LE SPECTRE D'UNE INCULPATION PENALE POUR DONALD TRUMP S'ELOIGNERAIT

Nouveau coup de théâtre à New York : la justice a repoussé, peut-être jusqu'à la semaine prochaine, l'éventuelle inculpation pénale de l'ancien président des États-Unis Donald Trump, rapportent mercredi 22 mars plusieurs médias.

Samedi dernier, l'ancien chef d'Etat et candidat à la présidentielle de 2024 a prédit sa propre arrestation, prévue selon lui ce mardi 21 mars. Il est inquiété pour avoir acheté le silence de Stormy Daniels (de son vrai nom Stephanie Clifford), une actrice de films pornographiques avec laquelle il aurait eu une liaison.

«Le candidat du parti républicain» à la primaire pour la présidentielle de 2024 «et ancien président des Etats-Unis d'Amérique va être arrêté mardi de la semaine prochaine», a écrit Donald Trump samedi, sur la plate-forme Truth Social. Appelant à des manifestations, il a encouragé ses sympathisants à «reprendre [la] nation», alors qu'il est dans le viseur de la justice de l'Etat de New York. S’il n’a pas été arrêté mardi, il pourrait l’être dans les prochains jours.

Peur que "Melania le largue".

Le milliardaire républicain de 76 ans, qui rêve de "regagner" la Maison Blanche en novembre 2024, doit répondre devant la justice de l'État de New York d'une affaire de paiement de 130 000 dollars, juste avant sa victoire à la présidentielle de novembre 2016, à une actrice de films X, Stormy Daniels, avec qui il aurait eu une liaison.

Selon le Daily Mail, Donald Trump a payé Stormy Daniels pour empêcher sa femme de découvrir les détails de ses accusations d'infidélité.

D'ailleurs Melania Trump, furieuse, a passé plusieurs nuits dans un hôtel huppé de Washington pour se tenir à l'écart de la Maison Blanche lorsque la nouvelle a éclaté que le président de l'époque avait payé la star du porno pour qu'elle garde le silence sur leur aventure d'un soir, a été rapporté par le Wall Street Journal en janvier 2018. C'était exactement ce que Donald Trump craignait. Il avait peur que "Melania le largue".

Donald Trump nie donc tout acte répréhensible et toute liaison avec Mme Daniels, 44 ans, et a qualifié l'affaire de politiquement motivée. Il a décrit le paiement à Mme Daniels comme un "paiement de nuisance" que les gens riches paient parfois pour faire disparaître un problème.

Après l'article, un magazine people a publié une interview de Daniels datant de 2011, dans laquelle elle parlait de la relation sexuelle de 2006 avec le futur président dans une chambre d'hôtel d'un casino de Lake Tahoe, au Nevada, à la suite d'un tournoi de golf de bienfaisance organisé par des célébrités. Le magazine avait conservé l'interview pendant sept ans avant de la publier.

L'affaire remonte à la campagne présidentielle de 2016.

A l'époque, les proches de Donald Trump tentaient d'empêcher toute révélation embarrassante sur le candidat républicain, quitte à y mettre le prix. L'un de ses amis, patron du tabloïd The National Enquirer, a par exemple acheté pour 150.000 dollars les droits de l'histoire du mannequin Karen McDougal, qui affirme avoir eu une relation avec le milliardaire.

A la même période, Stephanie Clifford, plus connue sous son pseudonyme d'actrice Stormy Daniels, a elle aussi tenté de monnayer son aventure supposée avec Donald Trump. Affirmant avoir eu une relation avec lui en 2006, alors qu'il était déjà marié à sa femme Melania, elle a été mise en relation avec Michael Cohen, l'avocat personnel du candidat républicain.

Fin octobre 2016, celui que l'on surnomme «le pitbull» a fait signer à l'actrice un accord de confidentialité, en échange de 130.000 dollars. Ce paiement a été révélé en janvier 2018 par le Wall Street Journal mais Michael Cohen et Donald Trump ont nié, ce dernier assurant même n'avoir jamais eu de relation avec Stormy Daniels.

Alvin Bragg sous le feu des projecteurs

Après des années d'enquête par le parquet de Manhattan, son procureur Alvin Bragg, un élu démocrate, semblait le 13 mars dernier tout près d'annoncer une inculpation au pénal – qui serait historique – du 45e président américain (2017-2021).

Mercredi matin, des médias américains, qui font le siège du palais de justice de Manhattan, spéculaient sur l'hypothèse qu'un grand jury – un panel de citoyens aux larges pouvoirs d'enquête qui travaille avec le procureur Bragg – vote une inculpation dans l'après-midi. Michael Cohen, ancien avocat et désormais ennemi de Trump ayant payé Stormy Daniels, avait témoigné devant le grand jury. L'actrice a aussi coopéré avec les procureurs et ce même panel.

Interrogée une porte-parole du procureur a refusé de "confirmer ou de commenter les questions liées au grand jury".

Et même inculpé, Donald Trump ne serait pas "arrêté" dans l'immédiat. Il faudrait attendre plusieurs jours pour qu'il comparaisse à Manhattan. Dans ce cas, après s'être volontairement "rendu" à la justice, il se ferait signifier les poursuites et serait, éventuellement et symboliquement, placé quelques minutes en état d'arrestation.

L'ancien président, qui a bouleversé l'équilibre des pouvoirs aux États-Unis depuis 2016, serait alors photographié, ses empreintes digitales relevées et il pourrait même être brièvement menotté.

Une affaire juridiquement complexe

L'affaire de l'actrice pornographique Stormy Daniels est juridiquement complexe. La justice new-yorkaise cherche à déterminer si Donald Trump est coupable de fausses déclarations, une infraction, ou de manquement aux lois sur le financement électoral, un délit pénal, en ayant versé de l'argent à cette femme, de son vrai nom Stephanie Clifford, juste avant la présidentielle de 2016, que le républicain avait remportée .

Dans le viseur de l'enquête sur les ingérences de la Russie dans la présidentielle de 2016, Michael Cohen a fini par collaborer avec la justice. Il a plaidé coupable en août 2018 pour fraudes fiscales, bancaires et violation des lois sur le financement des campagnes électorales.

Ce faisant, «le pitbull» s'est retourné contre Donald Trump, affirmant avoir toujours agi sur ses ordres. Or, le parquet fédéral a estimé que les paiements réalisés par l'avocat pour acheter le silence de l'actrice visaient à «influencer l'élection présidentielle de 2016». Michael Cohen a été condamné à trois ans de prison en décembre 2018.

L'enquête a montré que la Trump Organization a remboursé à Michael Cohen les sommes versées à Stormy Daniels. C'est là que le bât blesse : la justice américaine considère qu'il s'agit d'un don dissimulé à la campagne du président, en violation des lois de financement électoral.

Le fait d'avoir payé Stormy Daniels pour acheter son silence n'est pas criminel en soi. Mais, comme l'explique John Coffee, professeur de droit à l'université de Columbia et spécialiste de la criminalité financière, «ce qui est illégal, c'est de falsifier les documents commerciaux d'une entreprise».

Les remboursements versés à Michael Cohen par la Trump Organization ont en effet été «déclarés comme étant destinés à couvrir des frais juridiques». Ce que la justice américaine considère comme des fausses déclarations.

Face à la justice locale de l'Etat de New York, cette seule infraction constitue un délit. Mais «si les procureurs peuvent convaincre un jury que la falsification a eu lieu dans le but de cacher un autre crime», comme un don illégal à la campagne du candidat de 2016, «cela devient un crime, qui peut être puni jusqu'à quatre ans de prison», affirme John Coffee.

Même s'il est condamné devant la justice new-yorkaise, Donald Trump ne sera pas légalement empêché de maintenir sa candidature à la présidence des Etats-Unis pour 2024.Le Républicain fera tout pour retarder un procès, afin d'éviter l'effet potentiellement «stigmatisant» d'une condamnation.

La défense de Donald Trump

S'il est mis en examen, Donald Trump risque d'être jugé sous l'égide du parquet du procureur de l'Etat de New York pour Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, un élu démocrate. Or, dans chacune des affaires qui le visent, le Républicain dénonce «une chasse aux sorcières» politique menée par des magistrats démocrates.

Ses avocats le disent victime d'une «extorsion» de la part de Stormy Daniels et mettent en doute la fiabilité de Michael Cohen, devenu le témoin clé de l'accusation et donc l'ennemi juré de Donald Trump. Pour fragiliser son témoignage, la défense insiste sur le fait que l'ancien avocat, désormais radié du barreau, avait été condamné pour avoir menti au Congrès dans l'enquête sur l'ingérence russe.

« Un procureur radical de New York qui essaie de faire tomber Trump avant 2024 ? Il fallait s’y attendre », s’est moquée Laura Ingraham dans les premières minutes de son émission du lundi 20 mars. La journaliste vedette de Fox News a ensuite intronisé le procureur en question, Alvin Bragg, au « Panthéon des détracteurs de Trump », estimant que ce dernier considère cette histoire de pots-de-vin comme une priorité plus importante que les « criminels violents ».

L'animateur Jesse Watters a affirmé qu’Alvin Bragg tentait de « déclencher un nouveau 6 janvier », date de l’assaut du Capitole des États-Unis, en s'en prenant à Donald Trump :

 "Ils n'ont pas intérêt à mettre mon président en prison. Il représente 74 millions d'Américains.

C’est autant de votes que vous voulez mettre sous les verrous. En tout cas, c'est ainsi que je vois les choses".

PRESIDENTIELLE

DONALD TRUMP L'INFATIGABLE ATTAQUANT

La présidentielle approche, et Donald Trump attaque. L’ancien président américain, qui a officialisé sa candidature en novembre en vue de l’élection présidentielle l’an prochain, s’est exprimé pendant près d’une heure quarante, n’épargnant personne, y compris son propre camp.

L’ancien président américain a averti samedi qu’il était le seul candidat capable de sauver les Etats-Unis des démocrates

 "bellicistes" ainsi que des "fanatiques et imbéciles" du parti républicain, lors de la grand-messe annuelle des conservateurs américains réunis à Washington.

Il s'est montré non seulement très critique envers son camp :

"Nous avions un parti républicain dirigé par des monstres, des néo-conservateurs, des mondialistes, (...) et des imbéciles".

 "Les électeurs américains, a déclaré Trump, sont fatigués des dynasties politiques enracinées dans les deux partis (républicain et démocrate, NDLR), des intérêts particuliers pourris, des politiciens amoureux de la Chine" et des partisans de "guerres étrangères sans fin."

« J’empêcherai la troisième guerre mondiale »

Mais il a aussi assuré qu'il était le seul candidat crédible pour empêcher "la troisième guerre mondiale". "Nous allons avoir une troisième guerre mondiale si quelque chose ne se passe pas rapidement", a-t-il averti après avoir ouvertement désapprouvé l’aide américaine à l’Ukraine. 

"Je suis le seul candidat qui peut faire cette promesse : j’empêcherai la troisième guerre mondiale", a assuré l’ex-président.

Un sondage réalisé par l'institut associé à l'Université Emerson de Boston, et publié mardi dernier, donne l'ancien président vainqueur en cas de duel avec Joe Biden. Il récolterait 46 % des voix contre 42 % pour l'actuel détenteur du poste. 5 % des personnes interrogées ne savaient pas encore pour qui elles voteraient, et 7 % choisiraient un autre candidat.

L’ancien président est peut-être le favori pour l’investiture républicaine, mais il n’est plus le leader unique de son parti.

Deux étoiles montantes chez les Républicains

Parmi les rivaux de Donald Trump, figure l’ancienne gouverneure de Caroline du Sud, Nikki Haley. Elle est la première à s'être déclarée candidate pour l'investiture républicaine après Trump. 

Depuis la fin du mandat Trump, les attaques de son ancienne porte-parole pendant deux ans sont plus devenues frontales, critiquant ouvertement la croisade post-électorale du président sur une supposée fraude jamais prouvée.

"Il est temps de désigner un républicain capable de gouverner et de remporter une élection nationale", confiait-elle récemment à Fox News.

A son arrivée à l’ONU en janvier 2017, cette responsable politique, alors sans expérience internationale, détonne avec ses formules percutantes sur des sujets explosifs. 

"On ne met pas du rouge à lèvres sur un cochon", dit-elle de l’accord sur le nucléaire iranien, qu’elle combattra fermement, quitte à rudoyer au passage certains des plus proches alliés européens des Etats-Unis. Certains de ses partenaires saluent le "pragmatisme" de cette femme directe et chaleureuse. Mais pour d’autres, elle est trop « idéologue » et « déconnectée de la réalité » dans ses approches.

Mais pour Nikki Haley comme pour Donald Trump , la menace pourrait également venir de Ron DeSantis, le gouverneur de Floride et étoile montante du parti. De façon notable, Ron DeSantis – qui devrait se présenter mais n’a pas encore déclaré ses intentions – n’a pas participé à la CPAC. Il a plutôt entrepris une tournée dans plusieurs États pour promouvoir son nouveau livre sur sa gouvernance de la Floride comme modèle pour la nation. Dimanche, DeSantis a prononcé un discours sur sa vision du parti à la bibliothèque présidentielle Ronald Reagan en Californie.

Les deux hommes ont des voyages prévus à Davenport, dans l’Iowa, au cours des deux prochaines semaines – visitant l’État où commence le processus d’investiture républicaine.

Premières publicités contre DeSantis

D'ailleurs Donald Trump ne s'y est pas trompé en visant certains membres de son propre parti "Nous avions un Parti républicain qui était dirigé par des monstres, des néoconservateurs (...) a déclaré Trump. Mais nous ne retournerons jamais au parti de Paul Ryan, Karl Rove et Jeb Bush". 

Paul Ryan, ancien président de la Chambre des représentants, s’est récemment prononcé contre Trump. 

Il siège au conseil d’administration de Fox News, un réseau dont les choix de couverture récents frustrent l’équipe Trump.

Jeb Bush, ancien gouverneur de Floride et rival de Trump en 2016, a parlé favorablement de Ron DeSantis.

En public et en privé, Trump a déjà commencé à s’en prendre à DeSantis, bien qu’il ne l’ait pas mentionné samedi. La campagne de Trump a dépensé une petite somme cette semaine pour diffuser ses premières publicités sur Facebook visant DeSantis, dont une avec une photo des deux hommes et la légende. Sur la photo un apprenti qui apprend du maître".

Le président Trump est toujours le candidat principal pour l'investiture républicaine. Mais c’est une course beaucoup plus ouverte qu’elle ne l’a été par le passé.

ETATS-UNIS LES CHUTES DE NEIGE HISTORIQUES

EN CALIFORNIE SORTENT L'ETAT DE LA SECHERESSE

Connue pour son ensoleillement et ses palmiers, la Californie vit depuis vendredi l'une de ses pires tempêtes hivernales depuis des décennies. De fortes chutes de neige se sont abattues dans la région, conséquences d'un rare blizzard. L'état d'urgence a même été décrété dans le comté de San-Bernardino. 118 000 personnes se retrouvent sans électricité.

Les autorités américaines ont décidé de fermer partiellement ou totalement plusieurs parcs nationaux en Californie dont le Yosemite, la Vallée de la Mort, Redwood ainsi que Sequoia and Kings Canyon en raison de la tempête hivernale qui sévit dans l’État américain. La Californie a également dû fermer certains de ses principaux axes routiers à cause du gel, sans perspective immédiate de réouverture.

Les lettres du célèbre panneau de Hollywood se sont retrouvées cachées sous la tempête, mais selon les spécialistes ce qui a d'abord été présenté comme de la "neige" ne seraient que de simples grêlons.

"Vous vous demandez quelles sont ces précipitations gelées qui tombent du ciel dans votre zone (si vous êtes en montagne)?", a tweeté le NWS de Los Angeles, associant à son message un graphique pour différencier la neige roulée de la grêle.

100.00 foyers privés d'électricité

En montagne, où le vent pourrait souffler avec force, les flocons devraient être légion. La neige et le vent ont déjà eu raison de lignes électriques, privant de courant 100.000 foyers californiens. Selon le NWS, même des vallées "qui ne sont pas habituées à recevoir de la neige" pourraient se couvrir d'un manteau blanc.

Si tout le monde ne se retrouvera pas sous la neige, les Californiens vivant en basse altitude pourraient recevoir des trombes d'eau, qui posent un risque d'inondations et de coulées de boue.

Sorti de la sécheresse

Pour la première fois depuis des années, plus de la moitié de l’Etat est sortie de la sécheresse. Seulement 49 % de l’Etat reste en situation de sécheresse. La quantité accumulée représente 177 % de la quantité normale pour cette période de l’année dans la Sierra californienne. A l’échelle de l’Etat, cette accumulation atteint les 190 %.

"Cette accumulation de neige rivalise avec celle de 1982-1983, qui est la plus importante jamais enregistrée", a déclaré Sean de Guzman, responsable de l’étude de la neige pour le département des ressources en eau de l’État, sur CNN.

THE POPULIST SPEECH OF JOE BIDEN

ON THE STATE OF THE UNION

"WHAT TRUMP PROMISED, I DO IT"?

As one New York Times columnist aptly summed it up, Biden's message is ultimately to say:

" What Trump promised, I do."

A key moment in American political life, the President of the United States' State of the Union address took place on February 7: one of the rare occasions when the three branches of government come together.

The president takes stock of his action and presents his upcoming program live, in front of tens of millions of viewers and a few handpicked guests.

This event, established in 1790, has become, over time, a veritable political spectacle of pomp and ceremonial formalism, punctuated by applause and "standing ovations", especially since Ronald Reagan established the tradition of invite people to the podium. They are often ordinary citizens, honored in the speech for their heroism, or because they embody the exceptional values ​​of America… or even, more pragmatically, an aspect of the policy of the president.

The game consists in having the members of Congress, including those of the opposing party, applaud, even ovation, these heroes and the policy they illustrate.

The particularly moving presence of the mother of Tire Nichols, this young black man beaten to death by the police on January 7, to which all the elected officials paid tribute, was thus an opportunity for Joe Biden to ask Congress to pass his proposed law on police reform.

A Union Divided

Through this speech, which stems from a constitutional duty of the President to inform Congress of the "state of the Union" (Article II, Section 3), it is also a question of demonstrating to the people that the nation is united. Joe Biden concludes his intervention by reaffirming his belief in American exceptionalism, and by proclaiming that the union of the nation is strong “because the people are strong”. However, the show that was given on February 7 was rather that of division.

The president did start his speech on a unified note, congratulating his elected opponents in Congress, including new Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and insisting that Democratic and Republican lawmakers must work together in the House. drafting of laws.

But the issue of raising the federal debt ceiling, which must be voted on by Congress by June in order to be able to pay the debt on the financial markets, sparked hostilities. The most radical Republicans have in fact conditioned their vote on massive cuts in public spending, including social spending.

Joe Biden accused this fringe of the Republican Party of carrying out a form of blackmail and even of wanting to sign the death warrant of the very popular health programs for seniors (Medicare) and retirement insurance (Social Security). The president was obviously ready for a reaction from the opposition. This was not long in coming. The most radical of the elected Republicans did not hesitate to invective and boo the head of state, the elected extremist of Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene particularly signaling herself by shouting “You lie, you are a liar! ".

Improvising, the president then notes ironically that since Greene affirms that he is lying when he says that the Republicans want to bury the social programs… it is therefore that the latter do not wish to question them!

“We seem to agree, we don't touch it ?

We have unanimity then! “, he said mischievously, inviting the assembly to stand for the seniors, thus forcing many elected Republicans to join in the applause.

Economic nationalism and left populism

Beyond this unusual contest between a president and the opposing party, Joe Biden's speech also marks the consecration of a real ideological break with the enthusiasm for free trade and globalization that the two parties have had in common. over the past forty years. Advocating true economic nationalism, the Democratic president takes up his administration's slogan, "Buy American", which echoes Donald Trump's "America First" in 2016.

Hardly surprising for a president who has maintained some of the customs barriers put in place by his predecessor. And signed laws ending outsourcing, relaunched domestic industrial manufacturing and new infrastructure spending, and formalized open competition with China, notably through the CHIPS law on semiconductors or the law on the reduction of electricity. inflation, perceived elsewhere in Europe as protectionism.

Another similarity with Trump: Biden wants to be the defender of the forgotten whom he opposes to an elite, not cultural as the Republicans do, but economic.

He thus denounces the companies which “charge too much” and which “rip off” the little people, from “Big Pharma” to “Big Tech” via credit card companies and airlines, not to mention the billionaires who do not not pay their fair share of taxes. He then asked Congress to pass more regulatory laws (Junk Fee Prevention Act) and to reform taxes, as many measures as the Republican majority, which defends deregulation and tax cuts, will never pass. As one New York Times columnist aptly summed it up, Biden's message is ultimately to say, "What Trump promised, I deliver."

A campaign speech ?

Foreign policy issues, such as Ukraine or China, which nevertheless occupy a large part of the president's agenda, were very quickly skimmed over, Joe Biden choosing to focus on everyday domestic and economic issues, which concern more voters. His goal seems to be the reconquest of the popular white middle classes and blue collar workers, many of whom have abandoned the Democrats for Donald Trump.

In an unfavorable inflationary context, the president stresses that he is in the process of “rebuilding the middle class”, which is no longer in the majority in the country.

It also highlights a 50-year low unemployment rate, including for black and Hispanic workers, as well as job creation in the manufacturing industry “across the country”, “not just on the coast. but also in the middle of the country”. Beyond the figures, he emphasizes the need to “regain pride in what we do. »

It is, for example, the pride of the work of a metal erector, which he makes applaud. Pride's return sounds like a response to Trump's slogan of making America great again. One of the leitmotifs of the speech is that we must "finish the job", an expression repeated a dozen times.

As for social issues such as abortion or gun control, they are briefly mentioned but the president does not expand.

A taste of 2024 ?

On the Republican side, the official answer was given by the former spokesperson for Donald Trump at the White House, Sarah Sanders. She went on about culture war themes, like wokism or trans-identity, which Democrats and the Biden administration supposedly want to impose. According to her, the confrontation no longer takes place between left and right, but between “normality and madness. »

This could raise a smile coming from a party whose majority of elected officials campaigned on the theory of the "Big Lie" and whose most publicized face during the State of the Union speech was that of the notorious conspirator Marjorie Taylor Greene. It is a position which may appeal to the most radicalized base but which will have difficulty in convincing the whole of the population in a general election, because the primaries are played at the extremes, the general elections are often decided at the center, as seen in the 2022 midterms.

As for Joe Biden, who has not yet officially declared himself the candidate for 2024, he has one of the lowest approval ratings in recent history (42%). Even in his camp, 75% of Democratic voters do not want him to run again, in particular because of his age. His luck is that Donald Trump – who has already formalized his candidacy – is even more unpopular.

His only path to re-election is to appear as a reassuring figure in the face of worrying radicalism, but it's a long road full of pitfalls.

