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Which European should face off against Trump and Putin?
Macron, Tusk, Costa: the runners and riders for the job from hell
Aside from his gravelly baritone and his attempts at rearranging the world like Tetris pieces, Henry Kissinger is perhaps best known for something he probably never said: that he could never figure out who to call to speak to Europe. A question that was first (not) posed in the rotary-phone era remains unanswered in the age of Zoom. The time for Europe to put forward a single interlocutor for the outside world has come. Soon, under as-yet-unclear circumstances, peace talks over the war in Ukraine may take place. Given what is at stake, Europe desperately—and justifiably—wants a seat at the table. But to be included it will have to put someone up who can stand for photo-ops with Vladimir Putin (representing the interests of his despotic Russian regime) and Donald Trump (representing those of Donald Trump), and perhaps Volodymyr Zelensky (Ukraine). Working out who can’t sit in the European chair, in the eyes of some faction or other, is easy. Coming up with the name of someone who could is tricky.
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Has Emmanuel Macron managed to reason with Donald Trump?
Small but encouraging signs that America will not utterly abandon Ukraine
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Merz wins a messy election then calls for independence from America
First he must build a coalition in Germany
Donald Trump makes Ukraine an offer it can’t refuse
A proposed economic deal would be punitive. Saying “no” could be worse
Amid turmoil, a fearful Germany goes to the polls
Friedrich Merz looks certain to win. But will he be able to govern?
From Wall Street banker to Vladimir Putin’s point man
Kirill Dmitriev, boss of a Russian state investment fund, wants Donald Trump to cut a deal