still working it all out.
France tries again
Emmanuel Macron has tried again to fashion a government, clearly hoping to snatch some victory from the jaws of defeat in a parliament stacked utterly against him. The big question that inevitably remains is how can a perennial also-ran, François Bayrou, mayor of the town of Pau, make 289 dug-in members of parliament bend to his will and that of Macron—transforming him into a prime candidate as successor to Macron over far-right Marine Le Pen or any Socialist two years and four months from now?
French cartoonist Cambon may have captured the moment perfectly as an ecstatic Bayrou prime minister, at last (“Yes!), Macron atop the steps of his Elysée Palace observes “at least there’s one happy man in this country.”
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Meanwhile …. Grégoire Poussielgue, political editor of the French daily Les Echos had a tick-tock of what went down at the Elysée:
The centrist [Bayrou] was able to be persuasive, convincing Emmanuel Macron that he can create a link between the right and the left to avoid a censure of his future government, at least in the immediate future. He managed to impose himself. The Elysée defends a "consensual" choice. But by appointing a close friend, with whom he has built a special relationship, Emmanuel Macron is sending a message that risks causing damage: that of not taking into account the results of the legislative elections last July.
"If the President of the Republic appoints a figure from his camp, he would take the risk of worsening the political and institutional crisis that he himself created with the dissolution," estimated on RTL the president of the socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud. The support or failing that the promise of non-censorship from the PS, is crucial for François Bayrou if he wants to see his government continue.
[Predecessor] Michel Barnier was criticized for only being able to count on a base of 47 deputies in the National Assembly. Modem, the party founded by François Bayrou in 2007…. has only 36 deputies.
François Bayrou was not Emmanuel Macron's first choice, [having] also offered the job to Jean-Yves Le Drian, who declined. "I was offered it. But I refused: “In two and a half years, I will be 80 years old, it would not be serious." The former Minister of Defense under [Socialist President] François Hollande had supported Emmanuel Macron the year of his first election and became his Minister of Foreign Affairs. He left the government in 2022.
It's beginning to feel a little like Italy not so long ago, or France’s Fourth Republic (with no De Gaulle to ride to the rescue), as Les Echos continued:
The opposition was quick to react. [Far-left] La France Insoumise (LFI), through Mathilde Panot, the group leader in the National Assembly, has already announced that it will vote for censure. On the other hand, as it did for Michel Barnier's government, the [far-right Marine Le Pen] National Rally (RN) will not vote for immediate censure, as announced by the party's president Jordan Bardella.
On BFMTV, Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the Communist Party [said] "We are ready to debate.” Among environmentalists, there is criticism of both the substance of François Bayrou's choice and the form, after several days of presidential procrastination. "A bad Vaudeville," denounced Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the EELV party.
The reactions in Emmanuel Macron's camp are positive, but without enthusiasm.
Le Monde called Bayrou’s path to power simply:
A grueling arm wrestling match.
While French daily Le Parisien headlined:
Bayrou imposes himself …. The obstinate mayor of Pau….
How long has he been dreaming about it? For ages….The president of the MoDem assures in front of microphones and cameras that it is possible to "unite people and not divide them".
In saying this, he quotes a president and not the expected one. The leader of the MoDem does not have a word for Emmanuel Macron but compares this day to [Socialist President] François Mitterrand's May 10, 1981. [The start of a 14-year reign] To quote a phrase attributed to the former socialist president, "finally, the troubles begin." For François Bayrou. As for Emmanuel Macron...After days of procrastination and at the end of a morning under very, very, high tension, "the path" of the mayor of Pau towards the rue de Varenne took the form of a passage by force.