WITH HIS CANDIDACY FOR THE PRESIDENCY

NIKKI HALEY CHALLENGES DONALD TRUMP

"I've never lost an election, and I'm not going to start now"

She is the first of a long list of Republicans who are expected to kick off the 2024 campaigns in the coming months. 

They include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen.

Tim Scott of South Carolina. Joe Biden has said, for his part, that he intends to seek re-election in 2024, blocking any scramble for the Democratic nomination.

Ms Haley has regularly bragged about her track record of defying political expectations, saying : "I've never lost an election, and I'm not going to start now".

Upon her arrival at the UN in January 2017, this political leader, then without international experience, clashed with her hard-hitting formulas on explosive subjects.

"You don't put lipstick on a pig," she says of the Iranian nuclear deal, which she will firmly fight, even if it means bullying some of the United States closest European allies in passing. Some of her partners hail the “pragmatism” of this direct and warm woman. But for others, it is too "ideological" and "disconnected from reality" in its approaches.

A “change of generation”

Abroad, the name of this dynamic and ambitious curator is intimately associated with that of the former president, whose spokesperson she was for two years. 

Although anticipated, this announcement is nonetheless a volte-face coming from this former head of Donald Trump's cabinet, who declared two years ago that she would not challenge her former boss for the White House in 2024. 

Changing her mind in recent months, the Republican cited, among other things, the country's economic struggles and the need for "generational change," a nod to Trump's age of 76. years.

Challenge Donald Trump

Stuck in a series of cases, former President Donald Trump, candidate since November 15, did not immediately react to Nikki Haley's announcement.

After going it alone for three months, Donald Trump is gradually seeing the ranks of his Republican rivals fill up. Its former vice-president, Mike Pence, its ex-head of diplomacy, Mike Pompeo, the governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin… 

Many Republicans plan to launch themselves in the coming weeks.

A spokesperson for Donald Trump's foreign policy for two years, Nikki Haley will take care to keep the leader at a safe distance despite everything. As during the debates in 2018 around the appointment of conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, accused of sexual assault: contrary to a large part of his camp, she calls to listen to his alleged victims.

Since the end of Trump's term, the attacks have become much more frontal, with Nikki Haley openly criticizing the president's post-election crusade over alleged unproven fraud. "It's time to appoint a Republican who can govern and win a national election," she told Fox News recently.

For Nikki Haley, the threat could also come directly from her state: South Carolina senator Tim Scott is also very openly flirting with a candidacy. But the spotlight is mostly on Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and rising star of the party. He hasn't officially entered the race either. The battle for the Republican nomination therefore promises to be bitter.

Elected, Ms. Haley would be the country's first female president and the first American president of Indian origin.

SINO-AMERICAN STRUGGLE

AROUND THE "SPY" BALL AT THE WORST TIME

Joe Biden congratulated the pilots who carried out "successfully" this delicate operation. He said he had given the order on Wednesday to shoot down the balloon "as soon as possible", but that the Pentagon wanted to wait "for the safest place to do so" in order to avoid any damage to the ground when the balloon fell. any debris.

"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and protests against the use of force by the United States," the Chinese foreign ministry said, adding that it "reserved the right" to retaliate. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a "deliberate and lawful action" in response to an "unacceptable violation of our sovereignty" by China.

A "spy" balloon

On Thursday, US officials first revealed that they were tracking an imposing Chinese "surveillance balloon" over the United States.

According to Pentagon officials, the balloon first entered US airspace on January 28 over Alaska, before entering Canada on January 30, then returning to US skies at of Idaho, in the northwest of the country, Tuesday, January 31.

He notably flew over the state of Montana (West), which is home to nuclear missile silos, a senior American official told reporters on Thursday. The balloon, relatively imposing, is the size of “three buses”, specified the staff of the US Air Force.

According to the Pentagon spokesman, the aircraft was flying above commercial flights.

This air zone located in the middle of the stratosphere, below space, is today not governed by any international rules. There is still a legal void around this space, which is not regulated.

After hesitating, Beijing admitted that the "aircraft" was Chinese, but assured that it was a balloon intended to collect meteorological data. It would have "deviated from its trajectory", added a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, expressing his country's "regrets" for this "involuntary" violation of American airspace. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also said on Sunday that it had “clearly requested the United States to handle the situation properly, in a calm, professional and restrained manner”. "Beijing will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the companies involved" in the incident, the ministry added.

Operations to recover the remains of the craft, which could involve divers, are now underway, in order to analyze more precisely the technology used.

Cancellation of Anthony Blinken's visit to Beijing

As a result, the head of American diplomacy Anthony Blinken on Friday canceled a rare visit to Beijing, which was to help calm relations with China.

This ball affair falls to the worst for the United States and China. In recent weeks, Beijing and Washington had expressed their desire to appease their volcanic relations. The main purpose of Blinken's visit was and remains to put in place a Sino-American mechanism intended to avoid any military escalation in the event of an error of judgment or a military incident between the two countries in the Taiwan area.

The Taiwan Question

Will 2025 be the year of a great explosion in the Taiwan Strait? The Americans are alarmed by an unbalanced military balance of power between Taiwan and China, and by Beijing's more offensive posture. And by assuring last September that the United States would come to the rescue of Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, Joe Biden moved away from “strategic ambiguity”. Despite this change in the form of a warning to Beijing, the exact intensity of American military support in Taiwan remains unspecified. The ambiguity therefore persists at the tactical level. The Americans are debating the best strategy to adopt to most effectively counter the rise in power of the Chinese army.

Strengthened by its economic growth, China continues to prepare the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for this mission. While Taipei announced in August 2022 a sharp increase in its defense budget, that of Beijing, the second in the world after that of the United States, remains twenty times higher. China is also building amphibious assault ships, adapting its ferries to armor transport and landing missions, and expanding its air transport fleet and bases in Fujian (the coastal province across from Taiwan).

In addition, Beijing has reached a new level with the August 2022 maneuvers after Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei, resorting to missile fire in six areas around Taiwan. The PLA seemed to want to convince of its ability to deploy without being deterred as close as possible to Taiwan, encircle the island and deter the intervention of “external forces” “American” during a conflict. The crossing of the unspoken "middle line" of the strait by PLA planes has become routine.

In fact, the distressing question of a major armed conflict in Taiwan remains more relevant than ever. US military officials believe the Chinese may soon seize the opportunity to act by unleashing a war on the island, which China considers part of its territory. In any case, this is what an American general foresees. In an internal memo sent Friday, January 27 to his troops, General Michael Minihan warns of the high risk of a war between the United States and China in 2025, most likely around Taiwan.

"I hope I'm wrong. My instinct tells me that we will fight in 2025," wrote the Air Force general in this internal note published by the American press. A macabre forecast based on the political calendar of the United States and Taiwan. President Xi Jinping "has both a team, a motive and an opportunity for 2025", believes this senior American officer, assuring that the Taiwanese presidential elections in January 2024 would give the Chinese leader a "reason" to act.

The race for the White House, scheduled for the same year, will offer a "distracted America", he further argues.

SCANDAL AMONG DEMOCRATS

AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF NEW CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS AT JOE BIDEN

Five additional pages of confidential documents were indeed found in Joe Biden's family home, the White House said on Saturday, in the room adjacent to the garage. They would a priori concern Ukraine (before the war) and Iran according to the American media. These new discoveries, which date from the vice-presidency of Joe Biden under Barack Obama, were made after the visit to the Thursday evening, from presidential counsel Richard Sauber. The representatives of the Ministry of Justice accompanying him “immediately” took possession of these finds.

Before this week, several documents were discovered in November in an office in Washington, then at the end of December in his private residence in Wilmington, while for 45 years, American presidents and vice-presidents have been obliged to transmit, at the end of their mandate, all of their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.

A special prosecutor for the investigation

In a solemn declaration to the press, the Attorney General (Minister of Justice), Merrick Garland, announced the appointment of a special adviser to investigate the case. This is Robert Hur, former prosecutor of Maryland and ex-executive of the ministry, also passed through the private sector.

The White House, for its part, communicated without delay about these new documents, recalling however that former President Donald Trump, too, was in the sights of justice for having brought confidential papers into his residence. in Florida.

Presidential counsel Richard Sauber reported on the update in a statement released Saturday. He indicates that he went to Donald Trump's successor to supervise the transmission to justice of a first set of confidential documents, found there on Wednesday. With authorization, additional excavations were thus carried out in this other room of the house, leading to these new finds, the same day that the United States Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, appointed an independent prosecutor to investigate previous discoveries made at the house. the current president.

A lack of transparency?

Last November, other documents were discovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in one of Joe Biden's former offices, and immediately entrusted to justice. However, the information was only revealed to the public on Monday, January 9, 2023, which is already worth criticizing the White House for its lack of transparency.

In addition to this criticism, the discovery of these additional documents could well compromise the political future of the American president.

In the Democratic ranks, where there is a united front around the president, this situation causes some embarrassment. “Any breach of security protocols regarding the storage and processing of classified information is obviously a serious matter,” said elected official Jamie Raskin, in a press release.

"Irresponsible"

The case hurts all the more as his predecessor is also in the sights of justice for having taken boxes of documents when leaving the White House. An attitude described as “irresponsible” by Joe Biden in the fall.

And it could also indirectly discredit Democratic criticism of Donald Trump, who targeted him for the hundreds of secret documents taken to his home in Mar-a-Lago.

Blessed bread for Republicans, who do not hesitate to recall that Biden had theatrically deemed "unacceptable" the retention of classified documents by Donald Trump in the program 60 Minutes.

A politically explosive file

The Republican opposition has been quick to denounce the Democratic leader's actions, picking up on a question thrown at Joe Biden by a journalist from the popular conservative network Fox News, suggesting that he could have left these documents next to his favorite car, a Corvette. "President Biden protects his Corvette better than confidential documents", criticized Republican elected official Buddy Carter on Friday, just before his colleagues announced the opening of an investigation in Congress on this file. They also denounce a justice at double speed.

With their new majority in the House of Representatives, the Republicans intend to exploit any potential Democratic flaw, with the 2024 presidential election in their sights. The opposition is already planning to launch an investigation in the House of Representatives.

There is no doubt that this affair is tarnishing the image of the president, who promised to remove the mystery about a possible candidacy at the start of the year.

Even if the White House pleads “inadvertence”, it is its silence in this affair which makes things delicate for Joe Biden who had nevertheless gained seven points of popularity in seven months.

SCANDAL AROUND JOE BIDEN

DISCOVERY OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

AT HIS HOME

Following the discovery of a dozen documents of this type in a "small locked cupboard" of the Penn Biden Center, the lawyers of the American president reviewed all his files and found "a small number of documents additional documents dating from the Obama-Biden administration and classified as confidential,” which were in the garage of his Delaware residence and an adjoining room, according to a White House statement.

It is not wrong that the opposition denounces a “two-speed justice”, compared to the investigation against Donald Trump. In the United States, does not a 1978 law oblige American presidents and vice-presidents to transmit all their e-mails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives?

The most embarrassing revelations for the Democratic president, the authorities have been investigating for months the management by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump of his own presidential archives. The FBI had indeed seized thousands of documents, including a hundred classified defense secrets, in the private club of Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where the ex-president retired.

A very embarrassing affair, while the Democratic president boasts of his integrity in the face of the investigation which targets Donald Trump, also under investigation for having refused to return thousands of confidential documents.

The embarrassment was also palpable on Thursday among the Democrats and this did not escape the opposition, which hastened to denounce a two-speed justice. "This is a new misstep by the Biden administration which (…) treats President Trump one way and President Biden another," said Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, for whom "Congress must investigate this matter."

"Classified documents next to your Corvette, but what did you have in mind?" a journalist from the popular conservative channel Fox News asked Joe Biden defiantly. The president replied that he would speak “soon, God willing” on the subject. “Besides, my Corvette is in a locked garage. (…) It's not like she's on the street, ”added the 80-year-old Democrat, referring to his favorite car, a bottle green convertible from the 1960s.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed an independent prosecutor to investigate the documents. “I have signed a document appointing Robert Hur as a special prosecutor” which “authorizes him to investigate any person or entity who may have violated the law” in this case, he said during a short speech.

Joe Biden claimed to "cooperate fully" with American justice. For his part, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, immediately called on Congress to investigate.

RISK OF CONGRESSIONAL PARALYSIS WITH 

KEVIN MCCARTHY FINALLY ELECTED "SPEAKER"

The process lasted several days, it took fifteen rounds due to the blocking of elected Trumpists.

Kevin McCarthy was elected by 216 votes against 212 for the Democratic representative of New York Hakeem Jeffries.

"I'm glad it's over," the new Speaker of the House said after the 15th vote.

At the age of 57, this man with an impeccable gray lock reached the prestigious position of "speaker" which he had been aiming for for years. But the interminable duration of his election, a real epic which required 15 laps, weakens him. in Congress for the next two years

A “speaker” challenged by pro-trumps

It took no less than fifteen ballots and four days of unprecedented chaos for Republican Kevin McCarthy to be elected, Saturday, "speaker" of the House of Representatives.

The fault of around twenty elected Trumpists, members of the ultra-conservative group “Freedom Caucus”, who took advantage of the very thin Republican majority won in the mid-term elections of November 8 to come and play spoilsports. Judging Kevin McCarthy too moderate and too close to the "establishment" of Washington, they blocked his election until obtaining important concessions.

These Republicans would thus have obtained a simplified procedure for ejecting the “speaker” from the Chamber and negotiating important positions in the various parliamentary committees. Concessions that risk reducing his power as Speaker of the House to almost nothing and strengthening the influence of the same radicals who humiliated him.

So what should we expect from this House, whose Republican majority is divided, facing a Senate with a majority, he, a Democrat?

A Republican with fluctuating positions

Leader of the Republican group in the House since 2014, Kevin McCarthy started from a classic Republican position, focused on the defense of the market and individual success, to finally endorse the shift to the right of his political training on immigration, crime or against the rights of LBGT people.

After the election of Joe Biden, contested by the Trump camp, he distinguished himself by his opportunism. A supporter of the Republican billionaire in the 2015 primaries, Kevin McCarthy initially espoused the thesis of a “stolen” election. But after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, he quickly declared that Donald Trump "bears responsibility" for the violence committed by his supporters. Barely a week later, he was photographed all smiles alongside the former president in the gilded salons of Mar-a-Lago, the real estate mogul's Florida residence, praising the virtues of a "movement United Conservative”.

It is in the name of this unity that Kevin McCarthy has made a rapprochement with the faithful lieutenants of Donald Trump in Congress. But other supporters of the former president were unconvinced, persisting in challenging him even after Donald Trump called on them to vote for him. He “sold out to everyone for decades”, thus justified the rebellious Matt Gaetz, one of the six Republicans who remained opposed to Kevin McCarthy until the end.

The blockage orchestrated by a group of Trumpists is "humiliating", ultimately judges political scientist Larry Sabatoque Mr. McCarthy is the weakest speaker ever elected since the Civil War.

The beginning of his ordeal?

For many analysts, his election is perhaps only the beginning of his ordeal.

“To assume the position of Speaker of the House with the current culture of the Republican Party is almost political suicide,” commented Mark Martinez, political scientist at California State University in Bakersfield, this agricultural and oil city which saw the birth of Kevin McCarthy 57 years ago.

Professor Martinez's judgment of the rebels of the Republican group is no harsher than that of some of Kevin McCarthy's allies.

"We can't let the terrorists win," Texas Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy Seal who lost an eye in Afghanistan, said earlier this week.

His Republican colleague from Nebraska Don Bacon, another veteran, had for his part qualified as “Taliban” the recalcitrant Republicans, whose number rose to 20 after the second ballot.

Sword of Damocles with concessions and threat of paralysis

“Clearly he gifted the sun, moon and stars to each of these individuals,” said Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based conservative think tank. “And I suspect he has assured some of the holdouts that they will not face serious ethical investigation for trying to overthrow the government in 2020.”

Under Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan will chair the important House Judiciary Committee. In particular, he intends to investigate the FBI and the Department of Justice.

Another major concession by Kevin McCarthy will secure more seats for the Freedom Caucus on the House Rules Committee. As its name suggests, this committee dictates the rules by which bills are introduced in the House.

“We will have the weakest Speaker of the House in modern history,” argued Norm Ornstein. Even without McCarthy's extremely important concessions, the most radical of its members would have had all the power because of the narrowness of the Republican majority. And they are ready to exercise these powers. »

We're going to have a chaotic House and real threats of state paralysis and default, says Norm Ornstein, congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute

“Unless the Republicans – not the most moderate, but the least radical – manage to agree with the Democrats on a certain number of texts of common sense measures, for example on the debt ceiling.

And that, it can have the function, finally, all things considered, of depolarizing the Chamber, ”concludes Lauric Henneton.

THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF JOE BIDEN

IN ALL DISCRETION AND FOR GOOD REASON

A Joe Biden, whose age is debated as he plans to run for re-election

No public event was planned for Sunday, while on Saturday, the president had celebrated another important family milestone at the White House: the wedding of his granddaughter Naomi, closed to the press. 

On Instagram, moreover, the Democrat appears in top form, notably by posting his encouragement to American footballers for the World Cup On Instagram, the Democrat appears in top form, especially when he posts his encouragement to American footballers for the World Cup. "Let me play, I'm ready," he laughs in a video. A wink to make people forget that he is the oldest president to have taken office in the history of the United States.

It took until mid-afternoon for his wife Jill Biden to post an affectionate message, with two photos of the couple dancing in tuxedos and gala attire. “I wouldn't want to dance with anyone else. Happy birthday Joe! I love you,” the First Lady tweeted.

Start of generational change among Democrats

If Joe Biden is not an exception in the American political landscape, where it is not uncommon to come across influential personalities who have blithely passed 70 or even 75 years of age, the mid-term elections have however brought about the beginning of a change of generation. in his party. The very influential Nancy Pelosi, 82, for example, gave up Thursday to run for a new term as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The US president, meanwhile, underwent a detailed medical checkup about a year ago, concluding that he was "vigorous" and "in good health".

It is also with the family that the Democrat intends to discuss his possible candidacy for the presidency of 2024. So far, he repeats that he "intends" to start, and has promised to make his decision public at the beginning of the year. next. According to various polls, a majority of Americans reject the idea of ​​a new candidacy.

And yet Joe Biden bears, like the other presidents before him, the marks of an exhausting function. It is now difficult to forget his age, betrayed by his stiffer gait and certain moments of confusion. Joe Biden's age is a matter of concern for many Americans. The question comes up after each of the blunders he regularly commits, such as the day he looked around the room for a recently deceased parliamentarian, or the day he seemed to forget the name of his Australian counterpart.

Points on which his critics in the Republican camp, including Donald Trump, rely in particular.

WHAT FUTURE FOR DONALD TRUMP 

AFTER THE MIDTERMS ?

"It's definitely not a Republican wave, that's for sure," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC. “We expected a Republican wave and it's a very slight wavelet. Neither side really won.

What seems pretty clear to me is that the United States has entered the 2024 campaign. We do not know if Joe Biden will be a candidate, a priori no, or if Donald Trump will be, a priori yes, but the Will Republicans let him do it?” Comments specialist André Kaspi on the results of the midterms.

The Republicans won control of the House of Representatives. This is extremely important because it allows them to block the Biden agenda. In the senate, it is possible that they will lose a seat - maybe more - when they hoped to win two and maybe more. For them it is a disappointment.

The victories of the Republican camp are indeed fewer than expected. Donald Trump intended to place his MAGA foals in key positions for the next presidential election, and triumphantly announce his candidacy next Tuesday. Instead, Republicans performed somewhat poorly, with swing states rejecting the most extreme conspiratorial candidates.

Positive attitude

Silent all morning, and "angry" according to the gossip, Donald Trump reacted on his network, Truth Social. A rare occurrence for this die-hard “positive thinking” borrowed from Pastor Norman Vincent Peale, the former president admitted that the results of this election were “somewhat disappointing”. For the others. "From a personal point of view, it was a great victory," he says.

Maths in support, he says that the candidates to whom he has given his support have won 219 victories for 16 defeats. An exaggerated flattering ratio. Keeping only the statewide polls (governor, senator, secretary of state), and not just a district, Donald Trump's score is 21 wins for 24 defeats. And much less if we only look at the "swing states", where you have to seduce a more centrist electorate.

The most striking successes of the Republicans come above all from the local elections, which are held at the same time as the midterms, and first of all from the large states of Texas and Florida which are anchored resolutely to the right, champions of a new revolution. conservative that we had detailed in a previous column

Those who campaigned on the negation of the 2020 results, on the other hand, are all beaten. It's that the Americans want prospects for getting out of the crisis, waiting for dynamic people for that.

In the United States, today, everyone is talking about only one man, Ron DeSantis, who did very well in Florida, not only personally but more broadly by electing people around him. The DeSantis system works in Florida. He proposed another way, which remains despite everything that of a strong conservatism. He is young, 44, and that may be attractive to Republican voters who are looking for a new leader today.

Moreover, last summer, Mitch McConnell had he not criticized the “quality” of the Republican candidates chosen during the primaries, most often novices in politics having pledged allegiance to the “Don”. “You cannot nominate candidates who are unable to appeal to the electorate beyond a narrow base,” moderate Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey, attacked on Wednesday. “The more the candidates were MAGA, the more they underperformed in their state”, he continues, denouncing a “debacle for which Donald Trump is responsible”.

Ron DeSantis, a potential rival

To make matters worse Ron DeSantis, whom Donald Trump had helped a lot in 2018, won a resounding victory by nearly 20 points in Florida. To the point of conquering Miami-Dade, a county however predominantly Hispanic that Trump had lost by 7 points against Biden and 29 against Clinton.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, surrounded by his wife and their three children, was easily re-elected on November 8, 2022. According to the polls at the polls, DeSantis won 57% of the Latino vote, managing to seduce not only the Cuban immigrants, traditionally conservative, but also the Puerto Rican electorate. Unheard of for a candidate ideologically close to Donald Trump but with the discipline of a former Navy lawyer who went to Harvard, who seems less repulsive to independents. His triumphant re-election in Florida makes Republican Ron DeSantis a strong rival to Donald Trump, whose foals are getting mixed results.

Several lessons emerge from the results of this election

First of all, these results highlight a phenomenon of an outgoing bonus. A striking example is that of Wisconsin, which voted again for its outgoing governor and senator even though they were Democrats and Republicans. The fact of being in a period of crisis leads voters no longer to make a choice guided solely by the question of ideological positioning, but to favor the experience of outgoing candidates.

This brings us back to an American tradition which is that if the incumbents do the job, the voters say to themselves: “why take another one? ".

Some find themselves elected ad vitam eternam or almost, like Nancy Pelosi who has just obtained her 19th term and was re-elected with 82% of the vote.

According to CNN polls, the defining issues in these elections were inflation, followed by abortion.

