TWTW: The World This Week / Episode #59
Elections and consequences: Slovakia, Spain, France … Ukraine under a bus and everywhere ... Bongos in paradise? ... Cuban cartoonist Martirena watches as America's government threatens to switch off.
This weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, continues on its mission 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.
But in step with our pledge to chronicle every election every year, we begin with a progress report from three key nations…..
Elections 2023
Slovakia
Voters gave a huge boost to Vladimir Putin and Russia's war in Ukraine in the form of a stunning victory for Smer and its leader Robert Fico who has pledged to end all arms shipments to Ukraine, even those transiting Slovakia. For a full-throated examination of the results in the Slovak elections and the implications for the future of Ukraine and the western alliance, do read my column in CNN Opinion : “Congress, Slovakian voters just threw Ukraine under the bus.”
But for those who want to go more deeply into these results, here are two graphics that will display better than any words the consequences. First, the results by party…with Robert Fico's Smer party coming in first with 22.94% of the vote, ahead of the moderate and determinedly pro-Ukraine PS party with 17.96%.
Hlas, the third-ranking and moderate party, is led by Peter Pellegrini, who promptly dubbed himself the "king maker" as any viable majority is most likely to need his 14.7% of the vote. Only those (seven) parties with more than 5% will be entitled to seats in the parliament and in theory be eligible to participate in the complex dance to form a majority, ruling coalition:
Especially instructive, though, are the votes accumulated by the top five candidates for membership in the parliament. Three of the top five are members of anti-Ukraine Smer, led by Fico, himself far and away the most popular:
Not surprisingly, Fico expects to be invited by Slovakia's president, Zuzana Čaputová, to form a new government. But it is Fico's longstanding friendship with Vladimir Putin that is most troubling.
That and the reality that there is now a growing bloc in the heart of western Europe—members of EU and NATO—utterly loyal to the words and deeds of Putin. Fico will be joining his close friend, Hungary’s autocratic leader Viktor Orban, who was the first to tweet his congratulations, viewed by 1.4 million followers.
Spain
It seemed a month ago as though Spanish voters had made at least a gentle turn to the right, giving Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain's right-wing People's Party (PP) an unexpectedly slim advantage over its arch-rival Socialist Party. Socialists have been ruling the nation for the past five years and since 1982 have been in power for 26 years. But while PP emerged with a narrow plurality (137 votes in the 350-seat parliament) from the July elections as Andelman Unleashed chronicled at the time, in the ensuing two months, Feijóo failed to cobble together a coalition.
Hoping to attract votes from far-right deputies of the Vox party and two other smaller parties, he held out hope for a win in an investiture vote, which King Felipe authorized this past week. But after a bitter debate, he failed—172 to 178 the first time, then on a second, re-vote 172-177 with one blank.
So, guess who's back? That's right, Spain's perennial Socialist Party (PSOE) leader, incumbent Pedro Sánchez, who's been running the country in the interim anyway, hoping to get his own chance to snatch the brass ring. But Sánchez has his own problems. He will need the parliamentary votes of the leftist Sumar coalition, but especially the Junts, the hardline Catalan separatist party and its leader, Carlos Puigdemont.
Sanchez and partner?
As Ángel Collado wrote in The Diplomat, "The PSOE leader expands his left-wing front at the expense of constitutional order and the independence of the judiciary." Sam Jones, Madrid correspondent for London's Guardian, elaborated:
Puigdemont, who fled Spain to avoid arrest over his role in the unilateral and unlawful push for independence six years ago, has insisted his support will be conditional on the granting of amnesty to him and hundreds of others involved in the attempted secession. Sánchez’s refusal to rule out such amnesty—not to mention his decision to send the Sumar leader and acting deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, to Brussels to discuss the situation with Puigdemont—has proved deeply controversial.
Six years ago, under Sanchez's predecessor, the government was forced to take control of Catalonia, dissolve its provincial parliament amid threats the province would secede and establish an independent republic. As The Guardian wrote at the time, this series of events was "pushing the country’s worst political crisis in 40 years to new and dangerous heights."
If Sanchez fails now to establish a viable government, Spanish voters will be going back to the polls again in January—the sixth time in nine years.
France
In little-heralded (beyond its frontier) elections for the French Senate, the far-right National Rally Party (RN) of Marine Le Pen made a return to the Palais Luxembourg where the Senate sits. Three members of the party will take their seats there, which Clément Guillou of Le Monde observed, "is not the big wave hoped for by some in the RN, but a real breakthrough," adding that "all three are aged under 40, novices in political life."
Still, these results were bad enough for the French president to betake himself onto nationwide television in an appearance that was not very well received in the end. Again, Le Monde weighed in: "Senatorial 2023: Emmanuel Macron keeps the elections at bay, which offer a victory to the right. The head of state wanted to ignore the victory of the right and the center in the Senate, the defeat of a secretary of state, the decline of his party, the progress of the friends of [former prime minister and possible future presidential candidate and Macron successor] Edouard Philippe, and the atmosphere of settling scores which threatens to poison the presidential camp."
How others see America
Without a government?
It took Congress throwing Ukraine under the bus, as no end of foreign commentators were quick to observe, to give the US at least a momentary pause from a total shutdown of its government. "In the United States, aid to Ukraine suffers from a last-minute agreement in Congress on its financing," Le Monde headlined.
In Germany, the great Munich daily Südeutsche Zeitung suggested the price for an interim budget agreement was simply the crumbling of support for Ukraine in Congress.