Romania: Stalemate continues…
….a week after the nation’s Constitutional Court threw the nation’s presidential election into a cocked hat, annulling the results by virtue of “outside (read that Russian) interference” and effectively ordering a complete rerun at some still not fixed time. Now, some details are beginning to emerge as to the very long tail of just such interference by Russian forces supporting the little-known, neo-Fascist Căline Georgescu. He stunningly surged to the top of the first round of the presidential balloting on November 24. Gelu Trandafir, a correspondent who Andelman Unleashed has called on, sent this extraordinary dispatch from Bucharest:
Very strange how our intelligence services failed to prevent, failed to notice this campaign which obviously involved state actors—Russia, but even China. According to information provided by the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), 797 of the TikTok accounts that initially formed the network of support for Georgescu were created as early as 2016—at the very inception of the Chinese network, at a time when the general public did not have access. These accounts had very little activity (1%) until November 11, 2024, at which point the entire network was fully activated.
It's been a very tense few days.
Many of these TikTok “influencers” have now fled the country.
Georgia—more sturm, drang too
Another case of Vladimir Putin trying desperately to reassemble the old Soviet Union, or at least restrain a key element from being peeled off further toward the West and the European Union, perhaps even tightening NATO's encirclement and isolation of Russia. As Bashir Kitachayev reported for Germany's DW on the violence leading up to a vote that was never really in doubt:
This was no ordinary election. The mood in Georgia was fraught in the run-up to the vote on December 14. For more than two weeks now there have been mass protests all over the country, and authorities have responded with force.
The protests are taking place amid the growing confrontation between the political opposition and the governing party, Georgian Dream. It started with the parliamentary election in October, and escalated with the government's recent announcement that it was suspending Georgia's European Union accession process.
The crisis has been exacerbated by amendments made to the constitution in 2017, which allowed the Georgian Dream party to use its parliamentary supermajority to pass certain reforms. Among them were changes made to the procedure for electing the president, which has turned the country into a parliamentary republic where the president now has only limited powers.
Instead, on Saturday, this parliament voted in a new president that few accepted, even acknowledged, as Orestes Georgiou Daniel of Euronews reported:
Former football player Mikheil Kavelashvili became president of Georgia on Saturday, as the ruling party tightens its grip in what the opposition has called a blow to the country’s hopes to join the EU and a victory for Russia.
It was a straightforward victory for Kavelashvili, 53, given the Georgian Dream party's control of the 300-seat electoral college that replaced direct presidential elections in 2017. The votes come from electors made up of MPs and representatives of local government. Out of the 225 electors present for the vote, 224 voted for Kavelashvili. He was the only candidate nominated.
Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in an election on 26 October, which the opposition claims was rigged with Russia's help.
The big question? Does Georgia now suddenly have two presidents…as Daniel continued:
Outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili and the country's main pro-western parties have boycotted parliamentary sessions and demand a re-run of the ballot.
The pro-western Salome Zourabichvili had been president since 2018, when she was elected with Georgian Dream's support, and has vowed to stay on after her six-year term ends on Monday, describing herself as the only legitimate leader until a new election is held. “I remain your president—there is no legitimate Parliament and thus no legitimate election or inauguration. My mandate continues.”
For some important background, a conversation was convened by the Overseas Press Club of America between Daro Sulakauri a Georgian photojournalist; Sophiko Megrilidze, a senior producer with the Tbilisi bureau of The Associated Press; and Will Cathcart, an American journalist, producer, and former media advisor to the president of Georgia, moderated by documentary producer Singeli Agnew….some excerpts:
Syria…hands off, and then?
Assad is gone, into a much-anticipated exile out of sight, though hardly out of mind, within close view of the Kremlin—no big surprise. But the Russians are already doing their best to negotiate their way back in, while the West looks on and Trump has pledged—whoops—hands off entirely. Still, his two top Middle East hands are already crisscrossing the region, seeking deals. As the Jerusalem Post reported:
Steve Witkoff, met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Saudi Arabia—the first encounter between MBS and a representative of the incoming Trump administration since the November elections. Trump appointed Witkoff, a close friend and confidant, as his administration’s Middle East envoy with the clear goal of securing a “mega-deal” with Saudi Arabia. [As a pro-Israel donor and fundraiser for Trump’s presidential campaign, Trump said in a statement that Witkoff is a "tireless voice for peace."]
Earlier last week, the incoming envoy attended a crypto conference in the UAE. A few months ago, Witkoff and Trump co-founded a cryptocurrency company called World Liberty Financial, Inc.