And it appears that from June 24, the question of the right to abortion emerged in the battle of the midterms following the decision of the Supreme Court to put an end to the constitutional right to abortion by reversing the Roe judgment. v. Wade.

Democrats have used this divisive campaign theme to outvote Republicans. During this period, an increase in registrations on the electoral lists could also be recorded. On election day, in order to finally witness a rise in the question of the right to abortion in the reasons for the choices of the vote (from 4th to the second position

The Democrats were therefore able to benefit from the return of a favorable subject for them on the day of the vote but also were able to use the flexibility of the postal vote to vote at times when they had the wind in their sails.

Furthermore Biden flipped what was supposed to be a referendum against him into a referendum against Trump running a campaign that talked about democracy and the threat to it. In addition, it allowed him not to have to discuss his balance sheet, when that's what midterms are normally for.

The socio-demographic divisions of the country

The midterms reveal clear political divides that reflect American society today. Quite traditionally, we find the town-country divide but also federalism versus local power. Added to this is a certain traditionalism in the vote, as shown by the outgoing bonus. This vote is very similar to what was done in the past.

Joe Biden left for a second term?

According to Emeric Guisset and William Thay, "the first consequence of this ballot is that Joe Biden should have the ability to run again in 2024 despite his age and his faults if he wishes. Indeed, despite his reasons which lead him to be with less than 40% popularity in public opinion, he has once again demonstrated that he is the best barrier to Donald Trump in the Democratic camp. He manages to seduce part of the white working classes and thus cut Donald Trump of what made him successful in 2016: the Rust Belt."

However, the Republicans in the House, who should be able to choose Californian Representative Kevin McCarthy as speaker, have already promised to carry out numerous parliamentary investigations, on the model of those suffered, according to them wrongly, by Donald Trump. The future Republican Chamber would thus endeavor to launch an in-depth investigation into Hunter Biden, the President's son, and his dubious business, or even on the Ministry of Justice, which dares to question the faulty management of the presidential archives by Donald Trump.

The case of Hunter Biden could indeed seriously destabilize his father. In addition to an incredible computer case recovered by an almost blind and totally Trumpist repairman in which salacious photos and compromising emails were found, Hunter Biden, in turn a lawyer, lobbyist and financier, is regularly accused of corruption in connection with his business in the oil and gas, especially in Ukraine, without proof for the moment. He is, however, under federal investigation for tax evasion. Each time, he is suspected of having taken advantage of his father's position, as vice-president then president of the United States, to set up dubious businesses...

A mini-crisis among the Republicans

The Republicans, for their part, risk seeing a mini-crisis open up. The absence of a large victory for the Republicans does not allow Donald Trump to establish himself as an indisputable candidate for 2024. He could be challenged by the governor of Florida, Ron DeSentis. Ron DeSantis, still little known to the general public a few years ago, has become one of the heavyweights of the Republican Party: can he dethrone Donald Trump at the head of the Republican Party?

Rising star of the hard right, this 40-year-old won without surprise or difficulty against ex-governor Charlie Crist, a former Republican who had changed parties. “We not only won re-election, we redefined the political map,” rejoiced Ron DeSantis after the announcement of the results.

“For me, the fight has only just begun,” added the man to whom presidential ambitions are attributed, which he has not yet confirmed. Donald Trump's leadership over the conservatives therefore risks being undermined by his rival Ron DeSantis, triumphantly re-elected as governor of Florida, and presented by the Miami Herald as the possible new "sheriff" of the Republican Party.

Ron DeFuture?

No wonder Donald Trump recently nicknamed him “Ron-la-Morale”. A slick ex-military family man, he offers a stark contrast to former President Donald Trump's stormy style. The real estate magnate had however given him a major boost in the race for the seat of governor in 2018, by giving him his support; The rivalry between the two Republicans recently escalated. The New York Post, which is also owned by the Murdoch family, ran its front page on "Ron DeFuture."

Feeling the threat rising like a hurricane strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico, Donald Trump, who ruled out postponing his announcement, made a veiled threat: “I don't know if he's going to be a candidate. But if he does, I'll reveal unflattering things about him. I know more about him than anyone, maybe except his wife.

If Ron DeSantis chose to run for the nomination, "I think he would make a mistake," Donald Trump said on Monday. “I don't think the base would appreciate it. I don't think it would be good for the party," he added.

Because if Ron DeSentis achieved a very good score in Florida, does that make him a good presidential candidate?

Does he have the ability to reach out to Rust Belt voters with his Southern Republican profile?

For his part, Donald Trump has already demonstrated his ability to win the presidential election and to make the synthesis between the traditional Republican electorate of the "SunBelt" and the working class electorate of the "Rust Belt". . However, the MAGAs are still there with a desire to win and Trump does not necessarily seem to be the one able to bring victory. In the United States, traditionally, when you have lost, you let the others pass. And this is what is catching up with Donald Trump today.

At the end of these midterms, the Republicans must therefore face more doubts than certainties.

MIDTERMS REPUBLICANS LEAD

In the day after the midterm elections, the Republicans lead in the House. In the Senate, a new vote will take place in December in the State of Georgia. The hypothesis of a “red wave” which would ensure that the Republicans have a majority in both chambers does not seem to have been fully acquired. In Georgia, neither of the two candidates obtained 50% of the votes and a new vote will be organised, as required by state legislation, in December.

After a fierce campaign focused on inflation, Republicans were confident in their chances of stripping anemic President Joe Biden of his congressional majorities on Tuesday. Organized two years after the presidential election, the mid-term elections almost systematically act as a vote-sanction for the power in place. A sign of the optimism that reigned in the Republican camp, the "Grand Old Party" even aimed for seats in constituencies that were supposed to be firmly won by the Democrats.

However, the Republican “wave” did not obtain the expected results, while the final composition of the Senate remains unknown.

The House of Representatives leans Republican

“It is clear that we are going to take over the House of Representatives,” enthused the Republican tenor Kevin McCarthy on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, when the results continued to flow. According to the latest results, the Democrats won 183 seats, while the Republicans currently dominate with 206 representatives.

The Republicans, however, won a series of important victories: by campaigning hard on inflation, JD Vance, one of the colts of Donald Trump, landed the coveted job of senator in Ohio, one of the industrial and agricultural strongholds of America. The very Trumpian Marjorie Taylor Greene, who rose to prominence during her first term for her racist and anti-Semitic remarks, was re-elected in Georgia. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, two future Republican contenders for the presidency, easily defeated their Democratic rival.

The Republicans should therefore regain the majority in the House of Representatives, which would allow them to block certain projects of the Biden administration for the next two years, before the next presidential election.

The Republican Party, which was credited with a breakthrough of 25 or even 30 seats, has certainly been forced to revise its ambitions downwards. "It's certainly not a Republican wave, that's for sure," admitted influential Senator Lindsey Graham, a close friend of Donald Trump, on NBC. Donald Trump also spoke this evening on the results of the midterm elections "While in some respects yesterday's election was somewhat disappointing, from a personal point of view it is a very big win,” former President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social tonight. But the former president, still beating, intends to launch his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, with an announcement scheduled for November 15.

Democratic successes and defeats.

If the Democrats are relatively disappointed not to have created the surprise in Ohio, with the victory of the colt Trumpist JD Vance, they can console themselves by looking at the side of Pennsylvania where the colossus in hoodie John Fetterman beat Mehmet Oz, star doctor television dubbed by Donald Trump, for a seat in the Senate previously held by a Republican. The Biden camp won a symbolic victory there. The Democrats also snatched two governorships from the Republicans: in Maryland and in Massachusetts. They also saved themselves a big scare by retaining control of New York State, where Republicans thought they could unseat Governor Kathy Hochul. In Georgia, however, Democrat Stacey Abrams failed to become governor against Brian Kemp.

Georgia is again decisive state for the Senate

Neither Democrat Raphael Warnock nor his Republican opponent Herschel Walker managed to win and collect more than 50% of the votes required to win in this state. At the end of the day, the Democratic candidate is slightly ahead with 49.4% of the vote against 48.5% for his opponent. The candidate of the libertarian party Chase Olivier collects him, 2.1% of the votes.

According to state election rules, a new election must be held between the two candidates with the most votes if neither has reached the required 50 percent. The State of Georgia must first certify the results of yesterday's vote and verify that a new election is indeed necessary.

An election to which all eyes of America will turn, because it may well define the majority in the Senate, and therefore the political agenda in the United States for the next two years.

MIDTERMS BIDEN AND TRUMP PLAY THEIR FUTURE

“We need everyone on deck to elect Democrats,” Joe Biden tweeted at midday, calling on his camp to mobilize in the most contested states.

Handicapped by record inflation, the 79-year-old president risks losing control of Congress during these midterm elections traditionally unfavorable to the ruling party, and seeing his action paralyzed for the next two years.

Until the end, Joe Biden sought to defend his economic record, presenting himself as "the president of the middle class" who canceled student debt and invested in infrastructure. But his efforts do not seem to have borne fruit.

His predecessor Donald Trump, who vigorously supported a large number of Republican candidates, is banking on their success to launch himself under the best possible auspices in the presidential race.

At his last rally, he promised to make "a very big announcement" on November 15. "It's going to be a very exciting day for a lot of people," he promised Tuesday as he exited a polling station in Florida.

In the meantime, "I think we're going to have a really good night," the 76-year-old billionaire added confidently.

Shortly after, however, he replayed the score that has been his since his defeat in 2020, stoking doubts about the regularity of voting operations. Noting that voting machines malfunctioned in a crowded Arizona precinct, he posted on his Truth Social platform: “Here we go again? People are not going to accept it”.

“Proxy voting in Detroit is not going well at all. People show up to vote and hear themselves answer: “sorry, you have already voted”, he still affirmed on his network.

Local authorities have acknowledged the problem, but assured that voters have other options to vote in this ballot which covers the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, many local elected positions and many referendums .

Each camp dramatized the stakes of the ballot: the Democrats posed as defenders of democracy and the right to abortion against Republicans deemed “extremist”; the conservatives acted as guarantors of order in the face of a so-called “lax and radical” left in matters of security and immigration.

According to opinion polls, the Republican opposition should take at least 10 to 25 seats in the lower house – more than enough to be in the majority there. Pollsters are more mixed about the fate of the Senate, with nevertheless an advantage for the Republicans.

Deprived of his majority, the president would above all have veto power, and the Republicans have made it known that they will not spare it. In particular, they plan to launch investigations in the House into the affairs of his son Hunter and some of his ministers.

Breathtaking duels

Concretely, the midterm elections are being played out in a handful of key states – the same ones that were already at the heart of the 2020 presidential election.

All the spotlights are thus on Pennsylvania, a former bastion of the steel industry, where the Republican multimillionaire surgeon Mehmet Oz, dubbed by Donald Trump, faces the Democratic colossus John Fetterman for the most disputed post in the Senate.

Georgia is another object of desire. Democrat Raphael Warnock, the first black senator ever elected in this southern state with a heavy segregationist past, is trying to be re-elected against Herschel Walker, a former African-American sportsman, also supported by the former president.

Arizona, Ohio, Nevada, Wisconsin and North Carolina are also the scene of intense struggles, where Democrats everywhere are opposed to candidates supported by Donald Trump, who swear absolute loyalty to the former president.

These breathless duels were all fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars, making this election the most expensive midterm elections in US history.

The first results are expected from 7 p.m., but the outcome of the tightest duels could take several days.

MIDTERMS 2022 IN PENNSYLVANIA DONALD TRUMP CALLS FOR A RED WAVE

Barely three days before the "decisive" elections in the United States, the former Republican president painted his usual apocalyptic picture of the United States on Saturday during a meeting in a state that could prove decisive for the control of the Senate. For their part, President Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama urged on Saturday to “vote” to protect “democracy”, their opponent Donald Trump wanting a “giant wave” Republican to “save the American dream”.

Trump versus Biden

With a remarkable arrival in a Boeing 757 called "Trump Force One" on the runway at Latrobe airport (Pennsylvania), Saturday, November 5 and thousands of people waiting for hours on the tarmac. In the evening, still in Pennsylvania, in the town of Latrobe, the hero of the Republicans, ex-president Trump (2017-2021), red cap "Make America Great again" pushed down on his head and hiding his gaze, called for a very long time for a "giant wave" of his party to "stop the destruction of the country and save the American dream". After a fierce campaign centered on inflation, the Republicans are showing their confidence in their chances of depriving the Democratic President of his majorities on November 8th.

If their predictions are confirmed, the 76-year-old businessman seems determined to take advantage of it to formalize his candidacy for the presidency of 2024 as soon as possible. With an air of revenge on his defeat in 2020.
“The election was rigged and stolen, and we can't let that happen again,” he said, warning that any further underperformance could have no other explanation than manipulation. Donald Trump has also called for a change in the voting rules, even though more than 39 million ballots have already been cast, as part of the advance procedures, in person or by mail.

On the other hand, in a controversial speech, President Joe Biden accused Republicans MAGA (acronym for "Make America Great Again", the slogan of Donald Trump and his supporters) of "destroying American democracy" and of being "a threat for this country” and for “the very foundations of our republic”. A few days earlier, he had declared that the philosophy of these pro-Trump Republicans was "almost semi-fascism". These strong words constitute a real rupture in a president who had made national reconciliation the heart of his rhetoric, tirelessly repeating his will to unite and not to divide the people from the announcement of his victory, then in his investiture speech.

“Democracy is literally on the ballot. This is a decisive moment for the nation and we must all speak with one voice”, launched Joe Biden, under a blue and red light, a huge American flag and the ovations of a room in Philadelphia, cradle of the American Constitution at the end of the 18th century. The Democratic leader is trying to convince Americans that this election is "a choice": on the future of abortion or same-sex marriage, all subjects on which he has promised to legislate if he obtains solid majorities in Congress. But it is the rise in prices - 8.2% inflation on average over one year - which remains by far the main concern of Americans,

Barack Obama, for whom nostalgia is on full display, was first in Pittsburgh, an industrial city in Pennsylvania, where he asked "Cousin Pookie" and "Uncle Joe", the affectionate nickname of demobilized voters, sunk in their sofa , to get up and “go vote!” Tuesday for Democrats.

He acknowledged that “the whole country has gone through difficult times in recent years”, especially with a “historic pandemic”. But the creator of health insurance “Obamacare” attacked Republicans, who want to “dismember Social Security, Medicare and give the rich and big business more tax cuts”.

All the spotlight is on Pennsylvania, a former steel-making bastion, where Republican multi-millionaire surgeon Mehmet Oz, a Donald Trump-esque TV star, faces off against bald colossus and former small-town Democratic mayor John Fetterman for the most contested seat in the Senate.

Because of this position of senator undoubtedly depends the balance of the powers of the upper house of Congress, with immense power. Tuesday, November 8, the Americans are also called upon to renew the entire House of Representatives. Governors and local elected officials, who decide their state's policies for abortion or the environment, are also at stake.

Still, a majority of Americans (69%), Republicans and Democrats alike, consider democracy to be “in danger of collapsing,” according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

In addition, according to the very relevant analysis by Jérôme Viala-Gaudefroy, assistant reader at Cergy Paris University, published in The Conversation, the transformation of an intermediate ballot into a "return match" for the 2020 presidential election makes the forecasts very uncertain.

Democracy in danger ?

“While the mid-term elections are traditionally a vote on the balance sheet, in particular the economic one, of the administration elected two years earlier, the 2022 campaign is taking an entirely new turn.

First of all, because never has a former president dominated the primaries of a midterm election as Donald Trump did. It has thus supported more than 200 candidates, not only at the federal level but also at the local level. However, it should not be forgotten that in the federal system of the United States, it is the States, and not the federal power, which are in charge of the organization of the elections.

For the Republicans, the next elections must quite simply allow them to "save America" ​​from the danger represented by the Democrats. It is not only a question of making November 8 a revenge for the 2020 presidential election, but also of preparing for the 2024 presidential election. And, in the event of defeat in 2024, if not as early as 2022, to be able to contest, block, or even confiscate the electoral apparatus, which could potentially lead to a constitutional crisis.

Extremism, a risky strategy that does not necessarily pay off...

Historically, the most extreme candidates who win the primaries reduce their party's chances of winning the general election.

This finding has prompted Democrats in some states to implement a risky and somewhat cynical strategy: fund advertising campaigns aimed at highlighting the most extreme Republican candidates in the primaries, linking them to Donald Trump for example, in the hope of defeating them more easily in the general elections.

If this strategy has worked in the past, it could backfire in a highly polarized environment where party membership is increasingly conflated with a sense of identity.

The irony of history is that it is now the Democrats who put forward moral and societal issues and deliver to the Republicans, in turn, a so-called “cultural war”. The latter, for their part, and even if immigration and crime remain favorite subjects for them, seek above all to maintain attention on economic issues such as inflation, which is currently galloping - which, in normal times , would probably be enough to secure them a landslide victory.

An essential vote

Thus, the transformation of an intermediate ballot into a “return match” for the 2020 presidential election (between a relatively unpopular president and a radicalized ex-president, like the candidates he supports) makes the forecasts very uncertain".

HIGH UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE ELECTIONS

MIDTERM ALREADY ON THE WAY

More than two million voters have already voted early in many states ahead of the midterm elections on November 8. This data suggests a high turnout in a normally less crowded election, and for good reason: the stakes – social, economic, environmental and political – are high. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, a third of the 100 seats in the Senate and 36 governorships are at stake.

The entire House of Representatives, the lower house of the American Parliament, will be renewed, ie 435 seats put into play every two years. Since the election of Joe Biden, the Democrats have a narrow majority there, at 220 seats (against 212 Republicans). Three seats being vacant, it would therefore be enough for the Republicans to win them and take five seats from the Democrats to take control of the House.

The coming political reshuffling will therefore be decisive for the end of Joe Biden's mandate, but also for the general elections of 2024. However, since the Second World War, the mid-term elections or "midterms" have always marked - except once – a sanction vote against the party of the president-elect.

The American mid-term elections do not only affect federal elected officials: candidates also cross swords on the municipal scene, including in Washington DC.

This is why a significant fear is emerging on both sides of the political spectrum: that of having an election “stolen”.

A record for LGBT+ candidates in 50 states

For the first time in the history of the United States, lesbian, gay, bi or transgender people are candidates for the midterm elections in each of the 50 American states. It's a record that could have a huge impact on the country's political landscape, according to an analysis released Oct. 26 by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which helps fund the campaigns of about 90 politicians. % of these candidacies come from the Democratic camp.

Some 678 LGBT+ people are candidates in the November 8 elections, a ballot in which the Americans will renew all the seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. A whole host of governorships and local elected officials are also at stake. Among the notable candidates, Democrats Tina Kotek and Maura Healey could become the first lesbian governors of their respective states, Oregon and Massachusetts. And in the state of Vermont, bordering Canada, Becca Balint has a good chance of becoming the first lesbian in this state elected to the House of Representatives.

Decisive votes

Within all the ballots of these mid-term elections, some are of the most strategic importance before the next American presidential election, in 2024. Some of them could, moreover, prove decisive for the presidential election of 2024.

In Ohio, for example, Democrat Marcy Kaptur, elected from Ohio since 1983, faces the toughest re-election of her career this year, after voting districts were redefined in 2020. She opposes to Republican JR Majewski, close to former President Donald Trump, he was present in the Capitol during the riots of January 6, 2021.

In California, a Republican who voted for the dismissal of Donald Trump is reclaiming his place. This is David Valadao, currently elected to the House of Representatives. They are only two to submit to the votes again this year. David Valadao and Rudy Salas clash in the Central Valley district, slightly more favorable to the Democrats since the redistricting.

In Michigan, Democrat Elissa Slotkin could be re-elected after the cancellation of Roe vs. Wade even if the new district is more Republican and rural, analyzes Time. But the questioning of the federal right to abortion has changed the political landscape, and offers a new chance to Ms. Slotkin.

In the Senate, the Democrats have only a narrow lead: one vote. Out of a hundred seats, thirty-five are up for grabs in these midterm elections. This is the promotion elected in 2016, in the wake of Donald Trump.

Other votes are also important since they are linked to referendums for the right to abortion and the legalization of cannabis.

After the dismantling of the federal right to abortion, leaving the States free to legislate on their own scale, five of them are indeed taking advantage of the mid-term elections to organize referendums: California, Michigan, Vermont, Kentucky and Montana. Five other states are speaking out on cannabis: Arkansas, South Dakota, Maryland, Missouri and North Dakota.

A difficult political debate for Joe Biden's camp

On the merits of the political debate, the tenant of the White House has a lot to do to defend his action in a context of galloping inflation. The Democratic camp knows it has a lot to lose or gain depending on the cost of fuel posted at gas stations in the coming days. To put the odds on his side during the 2022 midterm elections, on November 8, Joe Biden has been working for several months to lower the price of a gallon of gasoline, which exploded when war in Ukraine broke out. To rally progressives around him, he straddled the battle horse of abortion, promising that in the event of victory in the midterms, the first law of Congress will guarantee the right to abortion.

For their part, the conservatives of the Grand Old Party promise to lead a relentless fight against inflation. Republicans elected to the House also want to devote more resources to border protection, security and the fight against opiate addiction, which affects many Americans. They could also encourage mining and gas drilling on national territory.

These midterms are also marked by the impact of Trumpism: "In many Republican primaries in the spring and summer, denying the legitimate results of the 2020 elections was the ticket" for a nomination in the midterm elections. , notes the Washington Post.

Still, the polls are particularly tight and the outcome uncertain as we approach these midterms. But Joe Biden and the Democrats have history against them.

"The president lost the majority in the House of Representatives 36 times out of 40", during the midterms, explained to Linternaute Marie-Christine Bonzom, former French journalist for the BBC.

INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

"SUPPLANT CHINA AND CONSTRAIN RUSSIA"

the White House unveils its international strategic priorities .

Indeed Joe Biden published, this Wednesday, his priorities concerning American national and international security. Joe Biden was originally supposed to unveil them in February, but, because of the war in Ukraine, it took until Wednesday for the White House to unveil a 48-page document, sweeping across a multitude of themes and all corners of the planet.

Stand up to authoritarian regimes, Beijing and Moscow in the first place.

“America will be guided by our values, and we will work in unison with our allies and partners and all who share our interests. We will not leave the future at the mercy of the whims of those who do not share our vision of a free, open, prosperous and secure world".

From its introduction, the National Security Strategy, a document published by the White House with each new administration, is intended to be clear.

Among the strategic priorities of the United States: "supplant China and constrain Russia".

Russia, "an immediate threat"; China, a more diffuse threat

The "most pressing" subject, according to this document, released by the American executive, is therefore to stand up to authoritarian regimes. And first in Moscow and Beijing.

"Russia presents an immediate threat to a free and just international order by shamelessly flouting fundamental international rules," the White House said.

"China, by contrast, is the only rival that has both the will to change the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological means to pursue this objective", further notes the Biden administration.

But China is also, Jake Sullivan pointed out, America's biggest trading partner...