And The Japan Times headlined, over an ironic choice of an illustration:
Before Saturday's last-minute compromise, The Economist of London was typically blunt: "America’s government shutdown could be the strangest yet. The politics of it are totally bizarre." The roots, the magazine suggests, are "America’s dumbest, wildest budget fight yet." As its house cartoonist KAL observed quite trenchantly:
In Russia, Kremlin-controlled Russia Today suggested that any government shutdown would be squarely at the feet of Ukraine. "Top Republicans want Kiev aid dropped from US spending bill," the headline read. "If the Senate prioritizes 'Ukraine over America, it could lead to real problems,' Kevin McCarthy says."
In the end, of course, for the rest of the world, it was business as usual in America. Set, delay, declaim, obfuscate….repeat?
How others see the World
Russia…and Ukraine…seem to be, well, everywhere?
Beyond Slovakia and America's Capitol Hill, there was all sorts of movement in and around Ukraine. Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign minister paid an unheralded visit to Kyiv this week as the Kyiv Post reported, arriving in Odessa, the Black Sea port and major grain terminal and target for Russian missiles.
“Odesa is a beautiful historic city," the paper quoted Borrell as saying. "It should be in the headlines for its vibrant culture & spirit. Instead, it marks the news as frequent target of Putin’s war….Ukraine has every right to defend itself against the Russian aggression and regain full control of its territory. The EU stands with Ukraine for as long as it takes."
Moreover, The Economist believes there are serious cracks developing in the apparently iron will of Russia, or at least its ability, to continue a winning level of hostilities. "The costs of Russia’s war are about to hit home," the magazine headlined. "Vladimir Putin will be unable to protect citizens from the pain." And especially as it is about to raise defense spending to 6% of GDP, triple the target level NATO has set for its members, many of whom don't even meet that.
The Economist went on to elaborate:
Over the past year few currencies have done worse than Russia’s rouble. Last September an American dollar bought just over 60 of them. These days it will buy almost 100. The drop is both a symbolic blow to ordinary Russians, who equate a strong currency with a strong country, and the cause of tensions in the Russian state. It has blown apart the consensus that existed among Russian policymakers last year, when the central bank and finance ministry worked hand in glove. Now, as inflation rises and growth slows, the two institutions are turning against one another. At stake is the country’s ability to wage war effectively.
About all that's working in Russia's favor is rising oil prices, though The Economist believes they may be reaching a plateau.
Still, Russia still has a lot of pals in the oil patch and the agreement to hold down production and keep prices high is the one buttress to Putin's war and his economy that he can count on….as Federico Rampini observes in the Milan daily Corriere della Serra:
The economic alliance between Arabia and Russia is enjoying notable and partly unexpected success. It raises the price of oil against expectations, and allows the two leaders of these countries—Mohammed bin Salman and Vladimir Putin—to finance their own projects: Saudi modernization and the war in Ukraine…. The Riyadh-Moscow axis has so far won its bet, with strong cuts in crude oil extraction reducing supply and driving up prices. Saudi crude oil export revenues grew by $2.6 billion in the third quarter of this year, +5.7% compared to the April-June period. Russia in turn is taking in an extra 2.8 billion dollars this quarter.
Then there's the Bongos in Paris (tho hardly in Paradise)
The family of Gabon's president Ali Bongo may have been ousted in Libreville, but they will not be wanting for a roof—indeed a whole lot of them—over their heads. The Paris daily Le Parisien, using court records, has tracked down 21 such addresses across the French capital.
As reporter Marie-Anne Gairaud wrote, "Each is more prestigious than the other. A private mansion on rue Dosne (16th arrondissement), another at 4 rue de la Baume (8th), a stylish building at 8 rue Edmond Valentin (7th). Sumptuous apartments in the most expensive streets of the capital: avenue Victor-Hugo and avenue Foch (16th) or rue François-Ier (8th)—all are in the golden triangle, a stone's throw from the Champs-Élysées. “The considerable sums” to buy them "resulted from embezzlement and corruption," resources accumulated by the grand old man of Gabonese politics and kleptocracy, Omar Bongo, and passed down to his descendants.
But what about the baby Bongos? Well, here's how Christophe Châtelot put it in Le Monde Afrique:
The fall of Sylvia and Noureddin Bongo, queen and crown prince of Gabon…The wife of the deposed president, Ali Bongo, is under house arrest while their son is being prosecuted, in particular, for massive embezzlement of public funds and forgery of the signature of the President of the Republic.
Or in better times, pre-junta:
Finally, there’s Martirena ….
The Cuban cartoonist Martirena has captured perfectly and simply the sense of much of the world when it comes to any shutdown….or brinkmanship….in the American government engineered by a Congress utterly out of touch with the people its members were elected to serve.
Our cartoonist, Alfredo Martirena was born on October 6, 1965 (we share the same birthday, two decades apart!) in Santa Clara, Cuba, the city where he continues to draw for a number of Cuban publications, particularly the humor magazine Melaito. His work is also carried in newspapers and magazines in six countries. His art has been exhibited in galleries in Italy, Brazil, Mexico, France, Turkey, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Here's how Martirena sees himself:=
David's reporting continues to reinforce the value of looking at the media around the world. The value to me personally is making facts and trends I could not read elsewhere visible to me
The kleptocratic Bongos are so scandalous! Thanks for covering France's rightward drift even though worrying...