Witkoff's also a big-time real estate investor….Meanwhile, the Post continued:
Trump’s Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, was also in the region this past week and met with Qatar’s Prime Minister in Doha, a source familiar with the meeting said. Boulos is also the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany. Last Wednesday, Boulos met with King Abdullah of Jordan in Washington.
Incidentally, The New York Times disclosed….
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, has enjoyed a reputation as a billionaire mogul at the helm of a business that bears his family name….profiled as a tycoon by the world’s media, telling a reporter in October that his company is worth billions. Mr. Trump called him a “highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene.”
The president-elect even lavished what may be his highest praise: a “dealmaker.” In fact, records show that Mr. Boulos has spent the past two decades selling trucks and heavy machinery in Nigeria for a company his father-in-law controls. He is chief executive of the company, SCOA Nigeria PLC, which made a profit of less than $66,000 last year. There is no indication in corporate documents that Mr. Boulos, a Lebanese-American whose son is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Tiffany, is a man of significant wealth as a result of his businesses. The truck dealership is valued at about $865,000 at its current share price. Mr. Boulos’s stake, according to securities filings, is worth $1.53.
As for Boulos Enterprises, the company that has been called his family business, a company officer there said it is owned by an unrelated Boulos family.
Is he able even to locate Damascus on an outline map of the world? Meanwhile, the violence continues and many, especially The Economist, harbor considerable doubts:
The day after Syria’s dictator of 24 years fled, no fewer than three foreign armies bombed targets inside the newly liberated country. America pounded the remnants of the Islamic State, a jihadist outfit that once ruled much of Iraq and Syria, lest it take advantage of the chaos to regroup and expand. Turkey sent warplanes to help a proxy force battling a Kurdish-led militia it accuses of aiding terrorists. And Israel bombed anything that might conceivably be used against it in a hypothetical future conflict, from suspected chemical-weapons facilities to the Syrian navy’s handful of decrepit warships.
Whether outside forces encourage change or derail it is in doubt.
South Korea—on hold, for months?
Six months—that’s how long the nation’s Supreme Court has to reflect on the parliament’s vote to oust its all but discredited president and confirm his impeachment. All this following his intemperate decision to impose martial law, then after widespread rioting even after it was lifted, threaten the nation with it yet again….as The Guardian of London reported, his defiance continues unabated:
South Korea’s conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has reportedly failed to obey a summons from prosecutors investigating him on charges including insurrection as he faces impeachment after declaring martial law. Yoon, who was sent a summons on Wednesday requesting him to appear for questioning at 10am local time on Sunday, did not show up.
Yoon’s powers have been suspended until the constitutional court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days. The court will meet to begin considering the case on Monday and has up to 180 days to issue a ruling. But observers say a ruling could come faster.
How the World views America
Not gone, but largely forgotten
Piotr Smolar, Le Monde's extraordinary Washington correspondent, has chosen to focus on a sad but largely unremarked phenomenon in the nation he is chronicling...
For Joe Biden, a painful end to his presidency / The US president is spending his final weeks in the White House consolidating his legacy, while the media and foreign leaders are already focused on the Trump administration.
Joe Biden isn't gone yet, but he's not really here anymore. We know the ungrateful fate of lame ducks , American presidents at the end of their term about to fade away. Fate is particularly cruel for the 82-year-old Democratic veteran….
While the Republican is elected Person of the Year by Time magazine and parades at the opening of the Stock Exchange on Wall Street, as if its excellent health were his own, Joe Biden is no longer a president in filigree. His physical fragility is obvious.
Joe Biden has become inaudible, literally and figuratively. His voice is nothing more than a breath between two throat-clearings. The media, observers, elected representatives in Congress, and even foreign leaders already seem to be turning their attention to the new Trump administration, with its promises of rupture that threaten the rule of law and America’s traditional alliances. The president-elect traveled to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame as if he were already in office, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron in a trilateral conversation that ushered in a new era. In the cathedral, a mute Jill Biden represented her husband.