The first world power also intends to “update the current system of international trade”, under the impetus of a Joe Biden who displays an uninhibited economic patriotism.

"In summary, we cannot go back to the traditional free trade agreements of yesteryear. We have to adapt," said Joe Biden's adviser.

Also in the introduction, Joe Biden signs a statement imbued with his usual optimism:

“The United States has everything to win the competition of the 21st century. We emerge stronger from each crisis.

And there's nothing we can't do."

"A Decisive Decade"

Speaking to the press, the US President's top diplomatic adviser, Jake Sullivan, commented:

“We will not try to divide the world into rigid blocks. We do not seek to turn competition into confrontation or into a new 'Cold War'”.

"And we don't view each country simply as a proxy confrontation ground," he said, referring to the many "proxy wars", ranged wars, waged by the Americans and the Soviets between 1945 and 1989.

“Two essential challenges”

"I don't believe the war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed Joe Biden's approach to foreign policy, which dates from long before his presidency, and it has only grown stronger and amplified ever since. 'he's in office,' the national security adviser said again.

And Jake Sullivan summarizes the message of this American strategy:

"we have entered a decisive decade". With, as "two essential challenges", "the competition between the great powers to shape the international order of tomorrow".

"The second...is that we face a set of transnational challenges that affect people everywhere, including in the United States:

climate change, food insecurity, contagious diseases, terrorism, energy transition, inflation,” he detailed.

DONALD TRUMP ACCUSED

JOE BIDEN ENEMY OF THE STATE

Between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the invective had not ceased with the election of the first against the second.

But the closer we get to the midterms (the midterm elections that will take place next November), the more the tone rises between the two rivals.

On the night of Saturday to Sunday September 4, 2022, Donald Trump responded to his successor during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

"The enemy of the state is him, Joe Biden and the group that controls him", Joe Biden "who is only hatred and anger".

Two days earlier, Joe Biden effectively lashed out at his predecessor, accusing him and Republicans of the “Make America Great Again” fringe of “representing an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.”

"They don't respect the Constitution. They don't believe in the rule of law. They don't recognize the will of the people,"

he had denounced from the capital of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump also attacked the current leader's record, which happens to be catastrophic!

"You could take the five worst presidents in the history of the United States, and put them together, they couldn't have done as much harm as Joe Biden did to our country in less than two years," he said. he decided, evoking unemployment, inflation and the rise of insecurity.

The show of force was also Donald Trump's first public appearance since the FBI raided his Florida residence in Mar-a-Lago.

If he had already succeeded on his social networks, he took advantage of the meeting to say all the bad things he thinks about this procedure.

“The shameful raid and raid on my Mar-a-Lago home is a travesty of justice, the starkest example of the very real threats to American freedom,” he thundered!.

It has to be said that Donald Trump had put our country in full employment, with very low inflation, rising purchasing power, falling taxes, and rather good security, quite the opposite of the situation highly degraded by Joe Biden in just two years. 

SALMAN RUSHDIE STAB BY ISLAMIST

Transported by helicopter to a hospital, injured in the neck, his state of health last night was uncertain. "Salman Rushdie is alive and receiving the care his condition requires," said New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, who condemned the attack.

The attack happened around 10.45 a.m. local time when the 75-year-old novelist was on the institute stage, just before he was to speak. A journalist from the AP agency, present on the spot, found that a man had rushed on him to give him between 10 and 15 blows. Local police confirmed it was a stabbing. According to another witness, the attacker was dressed in black and wearing a black mask. Salman Rushdie fell to the ground while the assailant was subdued and arrested. On a video posted on social networks, we see several people go to the bedside of the injured in order to provide him with first aid. The room was then evacuated.

The author of "Satanic Verses" was placed on life support. According to the 75-year-old British writer's agent, Andrew Wylie, to the New York Times, “Salman will probably lose an eye; the nerves in his arm were severed and he was stabbed in the liver.” We don't know if the writer will survive.

The assailant arrested, a Shiite extremist

The assailant was arrested: a 24-year-old man, Hadi Matar, from New Jersey. The profile of Hadi Matar, 24, is already becoming clearer. Charged with attempted murder and assault this Saturday, August 13, the man of Lebanese origin would have connections with Shiite extremism, police sources told the New York Post. The first elements of the investigation reveal in particular support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards of Iran. On his Facebook profile, since suspended by the platform, the suspect from Fairview, New Jersey, widely displayed his support for the Iranian regime. and the ideology of the Revolutionary Guards. Images of various regime figures, including Iranian commander QassemSolemani, assassinated in 2020 by an American strike, were visible on his "wall". As for his profile photo, it displayed the figure of Ayatollah Khomeini, the "supreme leader of the revolution", who took the head of Iran in 1979 and himself launched the fatwa against Salman Rushdie ten years later.

Glorified by a conservative Iranian newspaper

Iran's main ultra-conservative daily, Kayhan, congratulated the man who stabbed Salman Rushdie on Saturday. "Congratulations to this courageous and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and the vicious Salman Rushdie", writes the newspaper, whose boss is appointed by the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Let us kiss the hand of him who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife", continues the text.

Salman Rushdie: the expression of freedom

Coming from a wealthy Indian family, he was born in Bombay, then British. He left his native country at the age of 13 to go live in the United Kingdom. His notoriety, he acquired it in 1981, when he published "The Children of Midnight", which won the prestigious Booker Prize, the equivalent of Goncourt in the land of Queen Elizabeth II. He recounts, under cover of a novel, the history of India, from 1947 to the 1970s. He has published twelve novels, a collection of short stories, four essays, and has even written two children's books. .

“The Satanic Verses” were released in 1988, unleashing the wrath of the Iranian regime and part of the Muslim world. The life of Salman Rushdie then rocks, when the supreme guide of the Iranian revolution, the ayatollah Khomeini, launches, on February 14, 1989, his fatwa, that is to say his religious decree, in which he calls on all Muslims to kill him. A bounty on his head is $2.8 million. The writer is therefore forced to live under police protection and hide. There followed ten years of life hidden under police protection, where he took Joseph Anton as his pseudonym, inspired by his two favorite authors, Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov. After a decade in hiding, he is trying to return to an almost normal life in New York, where he has lived since 1999.

He is currently between life and death.

FRAUD WITHIN THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION OR

 WITCH HUNT ?

DONALD TRUMP REFUSED TO ANSWER

AT THE PROCURE GENERALE

The former president of the United States has been targeted since 2019 with two of his children – Ivanka and Donald Jr. – by a civil investigation by the highest magistrate of the State of New York, Letitia James.

He was heard by Ms. James and her team in Manhattan from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but he announced in a press release at the start of the hearing that he had invoked the famous Fifth Amendment of the American Constitution, which allows any litigant to do not testify against yourself.

The magistrate, an elected Democrat, confirmed this in a brief statement after her face-to-face meeting with the Republican billionaire and assured that she would “pursue the facts [and the application] of the law, wherever that leads. ". According to one of Donald Trump's lawyers, Ron Fischetti, quoted by NBC television, the only response his client gave was to give his name

“No one is above the law”

"Our investigations continue," promised Ms. James, who has been insisting for three years that "no one is above the law" in the United States.

On the contrary, in his press release, the 45th American president once again presented himself as the victim of a "witch hunt" and claimed to have "refused to answer questions" under the Constitution.

At the end of the hearing, the businessman spoke on his social network Truth Social of a “very professional meeting”. “I have a fantastic business with great assets, very little debt and lots of MONEY. It only happens in America! ", he added.

No sooner had he entered Mrs. James's than he had made fun of her "lavish, beautiful and expensive office […], beautiful working conditions while people are being killed in New York and she devotes her time and efforts trying to 'catch Trump'.

And when he arrived in New York on Tuesday evening, he even accused the African-American prosecutor of being "racist", claiming to be, with his family and the Trump Organization, the target of "attacks from all sides" in a "Republic banana” governed by Democrat Joe Biden.

This hearing of Donald Trump – who left power on January 20, 2021 – had been requested by Ms. James for months and had been set for July 15. But the death of Donald Trump's first wife, Ivana, had further postponed the event.

According to CNN, Ivanka and Donald Jr. had discreetly been heard by the services of the Attorney General in late July and early August.

Fraud

The civil investigation against the family group Trump Organization had been opened after the explosive testimony in Congress in Washington by one of Donald Trump's former personal lawyers, Michael Cohen, alleging fraudulent evaluations, either up or down. , assets within the Trump Organization, to obtain loans, obtain tax reductions or better insurance compensation.

Allegations swept away by Donald Trump's lawyers.

Letitia James had assured in January that she had "uncovered significant evidence which suggests that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization had falsely and fraudulently valued a number of assets", in particular golf courses or the personal apartment on three floors of the American billionaire located in Trump Tower in New York.

The Attorney General does not have the power to indict Donald Trump, but she can initiate civil proceedings, including seeking financial damages.

The charges against the former president are also the subject of an investigation, criminal this time, led by the Manhattan prosecutor.

FBI raid

The hearing comes two days after an unprecedented search of Donald Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, sparked outrage among Republicans.

He even suggested on Truth Social that the FBI may have "planted" evidence against him during the operation.

Never had a former tenant of the White House been worried by justice in this way.

Does the federal police search have to do with the many boxes that Donald Trump took with him when he left the White House in January 2021? Is it linked to the investigation into his responsibility in the assault on the Capitol? Does it rather concern the suspicions of financial fraud of which the Trump Organization is the subject in New York?

On conservative favorite Fox News, the banners were highly critical of the raid: 'The Justice Department's increasingly radical tactics are a danger to the republic', 'Biden's FBI ransacks the home of one of his potential opponents for the 2024 election,” headlined the channel.

Neither the Department of Justice, nor the FBI, nor the justice of New York has made a comment this week.

Donald Trump claims his innocence in all these cases.

FBI director denounces threats against the government

The FBI director called threats by supporters of former United States President Donald Trump circulating online against federal agents and the Justice Department "deplorable and dangerous" on Wednesday. These circulated online following his agency's search of Mr Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida on Monday. Among the reactions of Donald Trump's supporters are the widespread "Lock and load", a phrase which means to get to safety and load your weapon, as well as calls for the assassination of federal agents and even of US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

For the moment, no charges have been brought against the former president of the United States, although he is the subject of four investigations. So, political cabal as claimed by the one who sees himself as a candidate in 2024 or violations of the law?

An "intolerable instrumentalization for political purposes"

But, faced with his probable new candidacy for the presidency in 2024, any action aimed at him will be perceived as political. This is how it is interpreted by the conservative fringe of the Republicans.

Denouncing an “intolerable instrumentalization for political purposes” of the Department of Justice, the leader of the conservatives in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, promised an investigation into its functioning when the Republicans return to power.

His camp could regain control of Congress in the November legislative elections, which promise to be perilous for Joe Biden's camp..

37 DEAD IN KENTUCKY FLOODS

The still provisional toll of the devastating floods in Kentucky has risen to 37 dead and the bad weather continues, said Monday August 1st the governor of this State of the South-East American. “We end the day with heartbreaking news from Eastern Kentucky. We can confirm the death toll now stands at 37, with many more missing,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear tweeted. “Let us pray for these families,” he added.

Beshear said the death toll is likely to rise as relief workers reach flood-hit areas and find more bodies. Their search was hampered by further rain on Monday and further thunderstorms were expected overnight. "As if the situation wasn't difficult enough for the people of this region, they are having rain right now," the governor said during a press briefing earlier in the day.

New bad weather to come

The National Weather Service has placed most of eastern Kentucky on flood alert through Tuesday morning and warned on Twitter of a risk of thunderstorms tonight in the area:

“Heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding as well as severe thunderstorms is possible. The floods, which began last week and are among the most severe to ever hit Kentucky. The State, particularly underprivileged, was completely swept away. Damage to mobile phone antennas complicated rescue efforts and estimating the number of dead and missing. On Sunday, the governor said bodies would be found "for weeks, many of which will have been carried hundreds of yards".

President Joe Biden has declared a state of "natural disaster" and released federal reinforcements.

6 DEAD AND 36 INJURED IN SHOOTING

DURING A PARADE FOR THE PARTY

INDEPENDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES

Five people died at the scene and another after being taken to hospital. At least 36 people were also injured: 26 people aged 8 to 85 were transported to Highland Park Hospital and at least ten to nearby establishments, according to a hospital official quoted by the New York Times.

The suspect identified by the police is a 22-year-old man "from the region", whose name and photo they released. Spotted in his car north of Chicago, he briefly attempted to flee before being arrested "without incident" and taken into custody, the Highland Park police chief said Monday evening. “The charges have not yet been approved at this time – and we are far from it,” said Christopher Covelli quoted by CNN on Monday evening.

The man had posted several videos on the internet in which he made reference to guns and shootings, according to the Chicago Tribune. Online, where he presents himself as a musician from Chicago under the pseudonym "Awake the Rapper", he had posted a video several months earlier showing people being shot, with the audio commentary: "I just need the to do (…) it is my destiny. Everything led me to this. Nothing can stop me, not even myself. A clip, described by CNN, shows him in a classroom-like studio with headphones and a bulletproof vest. His accounts on YouTube and other social networks were not available on Monday evening.

The shooting broke out as hundreds of people gathered to watch the traditional Fourth of July parade, which celebrates the United States' declaration of independence in 1776.

According to the first elements of the investigation, the shooter was positioned on the roof of a business accessible by an emergency staircase. "He was very discreet and difficult to see," said Christopher Covelli, a police spokesman. A "powerful" rifle was found by the police where the shooter was, who fled shortly after the arrival of the police on the spot.

The motives for the shooting are not yet clear. Before arresting the suspect, Christopher Covelli claimed that the targets were "random" but the attack "intentional".

The festivities had been suspended in Highland Park, a wealthy town north of Chicago, where the tragedy took place, and in several surrounding towns.

“As we gathered to celebrate our freedom, we must mourn the tragic loss of life and overcome our terror,” city mayor Nancy Rotering said at a press conference.

The United States is still reeling from a series of shootings, including one in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, which left 21 people dead, including 19 children.

The country is more generally facing an increase in gun violence with more than 22,000 people killed since the start of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which incorporates suicides into its data.

END OF ABORTION LAW IN THE UNITED STATES

OR LESS DEMOCRACY MORE RELIGION

The short and medium term consequences are still unclear. Several analysts fear a nationwide ban is inevitable if the Republican Party regains a majority in Congress after midterm elections next November, as Democrats themselves expect.

Two phenomena, both distinct and related, make it possible to understand the political trend at work in the United States: on the one hand, the rise of white evangelicalism as a political identity; on the other, a growing tolerance – even a preference – for authoritarian tactics within the Republican Party. An ideology and a strategy that together risk undermining American democracy.

“A nation united under the authority of God”: politicization of the religious right

White evangelical Christians represent one of the most unified and mobilized demographic groups in the United States today, forming a unique political force. This religious right, pillar of the anti-abortion movement, is therefore as much a cult as a social movement characterized by a variety of opinions. Despite these internal divisions, the common agreement is about a nationalist project defending an anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ and pro-gun policy.

The politicization of white evangelicalism existed long before the Trump era. Despite the statements of Jerry Falwell, an evangelical pastor and one of the leaders of the religious right, it does not date either from a moral outrage provoked by the Roe v. Wade of 1973 which established the legal framework for access to abortion.

It was rather during the desegregation and financial penalization of evangelical schools that refused to admit black students that the religious right began to organize in the late 1970s. During the presidential election of 1980, abortion replaces desegregation as the emblematic cause, but the legacy of white supremacist ideology has survived within the evangelical movement.

Leaders of the religious right continue to mobilize in favor of the Republicans rather than create their own party, a strategy more likely to lead to electoral victories in the American two-party system. The fusion of this white evangelicalism with the Republican Party asserted itself with the re-election of Ronald Reagan in 1984 then with that of George HW Bush in 1988, although they themselves were quite distant from evangelical beliefs.

Pro and anti-abortion protesters outside the Supreme Court in Washington

Between the two national conventions of the Republican Party, from 1992 to 1996, the rate of adherents to the Christian Coalition exploded, going from 14% to more than 50%. In 2000, converting to evangelicalism was a big part of George W. Bush's campaign, and in 2016, 80% of white evangelical Christians voted for Trump.

An ideological change allowed by the American institutional system

At the same time, the Republican Party has developed an anti-system position and illiberal strategies for twenty years. According to the V-Dem Institute, this movement started gradually between 2000 and 2012; between 2014 and 2018, the party tipped on the edge of what the Institute considers authoritarianism – while the Democratic Party's score remained stable over the same period. Civil and political rights abuses in the first year of the Trump administration also prompted Freedom House to downgrade the "freedom score" in the United States in 2018.

Since the early 2000s, the Republican Party has relied on the redrawing of electoral districts – gerrymandering in English – to diminish the electoral power of traditionally Democratic groups, in particular ethnic minorities and young people. The reduction in the number of polling stations in certain neighborhoods and the implementation of voter identification laws in the United States (voter ID laws) have the same purpose.

This evolution continued until an agreement was reached between the leaders of the Republican Party to adamantly oppose the policies of Barack Obama just before his inauguration in 2009 – an agreement in which some Republican elected officials saw such a break with the norm that they have decided to leave politics for good.

These decisions lead to the situation we know today: a party that continues to contest the results of the elections that it does not win; blocking the investigation into the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the most violent assault on the American government since the War of 1812, to which some of its members contributed; who continues to modify the electoral system to ensure results in his favor in the next elections. It is therefore not surprising that Republicans ignore the fact that the majority of American public opinion supports the right to access to abortion.

According to some political scientists, all of these elements are emblematic of a democratic backsliding – when a democracy ceases (or threatens to cease) to be so. At the international level, the backsliding of women's rights is only one of the expressions of this ongoing backsliding.

And the separation of powers ?

If the influence of religious groups is responsible for the rightwardization of American society, the politicization of the Supreme Court is an even more convincing phenomenon. For the past 80 years, the Supreme Court has played a vital role in granting civil rights, assessing the constitutionality of state laws or deciding court cases that restrict those rights. In this sense, the authorization of interracial marriage in 1967 had been a historic decision. With regard to the protection of civil rights, the Supreme Court plays a much more important role than the French institutions whose role comes closest to its own, namely the Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Council.

Many of Americans' civil rights do not result from legislation passed by Congress, but were decided through legal precedent from the Supreme Court. This is why the federal government did not transcribe Roe v. Wade in federal legislation: until now, this was not considered necessary. This lack is due both to an American political tradition and to poor management on the part of the Democrats, which they must certainly regret today.

What response from the Democratic Party ?

Seen from the outside, one wonders why Democratic President Joe Biden – whose party still has a majority in Congress – does not have the power to lead the country in the direction of the program for which he was elected. in 2020.

First, many Democrats have tried. Social networks and the press are full of speeches asking Americans to protect their rights, explaining how the decision would have a strong negative impact on the balance of the country. Joe Biden notably advised his people to vote for pro-abortion legislative candidates this fall.

Second, the government has no control over this decision, because the tools at its disposal can all be circumvented.

One example is the filibuster that Americans call filibuster, a Senate rule by which a minority group can prolong debate indefinitely to block a vote on a bill. This strategy requires two-thirds of the seats to overcome it, so the majority is no longer enough. Originally intended for exceptional cases, it began to be used regularly by Republicans to block legislation during Obama's presidency. The Democrats' attempt to codify access to abortion thus failed because of a Republican filibuster, as did their bill aimed at better protecting voting rights last January.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court has power over the executive orders of the President. In the event Joe Biden issues an executive order enshrining Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court could overturn it. So today there is an unprecedented power imbalance in favor of the Supreme Court.

The religious right will then be able to attack the other rights it contests, currently protected by the same legal principle ("right to privacy" or "right to private life") as Roe: contraception, marriage for all, same-sex relationships, and some even say interracial marriage could be affected.

Whatever the details of the Supreme Court judgment, Roe's end confirms a less democratic and more theocratic turn in the United States.

after Kimberly Tower, PhD Candidate in International Relations and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po and Camille Gélix, PhD candidate, Sciences Po, article published in The Conversation.

INDIGENOUS SOCIAL DEMONSTRATION

IN ECUADOR

Quito also denounced the attack, in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, of a police station in the city of Puyo, in the province of Pastaza. The attackers set fire to the building while the police were still inside. “Six police officers were seriously injured, three are held hostage [by an indigenous community] and eighteen are missing,” Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo told a press conference.

The government refuses to lift the state of emergency declared in six of the twenty-four provinces of the country, a requirement of the indigenous movement prior to the opening of negotiations.

“Call to dialogue”

"The violence in Puyo shows that they do not want dialogue", denounced Mr. Carrillo, who however "launched once again a public call for dialogue to the indigenous movement and to these radical groups responsible for these senseless acts". . adding that President Guillermo Lasso recognizes "the just demands" and seeks to create a "consensus".

On Tuesday, the president said he accepted "a process of frank and respectful dialogue with Conaie [Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador] and other civil organizations".

The powerful Conaie, which participated in the revolts that overthrew three presidents between 1997 and 2005 and led violent demonstrations in 2019 (eleven dead), has been organizing marches and raising barricades since June 13 to demand lower fuel prices. Its president, Leonidas Iza, demanded on Tuesday evening, prior to any discussion, the repeal of the state of emergency, as well as the "demilitarization" of a park in Quito occupied by the police and traditionally used as a gathering to the natives.

"Peaceful Resolution"

“We cannot lift the state of emergency because that would leave the capital defenceless,” replied Minister of Government Affairs Francisco Jimenez on Wednesday. “We already know what happened in October 2019 and we are not going to allow it,” he said, referring to the invasion of parliament, the burning down of a government building and the ransacking many public assets.

The Alliance of Human Rights Organizations reports at least 90 injuries and 87 arrests since the protests began. The police, for their part, put forward a toll of 101 police and soldiers injured and 80 civilians arrested. On the night of Monday to Tuesday, a first protester died following a fall, but the prosecution decided to open an investigation for alleged homicide

US Under Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Brian Nichols on Twitter on Wednesday called for "a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the protests in Ecuador" and asked all parties to refrain from violence. The Organization of American States (OAS) urged dialogue to "respond to the demands" of the demonstrators.

In addition to fuel prices, the demonstrators denounce the lack of jobs, the granting of mining concessions in indigenous territories, the lack of control of the cost of agricultural products, and demand a renegotiation of peasant debts with banks.

Indigenous peoples make up at least one million of the 17.7 million Ecuadorians.

US SENATORS PROPOSE GUN LAW

"A giant step" for the organization Moms Demand Action, which campaigns for stricter supervision of arms sales. Democratic and Republican senators unveiled, on Tuesday June 21, 2022, a bill aimed at restricting gun violence after a series of deadly shootings..

The parliamentary initiative was launched after the Uvalde massacre, which killed 21 people, including 19 children, in a Texas elementary school at the end of May.

The text highlights in particular the support for laws, State by State, which would allow the weapons they possess to be removed from the hands of people deemed dangerous.

