De Gaulle and the United States: trust built on a balance of power
Third episode in our "Esprit 44" series in partnership with the Charles-de-Gaulle Foundation. Here's how General de Gaulle, initially mistrusted by American officials, obtained their recognition of Free France in two years, in addition to information about the future atomic bomb.
Denuclearisation of Ukraine in the 1990s: "A crisis that went completely unnoticed".
Hugues Pernet, the first diplomat to represent France in Ukraine at the time of the collapse of the USSR, looks back at the delicate negotiations conducted to prevent the new state, which was home to thousands of Soviet weapons, from becoming a nuclear power. Interview.
75 years of NATO: the French who made a difference
Although no "Frenchie" has ever headed the Alliance, several have left their mark on its operation and culture over the last three quarters of a century, and still do today. Here's a look back.
SatCen, the European crossroads for geospatial intelligence
Based in Madrid, this little-known institution is the European Union's eye in the sky. Visiting Paris last week, its director, Romanian Sorin Ducaru, explains how it works and what is at stake. Interview.
European defence policy: a work in progress
The European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), active since 2007, is the culmination of a much earlier process. It is inextricably linked to NATO, but is now faced with the challenge of creating a European defence industry.
Nuclear deterrence: eight decades of balance
Since its only two military uses in 1945, nuclear weapons have been used without being used: they are a major deterrent. In the almost 80 years of its existence, there has never been a conflict between two countries possessing nuclear weapons.
Anne de Tinguy: "The Kremlin has seriously underestimated the Ukrainians' ability to resist".
For the historian and political scientist, the war in Ukraine already signals for Russia "the end of an empire and a geopolitical reorientation". In the wake of Vladimir Putin's re-election, she develops several possible scenarios for the outcome of this conflict. Interview.
Between Ukrainian resistance and Russian persistence, two years of war in question
The Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, and a number of specialists gave a highly informed assessment of various aspects of the conflict at a conference organised by the magazine Le Grand Continent: weaponry, Western aid, the attacker's hybrid strategy, the attacked's adaptability...
Barbara Kunz: "France and Germany need to develop a shared vision".
The researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute offers her analysis of the European security architecture and the positions of the continent's various states vis-à-vis Russia and NATO after two years of war in Ukraine.
Ukraine's diplomatic battles in a "multi-aligned" world
At a time when President Volodymyr Zelensky is travelling abroad to bolster international support for his country's war effort, a conference at the École Militaire looked at the delicate diplomatic ballet that Ukraine has been conducting since 2022, and the responses of various states.