How others view the World
Europe soldiers on….
At the same time, Trump-proofing the world is only accelerating. As Germany's DW's Michal Gostkiewicz reported from Warsaw:
French President Emmanuel Macron was in the Polish capital on Thursday, just days after his trilateral meeting in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President-elect Donald Trump.
It was an important visit for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a critical time for both Poland and Europe. Faced with a power vacuum in Germany since the collapse of its coalition government last month, right-wing politicians in power in Central and Eastern Europe and Trump's imminent return to the White House, Tusk has shifted his focus further northward and westward.
And with Tusk about to assume the rotating 6-month presidency of the European Union, succeeding [none too soon for most] Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, this is the Pole's moment to catapult himself into a role ceded two years ago by Germany's Angela Merkel and lusted after by Macron, but with little success. DW continues…
It is possible that Tusk hopes that by mounting a pro-Ukrainian, pro-defense European coalition of the willing, he can make his country's role in assisting Ukraine more visible to the West and get his appeals for EU funding for fortifications along Poland's eastern border heard.
Ukrainians go home?
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing an existential election as early as February, and desperate over his nation's far-right, neo-Fascist AfD party breathing down his neck, especially over the sanctity of Germany's frontiers, now he's focusing on Ukraine, as Romania's G4 Media reported:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday that unemployed Ukrainian refugees should be encouraged to find a job or return to their country of origin…."Too many of them have been here for so long, so to speak, and they should actually start now" to do something, Chancellor Scholz told the Bundestag. Germany must ensure that as many Ukrainians and other refugees as possible find work after learning German and following other integration measures. Previous successes with the government's so-called "job turbo" program have not been enough, he argued.
Two days after his visit to Kiev, Olaf Scholz said he had spoken "at length" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about this issue. According to Chancellor Scholz, President Zelensky intends to "contribute to the establishment of a Ukrainian authority in Germany and Poland to support Ukrainians" in finding a job or returning home.
The UN reports almost seven million Ukrainians have fled abroad since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. More than a million of them—mainly women and children—are in Germany. More than 260,000 of the Ukrainian refugees in Germany have jobs.
Finally, a "Disparition" of a jazz genius
When France's Elysée marks the passing of a legend, the word they choose is a "disparition."
This time it was Martial Solal, one of the world's great jazz pianists, passing at the age of 97….a moment marked by your humble servant in a full half page of Saturday's New York Times …
For our most valued lightly paid members, we'll conclude with a pair of fabulous half-century-old videos of Martial at the peak of his powers playing as you rarely hear from any jazz pianist. And we'll wind up with a cartoon bonus on Syria—a gallery from Cartooning for Peace with their stunning takes on the stakes and the consequences….
But first, what appears to be an enormous breakthrough….
Violently arrested on April 13, 2024, by agents of the intelligence services of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while she was trying to display a drawing near the presidential palace in Tehran, Atena Farghadani has since been held in the prison Evin Prison, infamous for its detention conditions. She has just been released after more than 8 months of imprisonment .
On June 10, she was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including five years for "insulting the sacred" and one year for "propaganda against the State." Accusations clearly motivated by her commitment and her opinions.
On December 10, 2024, her lawyer announced her release, following a decision by the appeals court. On December 9, a post on the cartoonist's Instagram account stated that Atena Farghadani "has been acquitted of the charge of 'insult to the sacred,' and was sentenced to 8 months for her caricature on class disparity." This new sentence of 8 months in prison, which appears to have been formulated retroactively, is linked to a drawing entitled "Class inequality".
The appeal decision comes at a time when other figures imprisoned for their positions, such as rapper Toomaj Saleh, arrested in October 2022 and whose death sentence was overturned in June 2024 by the Supreme Court, and Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner and imprisoned since November 2021, have also seen their situation change.
A central question remains—is this a response to some deeply felt pressures building within Iran or a growing sense from the leading Ayatollahs that the world outside is moving dramatically and potentially for them in a catastrophically different direction to which they must begin to respond. Either way, this news is most welcome.
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