It also plans to strengthen criminal and psychological background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21, as well as better control of the illegal sale of weapons, and the funding of programs dedicated to mental health.

The “most important legislation in almost 30 years”

It is “the most significant gun violence legislation in almost 30 years,” tweeted Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. This 80-page text "will save thousands of lives", he added. Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, also described the text as “advanced”. “While not all we wanted, this legislation is urgently needed,” he said in a statement.

Republican John Cornyn, who worked with Chris Murphy on the project, said it was about making attacks like Uvalde's "less likely to happen, while still protecting the Second Amendment" of the Constitution, which permits the possession of firearms. "I'm proud that this proposed mental health and school safety bill places no new restrictions on law-abiding gun owners," he tweeted.

The NRA, the weapons lobby, immediately expressed its opposition to the text, judging on the contrary that it could be used to “restrict the purchase of legal weapons”. The bill "leaves too much leeway to state officials and also contains undefined and overbroad provisions, inviting interference in our constitutional freedoms", she said.

However, this text remains far below the measures demanded by President Joe Biden, who had publicly shown his support for activists against gun violence by listing the measures he wanted to see adopted but which are absent from the agreement between the senators: ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, background checks for all gun buyers - not just those under 21 - requirement for individuals to keep their guns locked up.

3D PRINTABLE GUN

People who are banned from buying guns, and those who want to own a gun that is illegal in their state could have easily circumvented the law.

3D printable guns?

Why ?

The little story:

An American crypto-anarchist had obtained permission to distribute 3D firearms manufacturing plans.

After several years of legal adventures, the Defense Distributed site had been authorized to distribute - legally - the 3D printing files of several types of firearms.

Among them, AR-15 style rifles, used in several mass shootings such as the one in Las Vegas or Parkland.

And this Wednesday, each inhabitant had prepared to be able to make a "do it yourself" gun using a simple 3D printer, from home and without any restrictions. The plans were to be published on the web this Wednesday!!

These guns are all plastic, but have the capacity and power to fire live ammunition.

These functional weapons, nicknamed "phantom weapons", from a digitized plan are completely anonymous, and without it being possible to trace them, unlike those produced by an approved manufacturer.

The creation and publication of these weapons plans had been made possible following an agreement in June 2018 between the government and Cody Wilson.

On the homepage of its site is indicated: "August 1, 2018: the era of downloadable weapons officially begins".

But prosecutors in eight U.S. states have announced they will ask a federal judge to block the plastic weapons 3D printing program from going online.

The embarrassment of the White House was such that Donald Trump himself said on Tuesday, before the court decision was rendered, that the sale of plastic guns did not make "very much sense" to him.

"The dissemination of these files is now illegal," insisted Judge Lasnik. But Cody Wilson, the founder of the Texas organization Defense Distributed, at the initiative of the Liberator, anticipated the bans and posted the plans for seven models of pistols online as of Friday, July 27, 2018.

Judge Robert Lasnik ruled in his injunction that the online dissemination of these files undermines the security of Americans. "There are 3D printers in universities and public places and there is a risk of irreparable damage," said the magistrate at the end of the one-hour hearing.

"It's just insane to give criminals the tools to 3D print untraceable and undetectable weapons at the push of a button," said New York State Attorney Barbara Underwood. attached to the court proceedings.

The assessment in 2022, after its declarations of 2018 is without appeal! The number of weapon files has multiplied so much around the world that it seems illusory to stop this by law the distribution of 3d printing files of firearms.

THE UNITED STATES RAISE THE TONE AGAINST CHINA

TO DEFEND TAIWAN

Joe Biden made this statement at the end of his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The American president wants to tone up American strategy in Asia as Japan is determined to strengthen its military capabilities as part of its alliance with the United States.

The American president thus answered “yes” during a press conference, “if China invades Taiwan, we will come to its defense”. Then he brings this nuance: “We agreed with the policy of one China, but that Taiwan can be taken by force, it is not appropriate. The Chinese are already flirting with danger by flying so close to Taiwan. »

Dissuade China from invading Taiwan

This franchise access from Joe Biden relieves Japan, which would be on the front line in the event of an attack on Taiwan by China. The last Japanese island, in the very south, is only a hundred kilometers from Taiwan.

On Russia, Joe Biden says, “Making Putin pay a high price for his invasion of Ukraine is necessary to deter China from invading Taiwan. »

Maintain calm economic relations with China

The US president is tough on the diplomatic front with China, but he is looking for appeasement on the economic front.

Joe Biden is ready to lift certain tariff barriers vis-à-vis China. Big American business wants neither an economic war nor a military war with China.

Biden launches new Asia-Pacific economic partnership

Joe Biden announces the start of a new economic partnership in Asia-Pacific with 13 first countries, excluding China which does not see it with a good eye. "It's a commitment to work with our close friends and partners in the region on the challenges that matter most to ensuring economic competitiveness in the 21st century," the US president said in Tokyo during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

This new Indo-Pacific Partnership (IPEF), which is not a free trade agreement, revolves around four key sectors: the digital economy, supply chains, green energies and the fight against corruption. It is made up of 13 countries, the famous diplomatic "Quad": the United States, Japan, India and Australia, as well as Brunei, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand , the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Together, they represent 40% of global GDP, and are well regarded in business circles. Other countries could be included.

But this partnership does not include Taiwan, which is world champion in semiconductors.

With this initiative, the United States wants to offer an alternative to China, the second world power, very influential in Asia-Pacific.

Beijing also accuses Washington of seeking

"to form small cliques in the name of freedom and openness" hoping to "contain China", according to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

LES ETATS-UNIS DE JOE BIDEN VONT LIVRER DES  SYSTEMES ANTIAERIENS DONT DES DRONES « KAMIKASES » A L'UKRAINE

A défaut d'avions de combat, l'Ukraine aura des drones. Alors que les Etats-Unis ont estimé la semaine dernière que l'Ukraine n'avait pas besoin d'avions de chasse pour lutter contre les forces russes, et ce, en dépit des multiples demandes ukrainiennes, Joe Biden annoncé, ce mercredi, le déblocage de 800 millions de dollars supplémentaires pour fournir une aide militaire à l'Ukraine, dont une partie concerne l'envoi de 100 drones pour lutter contre l'artillerie russe qui pilonne les villes. des « Switchblade », des drones dits « kamikazes » qui explosent au contact de la cible et dont le modèle plus petit permet de détruire des blindés légers.

La référence à Pearl Harbor

Cette annonce est intervenue, après un discours du président ukrainien, Volodymyr Zelensky, prononcé par lien vidéo devant le Congrès des Etats-Unis, dans lequel il a exhorté les Etats-Unis à fournir à l'Ukraine davantage d'armements pour faire face aux bombardements aériens de la Russie, invitant les parlementaires américains à se souvenir de l'attaque de Pearl Harbor en 1941 et des attentats du 11 septembre 2001.

Si Joe Biden s'oppose aux demandes ukrainiennes de créer une zone d'exclusion aérienne au-dessus de l'Ukraine, car elle pourrait déclencher une troisième guerre mondiale selon ses mots, les Etats-Unis vont donc apporter une assistance militaire plus musclée.

Des S-300 russes

Outre les drones, cette enveloppe de 800 millions de dollars « inclut 800 systèmes anti-aériens pour permettre à l'armée ukrainienne de continuer à arrêter les avions et les hélicoptères qui attaquent (l'Ukraine) », a indiqué Joe Biden, précisant que ces systèmes de défense anti-aériens comporteraient des missiles à plus longue portée que les Stingers déjà fournis. Selon la même source militaire américaine, il s'agit de S-300 russes, concurrents de première génération du Patriot américain, qui pourraient venir de certains pays de l'ex-bloc soviétique qui en possèdent encore, notamment la Slovaquie et la Bulgarie. Des armes que l'armée ukrainienne maîtrise bien. Les Etats-Unis en possèdent aussi. En décembre 1994, ils en avaient reçues après l'effondrement de l'URSS, en provenance de Biélorussie. Outre ces S-300, Washington va également envoyer 800 nouveaux lance-missiles sol-air portables Stinger, efficaces contre les hélicoptères et les avions volant à basse altitude, qui s'ajouteront aux plus de 600 Stingers déjà fournis.

Les Etats-Unis fourniront également 9.000 systèmes anti-char (dont 2.000 Javelin) et 7.000 armes légères telles que des mitraillettes, fusils d'assaut, pistolets et lance-grenades.

La crainte des armes chimiques et bactériologiques russes

Le secrétaire général de l'Otan, Jens Stoltenberg, a dit craindre ces derniers jours que la Russie puisse avoir recours à des attaques chimiques en Ukraine. Moscou accuse en retour les Eta

Vers un compromis sur le statut de l'Ukraine ?

Kiev et Moscou ont évoqué mercredi certaines pistes susceptibles de déboucher sur un compromis sur le statut de l'Ukraine, esquissant l'espoir d'une possible sortie de crise après trois semaines de guerre. Volodimir Zelensky, a déclaré que les négociations entre les deux camps devenaient plus « réalistes » et le ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, Sergueï Lavrov, a affirmé que certaines formulations en discussion pouvaient faire l'objet d'un accord. Moscou et Kiev discutent d'un statut pour l'Ukraine similaire à celui de l'Autriche ou la Suède, deux pays membres de l'Union européenne qui n'appartiennent pas à l'Alliance atlantique. Vladimir Poutine, déclenchement de a dit que Moscou était prêt à discuter d'un statut neutre pour son voisin.

« Un statut de neutralité est désormais sérieusement discuté parallèlement, bien sûr, à des garanties de sécurité », a déclaré Sergueï Lavrov. « Il y a des formulations absolument précises qui de mon point de vue sont proches de faire l'objet d'un accord. » Le principal négociateur russe, Vladimir Medinski, a précisé à la télévision publique: « L'Ukraine propose une version autrichienne ou suédoise d'un Etat démilitarisé neutre mais en même temps un État disposant de sa propre armée et de sa propre marine. »

Dans un signe apparent d'ouverture, Volodimir Zelensky a déclaré mardi que l'Ukraine était prête à accepter des garanties en termes de sécurité de la part des pays occidentaux, quitte à renoncer à son objectif de long terme d'une adhésion à l'Otan.

Le chef du Kremlin a toutefois ajouté que la Russie atteindrait ses objectifs en Ukraine et que l'Occident échouerait dans ce qu'il a qualifié de tentative de domination mondiale et de démembrement de son pays. L'assaut russe, que Moscou présente comme une « opération spéciale », se déroule comme prévu, a-t-il assuré lors d'une intervention devant ses ministres retransmise à la télévision d'Etat.

Le chef de la délégation ukrainienne aux pourparlers, Mykhaïlo Podolyak, a déclaré que Kiev réclamait toujours un cessez-le-feu et le retrait des troupes russes et souhaité des négociations directes entre Volodimir Zelensky et Vladimir Poutine.

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON  PREMIERE FEMME NOIRE NOMMEE A LA COUR SUPREME DES ETATS-UNIS

La juge Ketanji Brown Jackson, nommée vendredi par Joe Biden à la Cour suprême des Etats-Unis, a été confirmée par le Sénat. Sa nomination qui fait grand bruit, l’a d’ores et déjà propulsée dans la lumière. L’occasion pour elle de rappeler qu’elle a eu « une expérience de la vie un peu différente » de ses collègues. Et pas uniquement parce qu’elle est noire.

Cette brillante juriste de 51 ans deviendra la première magistrate afro-américaine au sein de la haute institution, où n’ont siégé jusqu’ici que deux hommes noirs, si sa candidature est validée. Mais elle sera aussi l’une des rares à avoir une expérience professionnelle et intime du système pénal.

Un de ses oncles a écopé d’une peine de prison à vie

Alors que la plupart des juges de ce niveau se sont distingués comme procureurs, Ketanji Brown Jackson, elle, a travaillé du côté des accusés : pendant deux ans, elle a été avocate dans les services de l’aide juridictionnelle à Washington, où elle a défendu des prévenus sans ressources. Elle a ensuite raconté avoir été « frappée » par leur méconnaissance du droit et avoir, une fois devenue juge, pris « grand soin » d’expliquer ses décisions aux condamnés.

Plus personnel encore : un de ses oncles a écopé en 1989 d’une peine de prison à vie dans le cadre d’une loi très répressive, qui imposait automatiquement la réclusion à perpétuité après trois infractions aux lois sur les stupéfiants. Même si elle n’était pas proche de lui, « cette expérience familiale l’a sensibilisée à l’impact de la loi sur la vie des gens », a raconté au Washington Post un ami, sous couvert d’anonymat.

Une enfance stable et des études brillantes

Ketanji Brown Jackson a, elle, eu une enfance très stable dans une famille d’enseignants installée en Floride. Son père avait ensuite repris des études de droit et est devenu juriste dans un conseil d’école, tandis que sa mère se hissait au rang de directrice. Championne de concours d’éloquence dès le lycée, elle brille et rejoint la prestigieuse université Harvard, dont elle sort diplômée avec mention.

Dans les années qui suivent, elle alterne les expériences dans le privé et le public. Elle travaille notamment comme assistante du juge progressiste de la Cour suprême Stephen Breyer, qu’elle est désormais appelée à remplacer. Elle exerce dans des cabinets d’avocats mais aussi à la Commission des peines, une agence indépendante chargée d’harmoniser la politique pénale aux Etats-Unis.

Barack Obama la nomme juge fédérale à Washington

En 2013, le président démocrate Barack Obama la nomme juge fédérale à Washington. Mariée à un chirurgien, avec qui elle a deux filles, Ketanji Brown Jackson a un lien familial par alliance avec le président républicain de la Chambre des représentants de l’époque, Paul Ryan, qui la présente avec des louanges sur son « intelligence, sa personnalité et son intégrité ».

Au cours des huit ans qui suivent, elle rend des dizaines de décisions. Elle désavoue notamment Donald Trump, qui essaie d’empêcher le Congrès de convoquer un de ses conseillers, en écrivant : « Le principal enseignement des 250 ans d’Histoire américaine, c’est que les présidents ne sont pas des rois ».

Dès son arrivée à la Maison Blanche​, Joe Biden la nomme au sein de l’influente Cour d’appel fédérale de Washington, considérée comme un tremplin pour la Cour suprême. Malgré les profondes divisions politiques au Sénat, elle est confirmée avec le soutien de tous les démocrates et de trois républicains. Interrogée par un élu lors du processus de confirmation, elle jure de mettre à l’écart « ses opinions personnelles et toute autre considération inappropriée », dont sa couleur de peau, dans son examen des dossiers.

Mais « j’ai peut-être une expérience de la vie différente de celle de mes collègues », reconnaît-elle sobrement. « Et j’espère que cela peut avoir un intérêt. »

CANADA ETAT D'URGENCE DECLARE A OTTAWA

 LA CAPITALE

Le maire d'Ottawa a durci le ton contre les manifestants, jugeant la situation « hors de contrôle » dans sa ville paralysée depuis plus d'une semaine par des opposants aux mesures sanitaires.

Etat d'urgence

Les protestations, qui avaient débuté à Ottawa samedi 29 janvier dernier, se sont étendues ce week-end à d’autres grandes villes canadiennes, tandis que des dizaines de poids lourds ainsi que des manifestants continuaient à paralyser le centre-ville de la capitale ce dimanche.

Le maire Jim Watson a donc annoncé dans l’après-midi avoir déclaré l’état d’urgence à Ottawa « en raison de la manifestation en cours ». Une déclaration qui « reflète le grave danger ainsi que la menace à la sûreté et la sécurité des résidents posés par les manifestations continues et souligne le besoin de soutien de la part d’autres administrations et ordres de gouvernement », indique la mairie dans un communiqué.

Plus tôt dans la journée, le maire avait jugé « la situation complètement hors de contrôle, (à Ottawa) car ce sont les protestataires qui font la loi ». « Nous sommes en train de perdre la bataille, (…) nous devons reprendre notre ville », avait martelé le maire, jugeant « inacceptable » le comportement des protestataires qui obstruent les rues du centre-ville et actionnent sans relâche les klaxons de leurs poids lourds.

La police durcit le ton

La police d’Ottawa, critiquée pour n’avoir pas su prévenir la paralysie du centre de la capitale, a de son côté annoncé son intention d’empêcher le ravitaillement des protestataires, en carburant notamment. « Toute personne qui tenterait d’apporter un soutien matériel (carburant etc.) aux manifestants risque d’être arrêtée. Cette mesure est désormais en vigueur », a-t-elle averti dans un tweet.

 La police d’Ottawa doit recevoir sous peu le renfort de quelque 250 membres de la gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) un corps de police fédéral.

« Convoi de la liberté »

Le mouvement, baptisé «convoi de la liberté», visait à l’origine à protester contre la décision d’obliger, depuis la mi-janvier, les camionneurs à être vaccinés pour franchir la frontière entre le Canada et les Etats-Unis, mais il s’est rapidement transformé en mouvement contre les mesures sanitaires dans leur ensemble et aussi, pour certains, contre le gouvernement de Justin Trudeau.

 L'exécutif canadien se montre particulièrement offensif à l'égard du public le plus rétif à la piqûre anti-Covid et a notamment décidé de ne plus verser les allocations chômage aux non-vaccinés.

DONALD TRUMP EN CAMPAGNE

 POUR LES ELECTIONS DE MI-MANDAT 2022

Depuis un podium portant l'inscription «Sauvons l'Amérique», l'ancien président a tenu le premier rassemblement de l'année 2022, promettant une année de reconquête de «la Chambre et du Sénat», avant «de reprendre la Maison-Blanche en 2024».

Trump est de nouveau en campagne. L'ancien président américain livrait son premier meeting de l’année à Florence en Arizona, samedi 16 janvier, au cours duquel il a lancé la campagne pour les élections de mi-mandat de novembre 2022. Il a promis que ce serait l'année ou «nous allons reconquérir la Chambre et le Sénat», avant «en 2024, de reprendre la Maison-Blanche».

Dans le vent désertique flottaient, sur un vaste champ, les drapeaux « Trump 2020 » et « Trump 2024 », pour encourager le milliardaire défait dans les urnes après quatre années à la Maison Blanche à se représenter à la prochaine présidentielle. Avant le début de la réunion publique, la foule scandait « Let's go Brandon », une formule codée insultante pour Joe Biden devenue cri de ralliement de la base trumpiste.

« C'est presque comme un Woodstock MAGA », un mélange entre le festival hippie des années 1960 et les meetings « Make America Great Again » de l'ex-magnat de l'immobilier, s'enthousiasme un trumpiste de la première heure.

L’ex-président américain entendait en effet répondre au discours très offensif lancé contre lui par Joe Biden lors des commémorations de l’attaque du Capitole le 6 janvier.

Un an après l’attaque, son discours est inchangé. À peine arrivé sur scène, casquette rouge sur la tête, Donald Trump commence son meeting de Florence en Arizona en contestant sa défaite à la présidentielle 2020. « L’année dernière, l’élection était truquée. Les preuves sont partout ! ». l'ancien président a d'emblée expliqué avoir les «preuves» que l'élection de 2020 avait été «truquée». «Les fausses nouvelles et les médias classiques refusent d'en parler», a dit Trump, «ils disent que c'est sans fondement et que c'est un gros mensonge. Le gros mensonge, c'est un tas de conneries, voilà ce que c'est». «Si une élection avait lieu aujourd'hui, nous les aurions battus à plates coutures, comme nous l'avons fait le 3 novembre. Nous les avons battus. Si nous avions une presse honnête, l'élection aurait été bien différente», a lancé Trump.

Et les militants exultent

Donald Trump utilise maintenant le thème de l’élection volée pour mobiliser ses supporters pour les prochaines élections de mi-mandat. Une stratégie du déni gagnante, selon Ali Alexander, l’organisateur de la fameuse manifestation du 6 janvier à Washington, présent dans le public. « Avec Trump pour nous guider, on se dirige vers une vague républicaine », affirme-t-il.

Croisé aussi dans le public, Ron Watkins, une figure soupçonnée d’être à l’origine du mouvement QAnon bénéficie d’une invitation VIP au meeting de Trump. « Je suis venu soutenir Trump parce que l’élection lui a été volée, c’est un fait », considère Ron Watkins.

Et sur scène, Donald Trump avait invité plusieurs candidats qui tous utilisent son « élections volée » pour faire campagne et gagner les prochaines élections. Parmi les invités figurait Kari Lake, candidate au poste de gouverneure de l'Arizona, à laquelle Donald Trump a apporté son soutien et qui a affirmé par le passé qu'elle n'aurait pas certifié la victoire de Joe Biden dans cet Etat-clé si elle avait été en fonctions à ce moment-là. C'est que Donald Trump conserve une grande influence sur le parti républicain, dont beaucoup d'élus désirant conserver leur siège aux prochains scrutins souhaitent bénéficier de son adoubement. Il a d'ailleurs pas manqué de critiquer le gouverneur actuel, Doug Ducey, coupable selon lui d'avoir reconnu la victoire de Joe Biden aux élections de 2020...

Trump a donc retrouvé l'accent de ses campagnes électorales. Il a attaqué les médias, faisant huer par la foule les équipes de télévision, il a critiqué Biden, l'accusant de transformer l'Amérique «en un nouveau Venezuela». Trump a dénoncé «les frontières ouvertes» et l'entrée «de millions d'immigrants illégaux», l'inflation galopante, l'augmentation du prix du carburant, les pénuries dans les magasins, et les taux de criminalités élevés «dans les villes démocrates».

Donald Trump a également critiqué les « politiciens de Washington » qui veulent « contrôler » les vies des Américains.« On en a marre que les politiciens de Washington contrôlent nos vies. On en a marre des obligations », a-t-il tonné

« Les démocrates extrémistes veulent faire des Etats-Unis un pays communiste », a-t-il aussi lancé.

Ce rassemblement était le premier d'une campagne qui devrait en compter environ deux par mois jusqu'au scrutin de novembre, le prochain étant prévu au Texas à la fin du mois de janvier.

ETATS-UNIS PLUS D'UN MILLION DE CAS QUOTIDIENS

 DE COVID -19 UN RECORD MONDIAL

Les États-Unis, confrontés à une inquiétante cinquième vague de Covid-19 alimentée par le variant Omicron, ont enregistré un record mondial de plus d'un million de cas quotidiens lundi, selon le bilan de l'Université Johns Hopkins. Le pays a enregistré 3,4 millions de cas ces sept derniers jours, soit une moyenne de 486.000 par jour avec un pic le 3 janvier, qui dépasse le précédent pic enregistré sur la semaine entre le 5 et le 11 janvier 2021, en pleine troisième vague (258.000 cas).

Une courbe « presque verticale »

Le Dr Anthony Fauci, principal conseiller de la Maison Blanche sur la crise sanitaire, avait déclaré dimanche que la hausse du nombre de cas de Covid-19 aux États-Unis suit une courbe "presque verticale".

Les taux de décès et d'hospitalisation aux États-Unis ont toutefois été beaucoup plus faibles ces dernières semaines que lors des précédentes poussées de Covid. Le nombre de décès enregistrés a diminué de 10% d'une semaine sur l'autre avec 9.382 morts ces sept derniers jours. Omicron est désormais le variant dominant aux États-Unis et représentait environ 59% des nouveaux cas sur la semaine qui s'est achevée au 25 décembre, selon les Centres de prévention et de lutte contre les maladies (CDC). Anthony Fauci a dit espérer que la vague actuelle atteindrait son pic « après quelques semaines » avant de s'inverser, comme cela s'est passé en Afrique du Sud.

Les autorités sanitaires américaines ont autorisé lundi l'injection de doses de rappel du vaccin Pfizer pour les 12-15 ans, et réduit de six à cinq mois le délai avant l'injection de cette troisième dose, pour toutes tranches d'âge.

Ces décisions interviennent en pleine flambée de l'épidémie dans le pays, liée au variant Omicron, et au moment où les écoliers s'apprêtent à retourner en classe après les fêtes de fin d'année.

CORONAVIRUS AUX ETATS-UNIS

 DUREE D'ISOLEMENT REDUITE DE MOITIE

 EN CAS D'INFECTION

Les cas contacts et les personnes positives au coronavirus, mais asymptomatiques, peuvent désormais réduire de dix à cinq jours leur durée d’isolation, ont annoncé les autorités sanitaires américaines, ce lundi 28 décembre 2021.

Cette modification est « justifiée par la science », selon laquelle la majorité des infections ont lieu dans les deux jours précédant et les trois jours suivant l’apparition des symptômes, ont expliqué les Centres de prévention et de lutte contre les maladies (CDC), principale agence sanitaire des Etats-Unis, dans un communiqué. « Ces mises à jour permettent à chacun de poursuivre sa vie quotidienne en sécurité, » a expliqué dans un communiqué Rochelle Walensky, la directrice des CDC.

Inquiétudes autour d’une paralysie de certains secteurs

Le variant Omicron, bien plus transmissible, est désormais majoritaire aux Etats-Unis, et le nombre de cas est en très forte hausse dans le pays, à plus de 200.000 cas quotidiens sur les deux derniers jours, s’approchant du record de janvier dernier. Les responsables s’inquiètent d’une paralysie de certains secteurs économiques par carence de main-d’œuvre. Tout en réduisant de moitié l’isolation pour les personnes asymptomatiques, les autorités sanitaires leur conseillent de porter le masque dans les cinq jours qui suivent.

La durée de quarantaine pour les cas contacts non vaccinés est également réduite de 14 à 5 jours, avec également le conseil de porter rigoureusement un masque dans les cinq jours qui suivent. Selon ces recommandations, les cas contacts pleinement vaccinés n’ont pas besoin de s’isoler. Le 23 décembre, ces autorités avaient déjà réduit la durée d’isolement pour les soignants.

Une recommandation mais pas une obligation

Les recommandations des CDC ont valeur de référence et sont largement suivies aux Etats-Unis, mais elles ne constituent pas une obligation fédérale.

La hausse brutale du nombre de cas dans le pays, et les périodes d’isolation qui vont avec, ont conduit ces derniers jours les compagnies aériennes à annuler des vols par centaines.

Lundi matin, le président Joe Biden a reconnu que les hôpitaux du pays certains hôpitaux du pays étaient « dépassés, en termes d’équipements et de personnel », mais a demandé aux Américains de ne pas céder à la « panique ».

UN BILAN CATASTROPHIQUE POUR JOE BIDEN

EN CETTE FIN D'ANNEE 2O21

Echec par-ci, revers par-là... Décidément, Joe Biden boucle sa première année au pouvoir en multipliant les ratés et déconvenues. Le président démocrate ne parvient pas à faire avancer son programme à cause de nombreux bâtons dans les roues.

« Je sais que vous êtes fatigués. […] Et je sais que vous êtes frustrés. Nous voulons tous que ce soit fini mais nous sommes toujours en plein dedans », a-t-il conclu dans son discours du mardi 21décembre 2021.

Une situation qui commence à plomber le moral du parti démocrate et des Américains. Alors que Joe Biden s’était installé dans le Bureau ovale avec 57% des citoyens satisfaits de son action, depuis le mois de septembre, ce chiffre est passé à 42% et 43%.

L’ombre du variant Omicron

Le président américain s’est fait élire sur la promesse de mettre fin à la pandémie alors que son prédécesseur Donald Trump avait longtemps minimisé la crise sanitaire puis avait délaissé sa gestion aux différents États. Près d’un an après sa prise de fonction,force est de constater que les États-Unis n’ont pourtant absolument pas tourné la page coronavirus.

Depuis le mois de septembre, le pays souffre à nouveau alors que la vaccination fait quasiment du sur place: en cette fin décembre, à peine 60% des Américains sont vaccinés avec au mois deux doses, soit seulement 10% de plus que trois mois auparavant.

L’arrivée du très contagieux variant Omicron dans ce contexte est venu doucher les espoirs de beaucoup d’en voir la fin. Selon les Centres de contrôle et de prévention des maladies (CDC), Omicron représente désormais 73 % des contaminations aux États-Unis, sur la base des données hebdomadaires arrêtées au 18 décembre. La semaine précédente, le chiffre n'était que de 12,6 %. La proportion d'Omicron tourne autour de 95 % des cas dans un groupe d'États du nord-ouest (Oregon, Washington et Idaho) et dans un autre du sud-est, comprenant la Floride, selon les Centres de prévention et de lutte contre les maladies (CDC).

Le contexte est venu doucher les espoirs de beaucoup d’en voir la fin. Le pays enregistre actuellement une nouvelle flambée de contaminations, en moyenne près de 150.000 par jour, dont les trois quarts sont dues à cette mutation. Plusieurs États remettent même en place des restrictions: à New York, le télétravail redevient obligatoire dans certaines entreprises, des musées reviennent aux capacités d’accueil limitées, plusieurs comédies musicales de Broadway ferment... À Boston, la mairie a décidé de ne pas rouvrir les écoles immédiatement après les vacances de Noël. La lassitude et l’anxiété autour de cette impression de ne pas avancer jouent ainsi fortement contre l’administration.

Ce mardi 21 décembre, Joe Biden a donc pris la parole pour rassurer les citoyens: 2020 ne se reproduira pas. Il n’y aura tout d’abord pas de restrictions nationales ou de confinement d’ici Noël. « Nous devons tous nous préoccuper d’Omicron » mais « nous ne devons pas paniquer », a affirmé Joe Biden, ajoutant : « Nous ne sommes plus en mars 2020. Nous sommes prêts. »

Mais le président a aussi promis une riposte pour faire face à cette nouvelle vague.

Les non-vaccinés dans le viseur

Il a ainsi cité « trois grandes différences » avec le début de la pandémie dont tout d’abord les vaccins, mais aussi l’abondance d’équipements de protection individuelle pour les soignants devant faire face à l’afflux de non-vaccinés dans les hôpitaux, ou encore le savoir accumulé sur ce virus.

Joe Biden a cependant tenu à mettre en garde ceux qui ne sont pas entièrement vaccinés, déclarant qu’ils avaient « de bonnes raisons d’être inquiets » et qu’il était de leur « devoir patriotique » de se faire vacciner.

Les autorités vont distribuer gratuitement 500 millions de tests et mobiliser un millier de médecins, infirmiers et membres du personnel médical de l’armée.

Bloc républicain

Joe Biden irait bien volontiers plus loin dans sa gestion du coronavirus. Le démocrate, élu en grande partie sur la promesse de mettre fin à l'épidémie, ne dispose cependant pas, au niveau fédéral, de beaucoup de leviers. Et les quelques mesures contraignantes qu'il a prises, notamment la vaccination dans les grandes entreprises, butent sur des procédures judiciaires et alimentent les discours de l'opposition républicaine sur une atteinte aux libertés individuelles. Pas question donc pour le démocrate en ce moment de serrer davantage la vis.

Mesure phare entravée par le démocrate Joe Manchin

Autre revers : l’un des coups les plus durs pour le président qui vient de fêter ses 79 ans est également tombé dimanche 19 décembre. Le pharaonique plan de réformes sociales que promettait Joe Biden a reçu un coup de poignard après que le sénateur démocrate Joe Manchin a annoncé qu’il n’approuverait pas ce programme.

« C’est non », a annoncé ce dernier sur Fox News, chaîne du câble habituellement révérée des républicains et ultra-conservateurs. « Je ne peux pas voter pour ça », a expliqué Joe Manchin face à ses « collègues démocrates à Washington, déterminés à remanier profondément [la] société (...) avec une dette publique faramineuse de 29.000 milliards de dollars et une inflation qui est réelle et qui nuit à tous les Américains ».

Le Sénat étant divisé (50 élus pour chaque camp), n’importe quel démocrate a dans les faits ce qui s’apparente à un droit de veto sur tout projet de loi face aux républicains qui serrent généralement les rangs. Faire passer ce plan de 1750 milliards de dollars baptisé « Build Back Better » (“Reconstruire en mieux”) est pourtant primordial pour l’administration Biden qui a promis notamment de faire baisser le coût de la garde d’enfants et des médicaments, tout en investissant en masse pour réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre.

Les contre-attaques des républicains qui font bloc, face à un parti démocrate tiraillé entre sa gauche et son centre, nourrissent elles aussi le sentiment d’être face à un mur alors que le président avait promis un véritable bon en avant en ayant la majorité au Congrès.

L’avortement mis en danger.

L’un des dossiers emblématiques qui revient de façon quasi hebdomadaire dans les informations depuis fin août: le droit de l’avortement mis en danger. Dès que le Texas a mis en place une loi interdisant depuis le 1er septembre d’avorter après six semaines de grossesse, Joe Biden a juré de combattre la mesure. Mais les appels n’y ont rien fait. L’affaire a terminé devant la Cour suprême -à majorité conservatrice avec l’aide de Donald Trump- qui a décidé de ne pas interdire la mesure draconienne et simplement laisser les tribunaux fédéraux intervenir s’y le souhaitaient.

Même la couverture médiatique des derniers mois de la présidence Biden outre-Atlantique décrit depuis l’été ses actionsavec la même « négativité » que celle de Donald Trump à la même époque l’année précédente.C'est dire la déception des Américains pro-Biden !!!

LES SOMBRES PREDICTIONS DE JOE BIDEN

« UN HIVER DE MALADIE GRAVE ET DE MORT »

La nervosité gagne les États-Unis, alors que le variant Omicron se propage, perturbant notamment les championnats de basket et de football américain

Le président américain a averti que ce nouveau variant très contagieux était « là » et allait « se mettre à circuler beaucoup plus rapidement ». Le 1er décembre, le nombre de nouveaux cas quotidiens aux États-Unis était de 86 000 en moyenne ; le 14 décembre, il était de 117 000, soit une augmentation d’environ 35 % en deux semaines.

À New York, les annulations de représentations se multiplient à Broadway à cause d’une augmentation des cas positifs. De prestigieuses universités américaines ont d’ores et déjà adapté leur fonctionnement, en organisant des cours et des examens en ligne. La NFL, ligue de football américain, a mis en place des mesures sanitaires renforcées après avoir enregistré une centaine de cas positifs parmi les joueurs depuis le début de la semaine. La NBA, la ligue de basket, est également touchée - deux matchs des Chicago Bulls ont été reportés. Jeudi soir, deux joueurs des Los Angeles Lakers, dont la star Russell Westbrook, ont dû déclarer forfait pour leur match de vendredi pour cause de protocole Covid.

À la Maison Blanche, le changement de ton est évident.

Joe Biden, qui il y a quelques semaines demandait de ne « pas paniquer » face au nouveau variant, a fait venir jeudi les journalistes à la fin d’une réunion consacrée à la pandémie de Covid-19 pour, a-t-il dit, faire « passer directement un message aux Américains ». La mine grave, il a rappelé qu’il était « de la plus haute importance » de recevoir une dose de rappel pour les personnes vaccinées, et de « recevoir la première dose » pour les autres. Le président des Etats-Unis a mis en garde contre « un hiver de maladie grave et de mort » pour les personnes non vaccinées, avec l'explosion du variant Omicron du coronavirus, et appelé les Américains à se faire vacciner, jeudi 16 décembre. « La seule vraie protection est de recevoir votre injection », a dit le président américain, insistant sur le fait que le variant Omicron est  « là » et va « se mettre à circuler beaucoup plus rapidement aux Etats-Unis ».

Le variant Omicron semble se propager plus vite que le variant Delta, provoquer des symptômes moins sévères et rendre les vaccins moins efficaces, indique l’OMS, qui souligne que les données restent très parcellaires.

Peu auparavant, la porte-parole adjointe de la Maison Blanche Karine Jean-Pierre avait elle laissé entendre que l’administration ne prendrait pas pour l’instant de mesures restrictives particulières, pour se concentrer plutôt sur la vaccination. « Les outils que nous avons fonctionnent », a-t-elle assuré, ajoutant : « Nous allons continuer à travailler pour que les Américains se fassent vacciner et fassent leurs rappels ».

Joe Biden, élu en grande partie sur la promesse de mettre fin à la pandémie, avait dévoilé le 2 décembre un plan censé protéger les États-Unis contre une déferlante de cas, d’hospitalisations et de décès. Mais il s’était bien gardé de prendre des décisions très contraignantes, sachant le sujet hautement sensible.

Les Américains sont las de la pandémie, et des ténors de l’opposition républicaine s’insurgent régulièrement contre toutes les tentatives d’imposer les vaccins ou le port du masque.

ETATS-UNIS TORNADES MEURTRIERES

 AVEC PLUS DE QUATRE-VINGTS MORTS

Plus de soixante-dix morts dans le Kentucky, où une ville a été au moins en partie rasée, d’autres victimes dénombrées dans l’Illinois, l’Arkansas, le Missouri et le Tennessee . Des tornades destructrices ont frappé une partie des Etats-Unis, vendredi 10 décembre, causant la mort d’au moins 83 personnes. L’une de ces tornades a parcouru plus de 400 km, selon le service météorologique national (NWS), alors qu’en moyenne celles-ci ne dépassent pas plus de 6 km de distance.

La ville de Mayfield réduite à « un tas d’allumettes »

Des bâtiments éventrés, du métal tordu, des arbres et des briques éparpillés dans les rues.

Mayfield, une ville de 10 000 habitants, semble avoir été à l'épicentre de la catastrophe. « La ville a subi les coups les plus durs. La dévastation y est massive », a souligné Michael Dossett, un responsable local des secours, interrogé sur CNN. Il y a évoqué un « ground zero », une expression employée pour décrire les ruines du World Trade Center après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 à New York.

« Nous étions assez sûrs du fait que nous allions perdre plus de 50 Kentuckiens. Je suis à présent certain que ce nombre est supérieur à 70, et il pourrait bien dépasser la centaine d'ici à la fin de la journée », a déclaré le gouverneur de l'État Andy Beshear lors d'une conférence de presse.Plusieurs comtés ont été dévastés, a-t-il ajouté.

L’effondrement du toit d’une usine de fabrication de bougies « a fait d’innombrables victimes » dans la ville de Mayfield, a expliqué le gouverneur. « Avant minuit, j’ai déclaré l’état d’urgence », a ajouté M. Beshear, en précisant que des équipes de recherche et de secours avaient été déployées dans ce chaos, aggravé par les coupures de courant. Dans la soirée, la maire de la ville, Kathy O’Nan, a précisé sur CNN qu’aucune personne n’avait pu être sortie vivante des décombres de l’usine, laissant craindre une aggravation du bilan. Le centre de Mayfield ressemblait samedi « à un tas d’allumettes », a-t-elle déploré.

Dégâts dans plusieurs États

Au total, 30 tornades ont été enregistrées dans la nuit dans six États du Midwest jusque dans le sud des États-Unis : outre le Kentucky, l’Illinois, l’Arkansas, le Missouri et le Tennessee .

A Edwardsville dans l’Illinois, la force des vents a en partie arraché le toit d’un entrepôt d’Amazon, causant la mort d’au moins six personnes, le 11 décembre 2021 , la partie secours des opérations étant désormais terminée, laisse place à la récupération des victimes.

« Nous avons le cœur brisé par la perte de nos collègues là-bas, et nos pensées et prières vont à leurs familles et à leurs proches », a réagi sur Twitter le patron d’Amazon, Jeff Bezos.

Jusqu’à une centaine d’employés du géant de la distribution travaillaient de nuit pour traiter les commandes avant les fêtes de fin d’année.

« Tragédie inimaginable », a réagi le président américain..

Le Kentucky a demandé que la Maison Blanche déclare aussi l’état d’urgence, ce qui permettra de recevoir l’aide du gouvernement fédéral. La garde nationale devrait notamment être envoyée en renfort ainsi que les équipes de la FEMA, l’Agence fédérale de gestion des urgences. La Maison Blanche dit suivre la situation de près, car les alertes de tempêtes sont toujours en vigueur sur une majeure partie de l’est des États-Unis.

Alors que les secours étaient encore à pied d’œuvre samedi matin, le président américain, Joe Biden, a évoqué une « tragédie inimaginable ». « Nous travaillons avec les gouverneurs [des Etats touchés] pour nous assurer que nous avons ce qui est nécessaire pour la recherche des survivants », a-t-il ajouté.

«C’est probablement la série de tornades la plus violente de notre histoire».

« Tout est plus intense lorsque le climat se réchauffe », a poursuivi le président américain, sans établir toutefois de lien de causalité directe entre le dérèglement climatique et cette catastrophe.

VACCINATION OBLIGATOIRE POUR TOUT LE SECTEUR PRIVE A NEW-YORK

New York serre la vis. Le maire Bill de Blasio a annoncé lundi 6 décembre 2021 que tous les employés du secteur privé seraient soumis à une obligation vaccinale contre le coronavirus à compter du 27 décembre 2021.

L'édile est allé plus loin que le président Joe Biden dont l'obligation vaccinale, qui devait entrer en vigueur le 4 janvier 2022 mais est actuellement suspendue par une décision de justice, ne concernait que les salariés de sociétés de plus de 100 personnes.

« Ici, à New York, nous avons décidé de lancer une attaque préventive (contre le coronavirus) pour vraiment faire quelque chose d'audacieux pour arrêter la progression du Covid et les dangers qu'il nous pose à tous », a indiqué M. de Blasio sur la chaîne MSNBC.

Il a précisé que tous les « employeurs du secteur privé à New York seraient concernés par l'obligation vaccinale à compter du 27 décembre », soit quelque 184.000 entreprises, sociétés et commerces.

Par ailleurs, à partir de la même date, les « New-Yorkais âgés de 12 ans et plus devront montrer la preuve qu'ils ont reçu trois doses de vaccin », selon le maire, qui quittera son poste le 31 décembre pour être remplacé par Eric Adams, élu le 2 novembre.

Le variant du coranavirus Omicron est désormais confirmé dans au moins 15 Etats américains - avec quelques cas à New York, la plus grande ville des Etats-Unis particulièrement meurtrie par l'épidémie en 2020 avec au moins 34 000 décès.

THE UNPOPULAR JOE BIDEN DRAWS FROM STRATEGIC OIL RESERVES TO BRING UP HIS COAT OF ARMS ON THE EVE OF THANSGIVING

A DARK BELIER CAR IN A PARADE

CHRISTMAS IN THE UNITED STATES

But around 4.30 p.m. local time, a ram car suddenly burst in, mowing down some participants and killing at least five people. The car in question, a red SUV, entered at full speed in the middle of the procession after having destroyed the security barricades installed for the occasion.

She began her mad race behind a group of school musicians. At least five dead, according to an initial assessment that could increase

The first report shows five dead and 40 injured. The city of Waukesha, on its Twitter account, nevertheless indicated that the toll could be called upon to increase.

“Today our community faced horror and tragedy in what should have been a community celebration,” Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly said at an evening press conference, lamenting a "horrible and senseless act".

Dancers, high school music groups or even political figures were invited to invest the streets of this city of 70,000 inhabitants.

Due to the nature of the targeted event - a Christmas parade - many injured happen to be children. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a city about 30 kilometers away, said a priest and students from the Catholic school in Waukesha had been affected.

A group of dancers invited to perform during the parade, the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies (Milwaukee dancing grandmothers) said on their Facebook page that several of their members were among the victims. A new press conference is expected to take place on Monday afternoon.

Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson announced that a person of interest had been arrested, without revealing more about his identity or involvement, and that the vehicle had been recovered. He said a police officer opened fire on the vehicle in an attempt to stop its course.

Suspect already accused of acts of violence

Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, allegedly identified the person: she is already accused of acts of violence, two criminal cases being opened in Milwaukee County.

This brings Wisconsin back into the spotlight for the second time in just a few days. Last Friday, a Kenosha jury created a stir by acquitting Kyle Rittenhouse, this young white man who had killed two people with an AR-15 on the sidelines of protests against racism and police brutality on August 25, 2020 in this city located in the south of the state.

ASSAULT OF THE VICTORY CAPITOL OF DONALD TRUMP WHO OBTAINS SUSPENSION IN THE PUBLICATION OF MAISON-BLANCHE DOCUMENTS

A US court on Thursday, November 11, 2021 granted the former US president's request to temporarily suspend publication of White House documents that could implicate him in the attack on Capitol Hill. The court only validated the request of the former president of the United States.

These documents are requested by the special committee of the House of Representatives investigating the assault, and their publication was ordered Tuesday by a federal judge in the name of "the public interest" to understand "the events that led to the assault. January 6 ”.

Seized by Donald Trump's lawyers, an appeals court said Thursday that it had granted an "administrative injunction" and set the proceedings for November 30. The court clarified that this decision "should in no case be interpreted as a decision on the merits" of the case.

On January 6, thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered in Washington as Congress certified Joe Biden's Democratic victory in the November 2020 presidential election. The former real estate mogul addressed the crowd, hammering that the election had been "stolen" from him. Several hundred demonstrators then launched an assault on the temple of American democracy, sowing chaos and violence.

Joe Biden has already agreed to the publication of some 770 pages of documents which are kept at the National Archives, part of which was due to be sent to Congress on Friday. They include the files of former close advisers to Donald Trump as well as the daily newspaper of the White House - an account of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls.

JOE BIDEN BARRED TO ADOPT HIS SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL REFORMS

It took 218 votes for Democrats to pass this $ 1,200 billion plan to modernize roads, bridges, high-speed Internet, and considered one of the most ambitious in modern American history. They obtained 228 against 206. The text he will receive for signature at the White House passed with the support of 13 Republican votes. Index of democratic fractures, six elected officials missed the call: members of the "squad", the very left-wing group gathered around Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The second legislative project is however postponed for ten days: the Build Back Better Act (BBB), social and ecological reforms to the tune of 1,750 billion.

Joe Biden urgently needs to relaunch his presidency: the contrary signals seem to be accumulating in recent weeks with the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the defeat of a Democratic governor in Virginia, Donald Trump in ambush or the polls. falling. This is why the tenant of the White House hoped Friday, November 5 to advance two major texts in the House of Representatives: this investment plan but also the vast program to overhaul the social protection system and the fight against global warming evaluated. to $ 1.7 trillion. In particular, the text provides for nursery school for all, a profound improvement in health coverage and significant investments inreducing greenhouse gas emissions - a real redefinition of the welfare state in the United States.

But the Democratic leaders had to give up a vote of approval of the second text, the centrist wing of the party demanding clarification of the costing.

Divisions within the Democratic Party

This social and environmental aspect is indeed the subject of very difficult negotiations within the Democratic Party, between the left wing and the moderate camp.All day, the Democratic President of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, tried to put its troops in working order, and generate support for the president's plans. "The program that we are putting forward is innovative, historic, and that is what makes it a challenge," she declared in a letter to the Democrats, as if to explain these internal quarrels between elected officials of the party.

This is because the debate revolves around the very philosophy of the Biden project, which is supposed to make 21st century America a model of prosperity and stability vis-à-vis China.

For these centrist Democrats, and for the entire Republican camp, the state should not interfere too much, even with the best of intentions, in the privacy of Americans.

For the most left-wing elected officials, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, on the contrary, there is an urgent need to correct the gaping inequalities. And in the middle, there is Joe Biden who tries the synthesis, by repeating at will "I am a capitalist", but also that it is necessary to support the working middle class. "Elected as the anti-Trump, Joe Biden aspires to be the second incarnation of FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945), the father of the New Deal which transformed America after the crisis of 1929]", accused, in April, the Wall Street Journal business daily.

Joe Biden's reforms are therefore subjected to the grueling test of Democratic cohesion ... However, if the Democrats control Congress, their majority in the Senate is so short that any defection is impossible.

The obstacle Joe Manchin

So Joe Biden is on the infighting of his own party. If it obtains the green light from elected officials in the Chamber after mid-November, its major social component will still have to be approved in the Senate, where it risks being significantly altered. Its fate is more particularly in the hands of an elected official from West Virginia, Senator Joe Manchin, who says he fears that the plan will further widen public debt and fuel inflation. However, in view of the very thin Democratic majority in the Senate, he virtually has a right of veto over presidential projects.

Joe Manchin is, in fact, "the man who controls the Senate", as The New Yorker wrote in a long survey devoted to this politician in June 2021. His vote became central in a chamber divided into two, with 50 Democratic or related senators and 50 Republicans.

And Joe Manchin, embodying the centrist wing, seems determined to block everything that, in the program of the American president, could go in the direction of a welfare state ... wanted only by the progressive wing of the party. democrat.

ERIC ADAMS EX-BLACK ANTI-RACIST POLICE

WILL HE BECOME THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK ?

If he beats well at the polls on Tuesday, as is almost certain in a city classified on the left, his Republican rival Curtis Sliwa, Eric Adams, 61, will be the second African-American mayor in New York's history, after David Dinkins (1990-1993).

Both discreet and charismatic, the 61-year-old candidate had been preparing for the post of mayor for a long time.

After retiring, Eric Adams was elected Senator from

New York in 2006 and then re-elected three times before becoming Brooklyn's first black president in 2013.

"The personality that suits New Yorkers"

“Moderate” Democrat, less on the left than the media representative of the party in New York Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the profile of the former police officer seduces to the New York Post, a newspaper classified on the right, according to the New York Times.

It also appeals to working-class neighborhoods, reassures the business community. He's vegan and trumpets that he would be able to carry a handgun in church. He constantly juggles between glorifying himself and self-criticism.

And wields the art of adapting the story of his life to his audience as a person. In short, he is "a pragmatist rather than a leftist ideologue", summarizes the political scientist of Columbia University Robert Shapiro.

During the Democratic primaries in June, he showed himself as a strong leader, defender of the middle and popular classes, at the forefront against racial discrimination. The former police officer also promised to be intractable against crime whose indicators have turned red in 2020.

His program promises to curb the increase in shootings (+ 32% in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020), a theme on which his career gives him some credibility. Rather attached to the right wing of the Democratic Party, Eric Adams is known to be close to the business circles of "Big Apple" ("Big Apple"), the financial lung of the planet.

The largest police force in the country

The mayor of New York manages the largest municipal budget in the United States, 98.7 billion dollars for the fiscal year 2021-2022, devoted in part to the exit from the health crisis.

He has control over the largest police force in the country (NYPD, 36,000 employees). The next mayor will have to continue the reform of the police accused of having in its ranks violent, racist and corrupt agents. The brutal crackdown on protests after the murder of African American George Floyd by a white policeman left a mark. "I don't hate police services, I hate abusive cops, and that's what people confuse , the former cop told The New York Times.

When you like something, you criticize it for making it what it should be, you don't let it happen ”.

He plans to reform the police, increase the number of officers of color and appoint a woman to the post of commissioner.

But the former police officer does not claim the Black Lives Matter movement either, and rejects the slogan "Defund the police" that the American left chanted in 2020. Many other sites await him. also after a health crisis that killed more than 36,000 New Yorkers .

The candidate, a man of the field, has every chance of being elected mayor of the metropolis of eight million inhabitants on Tuesday. “Being progressive is not what you tweet, but what you do in the streets every day to help people,” he said during his campaign.

UNITED STATES ISSUE THEIR FIRST

GENDER "X" PASSPORT

It's done . The United States indeed announced, Wednesday, October 27, to have delivered the first passport with the gender "X" to a person who does not recognize himself in the traditional choices "male" or "female".

The name of the holder of this document has not been revealed by US officials.

The US State Department has "added an X box for non-binary, intersex people" and more broadly those who do not identify with the gender criteria proposed so far, announced its spokesperson, Ned Price.

This option will be offered to all passport applicants from early 2022, he said, reaffirming the commitment of US diplomacy to

“Promote the freedom, dignity and equality of all people”.

The United States thus completes the list of countries, including Canada, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, India and Pakistan which offer the choice "X" or "other" in their passports, according to the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion, headquartered in London.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken already relaxed the rules in June by allowing American citizens to choose their gender on their passports themselves. Previously, people who wanted to register a different kind than their birth certificate had to provide a medical certificate. Biden has made defending the rights of sexual minorities around the world a priority, more than any other president of the United States before him and at odds with his predecessor, Donald Trump.

This recognition of a "third kind" marks another step forward towards the transhumanism wanted by Silicon Valley which is threatening our society....

DONALD TRUMP WILL LAUNCH HIS “TRUTH SOCIAL” SOCIAL NETWORK

Truth Social has just entered its beta version, intended to be tested by a reduced number of users in order to identify flaws and potential improvements. This phase should last until early 2022, before the launch to the general public. The first invitations will be sent out in November.

"I created Truth Social and the Trump Media and Technology (TMTG) group to resist the tyranny of the tech giants," said the former president in a statement, specifying that his platform should be launched in the first quarter of 2022 .

"We live in a world where the Taliban are very present on Twitter, but where your favorite American president has been silenced," he said.

The big companies of Silicon Valley have "used their unilateral power to silence dissenting voices in America," added Donald Trump. The former president added that Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company behind TRUTH Social, was "founded with the mission of giving a voice to all. ".

Terms of use

Before being banned, Donald Trump had nearly 89 million followers on Twitter - where he had announced a number of major presidential decisions and thunderous sackings as well as 35 million on Facebook and 24 million on Instagram.

According to the terms of use, Internet users wishing to use Donald Trump's platform will however be prohibited from "denigrating" or "tarnishing" the camp of the former president as well as the social network itself.

Other prohibited behaviors include impersonating another user, copying software from the site, or using the site in a manner that is against the law.

2024 in sight

Truth Social is visually and technically similar to Twitter. The platform also has a news feed, a search system and also a profile creation for users.

The billionaire's new media group, TMTG, will also include a video-on-demand service with entertainment programs and “non-woke” podcasts.

While he maintains the suspense over a possible candidacy in 2024, Donald Trump will need an online presence.

LES REFORMES DU PRESIDENT DEMOCRATE

JOE BIDEN CONFRONTEES AUX DIVISIONS

DANS SON PROPRE PARTI

Les revers se multiplient pour Joe Biden qui peine à faire voter son grand plan de reconstruction de l’Amérique, Build Back Better (« Reconstruire mieux », BBB) aux deux volets, un plan d’infrastructures doté de 1 200 milliards de dollars (1 030 milliards d’euros) et le paquet social de 3500 milliards, «une refondation de l’Etat-providence à l’américaine ». En cause : des oppositions au sein même du parti démocrate. Deux très importants projets de loi sont donc toujours bloqués au Congrès, faute de consensus entre l’aile gauche du parti et les centristes.

C'est pourquoi le président américain s’est même rendu au Capitole, vendredi 1er octobre, un déplacement rare dans l’enceinte du pouvoir législatif, pour tenter de ressouder son camp. « Nous y arriverons », a-t-il promis à la tribune, assurant que ses réformes économiques et sociales finiraient par être acceptées par le Congrès.

En effet si les démocrates soutiennent unanimement le premier volet, ils se déchirent cependant sur l’envergure du second et la nécessité de passer les deux textes en même temps.

Aucun problème donc pour les investissements dans les routes, les ponts, les réseaux électriques, qui sont plutôt consensuels, soutenus par plusieurs élus républicains, et par l' ensemble des démocrates. Mais pour le gigantesque programme de dépenses sociales (éducation, santé, garde des jeunes enfants) et environnementales à 3 500 milliards de dollars, les avis divergent selon que l'on soit démocrate centriste ou démocratesde l'aile gauche.

Pour certains démocrates centristes – les plus en vue étant le sénateur Joe Manchin et la sénatrice Kyrsten Sinema –, la question est celle du montant, qu’ils voudraient baisser, et du financement, qu’ils contestent, par des hausses d’impôt sur les riches et les multinationales. L’aile gauche démocrate refuse, quand à elle, de voter définitivement le plan infrastructures à la Chambre des représentants, tant que les deux sénateurs démocrates centristes Joe Manchin (Virginie-Occidentale) et Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) n’apportent pas au Sénat leur voix indispensable au vote du plan social. Son argument : les démocrates du centre, une fois financés les ponts et les routes, seraient trop heureux de renvoyer aux calendes grecques un vote sur cet autre volet.

Mais au-delà de ces marchandages, le débat porte sur la philosophie même du projet Biden, censé faire de l’Amérique du XXIe siècle un modèle de prospérité et de stabilité face à la Chine. Pour ces démocrates centristes, et pour tout le camp républicain, l’État ne doit pas trop se mêler, même avec les meilleures intentions, de la vie privée des Américains.

Pour les élus les plus à gauche, emmenés par le sénateur Bernie Sanders, il y a au contraire urgence à corriger des inégalités béantes. Et au milieu, il y a Joe Biden qui tente la synthèse, en répétant à l’envi « je suis un capitaliste », mais aussi qu’il faut soutenir la classe moyenne laborieuse. « Elu comme l’anti-Trump, Joe Biden aspire à être la deuxième incarnation de FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945), le père du New Deal qui transforma l’Amérique après la crise de 1929] », accusait, en avril, le quotidien des affaires Wall Street Journal.

Les réformes de Joe Biden sont soumises au test éprouvant de la cohésion démocrate...Or, si les démocrates contrôlent le Congrès, leur majorité au Sénat est si courte que toute défection est impossible.

Sans compter qu’ils risquent fort de la perdre dans un peu plus d’un an, lors des élections de mi-mandat.

LE RETRAIT DE L'AFGHANISTAN EST

UN « ECHEC STRATEGIQUE »

 SELON L'ARMEE AMERICAINE

Moins d’un mois après le départ définitif des troupes américaines d’Afghanistan au terme de vingt ans de guerre, des hauts gradés, ainsi que le ministre de la Défense, ont répondu mardi 28 septembre aux questions d’une commission du Sénat, à Washington. C’est « un échec stratégique », ont-ils répondu aux sénateurs qui les interrogeaient. Joe Biden contredit par ses hauts gradés

Joe Biden mis en cause

Ils ont contredit Joe Biden, en affirmant qu’ils lui avaient conseillé de maintenir 2.500 soldats sur place pour éviter un effondrement. « Et plus tôt, à l’automne 2020, j’avais aussi recommandé le maintien de 4 500 hommes, a poursuivi le général Kenneth McKenzie. C’était mon point de vue, et je pensais aussi que le retrait de ces troupes conduiraient à coup sûr à l’effondrement de l’armée afghane ». Le chef d’état-major, le général Mark Milley, et le chef du commandement central américain (Centcom), le général Kenneth McKenzie, se sont justifiés devant le Sénat. Selon eux, Joe Biden a choisi de ne pas suivre leur conseil, que le locataire de la Maison Blanche affirmait ne pas avoir reçu, le 19 août sur ABC.

« Pris par surprise »

Pour autant, les militaires n’accablent pas l’administration actuelle. Ils incluent dans cet « échec stratégique » global, l’armée afghane dont le niveau de décrépitude avait été sous-évalué selon Lloyd Austin, le ministre de la Défense.

« Le fait que l’armée afghane, que nous avons formée avec nos partenaires, se soit effondrée -- souvent sans tirer une balle – nous a tous pris par surprise », a admis le ministre américain de la Défense Lloyd Austin. « Nous n’avons pas réalisé le niveau de corruption et l’incompétence de leurs officiers de haut rang, nous n’avons pas mesuré les dommages causés par les changements fréquents et inexpliqués décidés par le président Ashraf Ghani au sein du commandement, nous n’avons pas prévu l’effet boule de neige des accords passés par les talibans avec quatre commandants locaux après l’accord de Doha, ni le fait que l’accord de Doha avait démoralisé l’armée afghane », a-t-il énuméré.

« C’est un échec stratégique », a commenté le général Mark Milley. « L’ennemi est au pouvoir à Kaboul. Il n’y a pas d’autre façon de décrire les choses ».

Il a aussi prévenu que le risque d’une reconstitution en Afghanistan d’Al-Qaïda ou du groupe Etat islamique était « une possibilité très réelle ».

CALIFORNIA REVOCATION REFERENDUM

VICTORY OF THE DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR

GAVIN NEWSOM

An unusually risky situation for Democrats, in a state that is usually theirs.

And the victory goes to the Democratic camp of Joe Biden. Voters in California, the most populous state in the Union, have in fact decided to retain their governor, Gavin Newsom, by voting overwhelmingly "no" in the referendum organized by his detractors to obtain his dismissal, according to officials. first estimates released Tuesday, September 14 by the American media.

After counting 59% of the ballots, the no to recall showed 67% of the votes (against 33%), according to CNN and NBC.

With such a lead, the two channels estimated that Democrat Gavin Newsom will remain governor of the most populous state in the United States and complete his term.

This vote "says 'yes'" to what is dear to us Californians, "Gavin Newsom launched in a voice tied with emotion at the announcement of these first results.

"As a State, we have said yes to science, yes to vaccines, yes to the end of the pandemic (...) yes to the right to vote without fear of false accusations of fraud", declared the governor.

Veteran politician, Democrat Gavin Newsom, 53, former mayor of San Francisco, was elected handily in 2018. His term ends next year.

High taxes and strict management of the health crisis criticized

Using a provision of the Californian Constitution, disgruntled citizens, very quickly rallied by the Republican Party, obtained this "recall ballot" allowing to dismiss a governor outside any electoral calendar, after having collected more than 1.5 million dollars. signatures.

Californians in favor of the referendum denounced excessive taxes, a democratic "elite" perceived as contemptuous and individual freedoms flouted by Gavin Newsom to stem the pandemic.

Eighteen years ago, a similar vote allowed Arnold Schwarzenegger to conquer California by bringing down the then Democratic governor..

ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11

TWENTY YEARS LATER

The United States paid tribute, Saturday, September 11, to some 3,000 dead from the attacks of Al-Qaeda, twenty years after September 11, 2001, in an atmosphere weighed down by the chaotic withdrawal of the American army from Afghanistan. , a war that was started in 2001 in retaliation for these terrorist attacks.

• Joe Biden visited each of the sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001, to pay tribute to the victims. The US president delivered a speech to the nation ahead of the commemorations on Friday evening, where he said “unity is what makes us who we are, and we cannot forget it. "

• Six moments of silence were observed at 8:46 am, 9:03 am, 9:37 am, 9:59 am, 10:03 am and 10:28 am. They successively symbolize the moment when the planes struck the towers of the World Trade Center, then the Pentagon, the collapse of the South Tower, the crash in Pennsylvania and the collapse of the North Tower. Minutes of silence and musical tributes followed one another until 12:30 p.m. to mark the tragedies of this fatal morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

• Family members of the victims of the 9/11 attacks gathered on the Memorial plaza near Ground Zero to read the names of the victims aloud, accompanied by artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Jackson.

• At 9.45 am, at the National Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville George W. Bush, who was ruling the country at the time of the attacks, gave a speech paying tribute to the passengers and crew who revolted against the terrorists. “I come without explanations or solutions. I can only tell you what I saw. On this day of America's trial and mourning, I have seen millions of people instinctively grab hold of their neighbor's hand and rally to each other's cause. This is the America I know, ”he said. The former president was in office during the 2001 attacks.

• Vice President Kamala Harris applauded the bravery of the passengers on Flight 93, all of whom lost their lives when the hijacked plane crashed near Shanksville. “Within minutes, under the most dire of circumstances, the 40 reacted as one man,” she said.

A memory of light

Huge vertical beams of light are already rising from the two huge black basins that have replaced the base of the towers. It is the “Tribute in lights”, a tribute in light to the World Trade Center.

UNITED STATES

THE DAY OF THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In a matter of hours, the coordinated attacks carried out by Al Qaeda on American soil killed 2,977 people.

Nineteen terrorists hijacked four airliners: two crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the last in a wooded area thanks to passenger resistance.

Feedback on these events

7:59 am. American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, departs Boston for Los Angeles. On board, 76 passengers, 11 crew members and five hijackers.

8:15 am. United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767 from Boston to Los Angeles, takes off with 65 people on board, including five pirates.

8:19 am. American Airlines Flight 11 crew members alert that the plane is being hijacked. One of the hijackers stabbed a passenger, ABC7 recalls, probably because he tried to oppose the terrorist.

8:20 am. Flight 77, a Boeing 757, takes off from Dulles near Washington for San Francisco, with 64 people on board, including five pirates.

8:42 am. United Airlines Flight 93 departs from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco. On board, 33 passengers, seven crew members and four terrorists.

First impacts

8:46 am. Flight 11 hits the north tower of the World Trade Center. It opens a gigantic breach in the upper floors, which ignite.

8:50 am. US President George W. Bush has been warned. The accident hypothesis is the first considered.

About fifteen minutes after the first impact, a plane hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.

9:03 am. United Airlines Flight 175 in turn crashes against the upper floors of the South Tower.

9:05 am. While in Florida, President George W. Bush begins reading a story to elementary school children. “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack, ”his chief of staff whispered in his ear.

At the same time, a passenger of flight 77 alerts her husband of the hijacking of the plane in which she is. He warns the federal authorities.

9:25 am. The civil aviation authorities, the FAA, announce the closure of American airspace and ban any takeoff.

"Apparent terrorist attack"

9:30 am. George W. Bush announces to schoolchildren that he is returning to Washington because of an "apparent terrorist attack".

9:36 am. The Secret Service evacuates Vice President Dick Cheney to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center under the White House.

9:37. American Airlines Flight 77, departing from Dulles Airport near Washington for San Francisco, crashes into the west facade of the Pentagon. The impact killed all passengers and 125 people on the ground.

The plane that crashed into the Pentagon killed 125 soldiers and civilians in addition to the passengers and crew in the hijacked aircraft.

The plane that crashed into the Pentagon killed 125 soldiers and civilians in addition to the passengers and crew in the hijacked aircraft .

9:42 am. The Federal Aviation Administration (the national air traffic control agency) orders all airplanes in flight to land as soon as possible.

9.45 a.m. The White House and the Capitol are evacuated.

9:59 am. After burning for nearly an hour, the South Tower collapsed within seconds in a deluge of fire, steel and dust. The violence is such that no trace of DNA has ever been found for hundreds of victims.

10:03 am. Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, crashes in Shanksville, a wooded area in western Pennsylvania. Some passengers, informed by cell phone of what was happening in New York, resisted the terrorists.

10:15 am. Part of the Pentagon collapses.

Bush promises to hunt down those responsible

10:28 am. The north tower collapsed, 102 minutes after being hit by the plane. The southern tip of Manhattan is covered in a cloud of ash and debris.

11:02 a.m. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani orders the evacuation of southern Manhattan.

1:04 p.m. George W. Bush, who was evacuated from Barksdale air base (Louisiana), places the armed forces on "maximum alert" and promises to "track down and punish the cowards responsible" for the attacks. The president will then be transferred to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska (center) before returning to the White House in the evening.

13:27. Washington Mayor Anthony Williams declares a state of emergency in the federal capital.

5:20 p.m. After having burned for seven hours, building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed in turn, without causing any victims.

8:30 p.m. George W. Bush addresses the Americans, denounces "deliberate terrorist acts". He promises to track down those responsible and warns that Washington will make "no distinction" between terrorists and those who harbor them. Days of research followed, in an attempt to find survivors or the remains of the victims. 40% of the missing still could not be identified.

11:02 a.m. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani orders the evacuation of southern Manhattan.

1:04 p.m. George W. Bush, who was evacuated from Barksdale air base (Louisiana), places the armed forces on "maximum alert" and promises to "track down and punish the cowards responsible" for the attacks. The president will then be transferred to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska (center) before returning to the White House in the evening.

13:27. Washington Mayor Anthony Williams declares a state of emergency in the federal capital.

5:20 p.m. After having burned for seven hours, building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed in turn, without causing any victims.

8:30 p.m. George W. Bush addresses the Americans, denounces "deliberate terrorist acts". He promises to track down those responsible and warns that Washington will make "no distinction" between terrorists and those who harbor them.

COVID-19 JOE BIDEN MAKES VACCINATION MANDATORY

Vaccination thus becomes compulsory for two-thirds of employees in the public and private sectors.

This time, Joe Biden wants to give himself the means to raise a vaccination rate which is ceiling in the United States:

vaccination obligation for caregivers, civil servants and federal government contractors, and for the first time, obligation for companies with more than 100 employees to verify that their employees are doubly vaccinated or present a negative test at least once per week, under penalty of a fine of $ 14,000 per violation.

To date, nearly half of large companies have already announced mandatory vaccination rules for all or part of their staff. Among them are Walmart, the largest private American employer, but also United Airlines, Kraft Heinz, BlackRock, Citigroup, Comcast, Google and Microsoft. "The largest companies are already asking for it, United Airlines, Disney and even Fox New", pleaded Thursday, September 9 the American president

The president also plans to call on the organizers of major sporting or cultural events to make public entry conditional on proof of vaccination or a negative test. The goal is "to reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans (...), to reduce hospitalizations and deaths, to allow our children to go to school safe and to keep our economy strong," he said. explained the spokesperson for the presidency.

The White House also wants to facilitate screening tests and extend the wearing of masks (travel, federal buildings) to curb the epidemic. A national recall campaign for Covid-19 vaccines is also due to start from September 20.

A new wave of contamination

The Delta variant is inflicting in the United States a new wave of contaminations, which clutters hospitals and hinders economic recovery, while a quarter of the population has not received any vaccine injections. The daily toll has risen to 1,500 dead, up 30% over the past two weeks, and 100,000 people are hospitalized because of Covid-19. Concern is growing for children: around 20 of them die each week from Covid-19.

In terms of vaccination, America is cut in half, with rates ranging from just 40% in Mississippi, Alabama and Wyoming to over 70% in Washington DC, Rhode Island or Vermont. But only 53.3% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to health officials, and another 80 million Americans are not vaccinated, or 25% of the population, in this country with the most deaths linked to the new coronavirus. in the world, with more than 653,000 deaths.

"Your refusal has a cost for all of us"

So Joe Biden denounced the “identified minority” of Americans who “keep the country from turning the page” on the epidemic. “My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: what are you doing? wait for more? What more are you waiting for? We have made vaccination free, safe and convenient. The vaccine has had full approval from health authorities. Over 200 million Americans have had at least one dose. We have been patient, but our patience is running out. Your refusal comes at a cost to all of us. So please do what is right, ”he urged.

This change of method comes as Joe Biden suffered several setbacks this summer on the health, economic and political fronts, punctuated by an avalanche of criticism of his management of the evacuations of civilians from Afghanistan at the end of August, in the midst of chaos after the return to the country. power of the Taliban.

INONDATIONS MEURTRIERE A NEW-YORK

La ville de New York a subi des inondations impressionnantes. L'ouragan Ida, rétrogradé en cyclone post-tropical, a amené dans son sillage des pluies torrentielles qui ont provoqué d'importantes inondations sur la côte est des États-Unis. Au moins sept personnes ont été retrouvées mortes à New York, jeudi 2 septembre, dans les importantes inondations qui ont frappé la ville au passage des restes de l'ouragan Ida, a annoncé la police locale. Un mort est également à déplorer dans la ville de Passaic, dans le New Jersey, rapporte notre confère du New York Times.

Etat d'urgence.

Kathy Hochul, la gouverneure de l'Etat de New York, et Bill de Blasio, le maire sortant de la capitale économique et culturelle américaine, ont décrété l' « état d'urgence », suite à ces inondations massives qui concernent potentiellement quelque 20 millions d'habitants.

 « Nous subissons un événement climatique historique, avec des records de pluie, des inondations brutales et des conditions dangereuses sur la route", a annoncé le brutales et des conditions dangereuses sur la route », a annoncé le maire de New York Bill de Blasio, avant de décréter l'état d'urgence dans la ville.

ETAT D'URGENCE EN  LOUISIANE

AVEC L'ARRIVEE DE L'OURAGAN IDA

Il n'était « qu'une » tempête tropicale lorsqu'il a frappé Cuba avant hier. L'ouragan Ida est en effet passé vendredi soir sur la côte sud-ouest de Cuba, n'y faisant que des dégâts mineurs alors que des milliers de personnes avaient été évacuées et l'électricité coupée de manière préventive.

Il a ensuite poursuivi sa route, se renforçant samedi en milieu de journée en ouragan de catégorie 2 sur 5, avec des rafales de vent atteignant déjà 160 km/h. Il est désormais un ouragan de catégorie 4 sur une échelle de 1 à 5 et s'apprête à frapper la Louisiane ce dimanche . « Il est prévu qu'il continue de se renforcer rapidement durant les 12 prochaines heures environ et on s'attend à ce qu'Ida devienne un ouragan majeur extrêmement dangereux lorsqu'il touchera terre le long des côtes de la Louisiane cet après-midi », précise le NHC, le centre de surveillance des ouragans, ce dimanche..

Les rafales attendues devraient atteindre 250 km/h. Les cumuls de pluie pourraient atteindre 500 mm, soit presque le cumul annuel moyen des pluies à Paris. Le président américain Joe Biden a approuvé une déclaration d'état d'urgence pour la Louisiane afin d'apporter une « assistance fédérale ». La Maison-Blanche a promis qu'elle suivrait « avec attention cette situation et sera tenu informé des développements pendant le week-end », selon son porte-parole.

« Un défi extrême pour notre Etat »

« Si vous faites l'objet d'un ordre d'évacuation ou si vous pouvez partir, PARTEZ S'IL VOUS PLAIT. Des conditions DEVASTATRICES VONT se produire » martelait le service météo américain sur Twitter. « Le temps joue contre nous », a souligné LaToya Cantrell, la maire de La Nouvelle-Orléans, ville qui pourrait être gravement affectée par l'ouragan. « Nous sommes du côté est, sur la trajectoire de la tempête, nous prévoyons des répercussions importantes », avait-elle tweeté un peu plus tôt.

Le gouverneur de la Louisiane, John Bel Edwards, a estimé que l'ouragan Ida était « un défi extrême pour notre État ». Un défi de plus pour les 4,6 millions d'habitants de cet État du sud-est des États-Unis confronté en plus à une nouvelle flambée de Covid-19 mettant ses hôpitaux en difficulté. Le gouverneur de Louisiane a demandé à chaque habitant de se trouver dans un abri sûr d'ici ce samedi soir et de se tenir prêts à faire face « à toute éventualité ».

La Nouvelle-Orléans n'a pas encore totalement pansé les plaies infligées par le traumatisme de 2005 lorsque l'ouragan Katrina avait ravagé la Louisiane, faisait plus de 1800 morts et inondant 80% de la ville après que ses digues ont cédé. « Je sais que c'est très douloureux de penser qu'une nouvelle grosse tempête comme l'ouragan Ida puisse toucher terre lors de cette date-anniversaire », a dit le gouverneur John Bel Edwards. « Mais nous ne sommes pas le même Etat qu'il y a 16 ans, nous avons un système de réduction des risques liés aux ouragans », a-t-il noté, soulignant que ce système allait être « mis à rude épreuve ».

L'ouragan et le Covid

Et l'ouragan menace une région déjà sur le qui-vive sanitaire: le variant Delta a frappé de plein fouet la Louisiane, peu vaccinée, mettant son système hospitalier à genoux avec près de 2700 patients hospitalisés et autant de morts quotidiennes qu'au pic de la pandémie.

 « Si vous devez vous rendre dans un abri, assurez-vous de porter un masque et essayez de garder vos distances », a d'ailleurs rappelé Joe Biden, qui a déclaré l'état d'urgence en Louisiane.

TUERIE DE CHARLESTON AUX ETATS-UNIS

 PEINE DE MORT CONFIRMEE POUR LE SUPREMACISTE  DYLAAN ROOF

Une cour d’appel fédérale a confirmé, mercredi 25 août, la condamnation à mort de l’Américain Dylann Roof, qui avait froidement abattu neuf paroissiens noirs d’une église de Caroline du Sud en 2015. . Il avait été condamné en première instance début 2017 à la peine de mort.

« Aucun résumé clinique ni analyse juridique fouillée ne peut totalement rendre compte de l’atrocité de l’acte de Roof. Ses crimes le placent sous le coup de la sentence la plus sévère qu’une société juste puisse rendre », ont conclu les juges du tribunal de Richmond, dans leur arrêt rendu à l’unanimité.

Convaincu d’une suprématie des hommes blancs sur les autres races qu’il considère inférieures, Dylan Roof avait ouvert le feu 77 fois dans une église méthodiste de Charleston, le 17 juin 2015, criblant de balles neuf fidèles noirs qui venaient de l’accueillir à bras ouverts pour une séance d’étude de la Bible. Le jeune homme était alors âgé de 21 ans.

Moratoire sur les exécutions fédérales

Cette fusillade avait d’autant plus marqué l’opinion publique américaine et internationale qu’elle avait ensanglanté un lieu symbole de la lutte contre l’esclavage :

l’église épiscopale méthodiste africaine Emanuel, qui rassemble la plus ancienne communauté noire de cette ville historique de l’époque des plantations, située dans le sud-est des Etats-Unis.

Le condamné, aujourd’hui âgé de 27 ans et détenu dans un pénitencier , pourrait échapper à la peine de mort, l’administration du président Bien ayant imposé le mois dernier un moratoire sur les exécutions fédérales.

BIDEN BIEN SEUL APRES LE RETRAIT DES TROUPES AMERICAINES D'AFGHANISTAN

Des élus de son propre camp déçus, une opinion publique refroidie et des alliés internationaux amers: le président Joe Biden semblait bien seul mardi, alors que la Maison Blanche s’évertue à défendre sa gestion du retrait d’Afghanistan.

Sa posture est simple: «Je suis le président des Etats-Unis et à la fin, c’est moi qui assume», avait déclaré Joe Biden lundi, dans une courte allocution à la Maison Blanche, avant de reprendre ses vacances interrompues à la résidence de camp David.

En attendant que le président américain s’exprime à nouveau mercredi dans un entretien télévisé, son conseiller à la sécurité nationale Jake Sullivan a défendu mardi son patron. «Lorsque vous mettez fin à vingt années d’intervention militaire (...) il faut prendre une série de décisions difficiles, et aucune de ces décisions n’a de résultat sans bavure», a-t-il dit lors d’une conférence de presse.

Jusqu’ici la décision de retirer les troupes américaines, prise au départ par Donald Trump, et confirmée par Joe Biden en fixant la date butoir du 31 août, était populaire auprès de l’opinion publique américaine. Mais les Américains ont été choqués par la vitesse à laquelle les talibans ont pris le contrôle du pays, par les images sidérantes de l’aéroport de Kaboul lundi, par l’évacuation en catastrophe de l’ambassade américaine.

Sondage

Seuls 49% des 1999 électeurs interrogés par Politico et Morning Consult du 13 au 16 août soutenaient la décision du président démocrate de quitter le pays, contre 69% en avril.

L’administration Biden, qui à défaut d’être flamboyante se veut efficace, bien organisée, soucieuse de concertations à l’échelle nationale comme internationale, est attaquée sur tous ces points, jusque dans les rangs des élus démocrates.

Le démocrate Bob Menendez, chef de la commission des Affaires étrangères du Sénat, s’est dit «déçu que l’administration Biden n’ait clairement pas pris la mesure des conséquences d’un retrait rapide». «L’appel que je lance à l’administration depuis plusieurs mois déjà, c’est qu’il faut évacuer nos alliés et s’occuper de la paperasserie après avoir mis les héros en sécurité. Et ils n’ont pas entendu cet appel», a dénoncé Seth Moulton, vétéran de l’armée américaine, et élu démocrate à la . La Maison Blanche reproche aux militaires afghans, équipés et entraînés par les Etats-Unis, d’avoir renoncé à se battre contre les talibans.

«Pagaille»

Enfin Joe Biden, qui se flatte régulièrement d’une longue expérience en matière de politique étrangère, et qui affirme régulièrement que «l’Amérique est de retour» dans le jeu international, parait pour l’heure isolé. «Il n’a pas encore échangé avec des dirigeants internationaux» depuis la chute de Kaboul, a indiqué mardi Jake Sullivan, alors que les alliés des Etats-Unis ne cachent pas leur amertume.

«Les images de désespoir à l’aéroport de Kaboul sont une honte pour l’Occident politique», a fustigé mardi le président allemand, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Le gouvernement britannique a lui critiqué ouvertement les décisions américaines.

Si Joe Biden fait valoir que les Etats-Unis se retirent d’Afghanistan pour se consacrer à des défis plus grands, en particulier leur face-à-face avec Pékin, dans l’immédiat le régime chinois s’en donne à cœur joie.

Les Américains «ont laissé une terrible pagaille» en Afghanistan, a asséné mardi Hua Chunying, une porte-parole du ministère chinois des Affaires étrangères.

THE VERTIGINOUS FALL OF ANDREW CUEMO GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK

THE HUGE "DIXIE FIRE"

 FIRE RAVAGE CALIFORNIA

The gigantic fire, named "Dixie Fire", which has ravaged the region for three weeks, completely destroyed the town of Greenville (Northern California) on the night of Wednesday 4 to Thursday 5 August 2021. The fire continues to spread dangerously.

Local authorities have ordered the 800 residents to leave the city before the flames engulf it.

" If you stayed, you should evacuate EAST, IMMEDIATELY ! " The Plumas County Sheriff's Office tweeted, addressing residents of the communities of Greenville and Chester.

"If you are still in the Greenville area, you are in imminent danger and you MUST go now ! " ," He added in a second alert message, adding:"

" If you stay, the emergency services may not be able to come to your aid ".

Thursday August 5, the photographer Stuart Palley, noted the damage, photos in support. “Much of downtown Greenville has been completely destroyed. My heart is broken for this beautiful little town ”.

The fire has devastated northern California for more than 3 weeks, fueled by strong heat, accompanied by alarming drought and continuous winds. “Dixie Fire” ravaged over 110,000 hectares. By the end of July, the number of acres burned in California was up 250% from 2020, which was already the worst year for fires in recent state history.

The Dixie Fire is painfully reminiscent of the Paradise Fire of 2018, California's deadliest fire in recent years. Faulty power lines, which ran through the northern town of Paradise, had swept through the blaze, killing 86 people. Energy supplier Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), California's largest energy company, had pleaded guilty .

PG&E equipment is again in question for the Dixie Fire, after a tree fell on a power cable the day the fire started.

COVID-19 IN THE UNITED STATES BARACK OBAMA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY RELEASES PASSIONS

All guests will need to be vaccinated and tested negative, the sources say.

The event must take place outdoors and a “Covid coordinator”, whose exact role has not been specified, will be present on the premises.

In addition, Martha's Vineyard, in the state of Massachusetts, presented on Monday according to CDC data only a moderate level of transmission of the virus, which does not trigger the activation of the new recommendations of the health authorities, namely the wearing of the mask indoors even for vaccinated people. But, in a context of resurgence of cases due to the Delta variant, many criticisms have been raised, mainly from the Republican camp.

Criticism of Republicans

The Republican elected Jim Jordan, a faithful of Donald Trump, thus joked on Twitter by affirming that the Democrats, "if it was the birthday party of President Trump", would denounce a "dangerous super-propagator event" and would conclude that the organizers of such a rally “kill people.” “Is there an exception for parties attended by wealthy liberal celebrities? Asked the leader of the Republican Party, Ronna McDaniel. "Will the Democrats demand that he (Obama) ask all his guests to wear a mask?" Added Lance Gooden, another Republican elected official.

Joe Biden shouldn't be attending

"The former president, who supports vaccination and respecting the advice of public health experts, also certainly applies them to himself," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday, recalling the precautions taken. Current President Joe Biden is not expected to attend.

THE AMERICAN ECONOMY

EXCEEDS ITS PRE-CRISIS LEVEL

With an increase of 6.5% in the second quarter, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States is higher than it was in the fourth quarter of 2019, the last not to have been affected by the crisis of Covid .. Forecasts are for 6.7% growth in 2021 and 5% in 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Services (CBO). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also raised its growth forecast for the United States this week, and now expects + 7.0% in 2021, like the Fed. The latter had, Wednesday at the end of its meeting, welcomed the progress made. By way of comparison, French growth in the second quarter will be published on Friday, it is expected between 0.7 and 1.0%; that of China, the great rival of the United States, was 1.3% in the second quarter.

"Make no mistake: this growth is not accidental, it is a direct result of our efforts to provide economic assistance to families, small businesses and communities across the country," Joe Biden also tweeted.

To ensure strong growth for the coming years, Joe Biden is counting on his gigantic investment plan, which is making headway in the Senate.

Gigantic stimulus plan

With the ambition of ensuring America's decades of prosperity, Joe Biden is counting on a program of social and environmental spending of 3.500 billion dollars. This Wednesday, July 28, 2021, after long political negotiations, a major infrastructure renovation and development plan dear to the American president was put on track. This grand plan provides for $ 550 billion in new federal money and reaches $ 1.2 trillion - the equivalent of Spain's 2020 Gross Domestic Product - if one takes into account the reorientation of other existing public funding. The administration thus announces "historic" investments in public transport, roads, bridges, drinking water,broadband internet ...

"This agreement shows the world that our democracy works, produces results and does great things," Joe Biden said in a statement, making the article a program that can "transform America and propel us into it. to come up ". The president would also like to push through a gigantic program of 3.5 trillion dollars of social spending.

Downsides, however

However, some analysts believe that growth will slow down significantly, stressing that the four consecutive quarters of strong economic growth would be due to the reopening of the economy and massive government aid.

Another downside is inflation, which rose 6.4% in the second quarter due to strong demand and global supply difficulties. Over one year, the price increase amounts to 3.8%. According to the American central bank (Fed) and the IMF, inflation should slow down in 2022, but there are risks that it will not only be higher than announced but also less "temporary" than expected ... For now , the American central bank (Fed) maintains its key rates. Driven by the good financial results of many companies, the stock market is progressing.

Another major threat, the Delta variant in particular, which has caused Covid-19 cases to pick up again in many regions of the world, is now threatening this great economic recovery.

FACING THE DELTA VARIANT

THE UNITED STATES TAKES THE SCREW

Compulsory vaccination ?

The Democratic president has indeed indicated that an anti-Covid vaccination compulsory for federal state employees was "under study", speaking on the sidelines of a trip on Tuesday.

According to the American authorities, 2.1 million people would be potentially affected, if one sticks to the civilian personnel. New York City to Require Weekly Vaccination or Screening for Officials

It would also be a major step for the White House, which has so far been very reluctant to introduce any notion of constraint in its approach to vaccination against the coronavirus. What I'm sure is that if 100 million more people had been vaccinated, the situation would be very different. Get vaccinated, ”hammered Joe Biden.

Wearing a mask for vaccinated people.

The health authorities, on Tuesday, revised their recommendations on wearing a mask.

"In areas where transmission (of Covid-19) is high, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people wear masks in public places indoors," said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for the Prevention and Control of diseases (CDC). If vaccination remains effective against the Delta variant, new data "indicate that on rare occasions, people vaccinated (...) could be contagious and transmit the virus to others," she added. “These new findings are worrying and unfortunately justify an update of our recommendation. "

The CDC estimated last week that unvaccinated people account for about 97% of hospitalizations for coronavirus infection in the United States. Vaccines cut the risk of symptomatic Delta variant infection by seven, noted Rochelle Walensky. And the risk of hospitalization and death from the variant is divided by twenty after vaccination, she added. However, in areas of high transmission, about one in twenty or even one in ten contacts may result in primary infection (one case diagnosed after full vaccination). This is assuming the vaccines are 90% or 95% effective.

According to CDC figures, the number of infections is rising sharply in much of the southern United States, but less in the Northeast, which is better vaccinated.

A measure taken in the face of the spread of the Delta variant.

The vaccine should therefore no longer offer the possibility of going out without a mask - including for vaccinated people - in areas deemed to be at high risk of contamination. This is what the US health authorities said in an opinion issued on July 27.

To curb the spread of the Delta variant, the CDC will also recommend that schools ask teachers, students or visitors to wear the mask, whether or not they are vaccinated.

The CDC was still defending its May recommendation last week that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks indoors under most circumstances, with some exceptions including on public transport and hospitals. But the Delta variant, which now accounts for around 90% of new Covid-19 cases in the United States, has changed that.

Similar amount of virus

According to Rochelle Walensky, CDC investigations found that the amount of virus present in vaccinated people infected with the variant is similar to levels found in unvaccinated people with the same strain. This indicates that people who are vaccinated can easily transmit the virus, although they are less likely to get sick overall.

According to a study published recently in the scientific journal Virological, the viral load in the first tests of patients affected by the Delta variant was 1,000 times greater than that of patients in the first wave of the virus in 2020.

Not only does the Delta variant reproduce within its host faster than previous strains, infected people spread the virus much more in the air, greatly increasing the likelihood of transmission.

Nearly half (49%) of the U.S. population is vaccinated but there are large differences between regions. The latest seven-day weighted daily average is over 56,000 cases, which is close to April levels.

Last month, Israel reinstated some mask-wearing requirements, just 10 days after lifting them. Some local communities in the United States, such as Los Angeles County, have done the same.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

EXTREME AND KILLING TEMPERATURES

IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES

Several hundred sudden deaths, hospitalizations on the rise and the increase in forest fires: western Canada and the United States are suffocating under the effect of unbearable temperatures.

The heat wave, which triggered heatwave warnings in areas where millions of people live, has claimed nearly 500 lives in Canada and at least 16 in the United States, putting pressure on emergency services, so that freshness is not expected until next week.

Lytton wiped off the map

Several fires were underway in Canada on Wednesday, including one near the village of Lytton, in British Columbia, some 250 km northeast of Vancouver: this is where a new all-time record for heat was recorded on Tuesday. the whole country, at 49.6 degrees Celsius.

Lytton, this small town in British Columbia, Canada, made the headlines this Friday, July 2, 2021. Its mayor, Jan Polderman, told the local press: he would have liked it to make the big names titles for its quality of life. But after breaking the heat record for Canada, as well as the heat record for a town located beyond 45 ° north latitude, flirting with 50 ° C, Lytton may have been, Thursday, July 1 , wiped off the map.

The 250 inhabitants had to evacuate because “the whole village is on fire. It took about 15 minutes between the appearance of the first smoke and the moment the fire started everywhere, ”Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman told CBC News. Video footage showed the fire ravaging the hills surrounding the village, which residents left under clouds of smoke. Residents of 241 other homes in the area also fled the flames.

“The historic heatwave continues to break records” and is expected to last until the end of the week, wrote the Canadian weather services, listing a long list of temperatures never before seen in Canada, which sometimes break records set in the 19th century.

Western Canada and the United States were already breaking new “historic” temperature records on Tuesday, June 29, caused by a “heat dome” of extremely rare intensity.

DONALD TRUMP ON THE ROAD TO THE ELECTIONS

OF MID-TERM 2002 AND ... 2024

Donald Trump officially launched the campaign for the US mid-term elections on Saturday, June 26, finding in Ohio the electric atmosphere of the meetings he loves, with an eye already fixed on the next presidential election in three years.

It was the "very first meeting of the 2022 election," he said in the introduction, the event having been organized in support of a Republican candidate for Congress, also a former adviser to billionaire Max Miller

"We are going to take over the House [of Representatives], we are going to take over the Senate," hammered the former president.

"We won the election twice"

He reiterated his allegations of a 'stolen' election by the Democrats in 2020. "We have won the election twice, and there is a possibility that we will have to win it a third time," he said, triggering them. cheers from the thousands of supporters gathered for his coming to Wellington, near the industrial city of Cleveland.

"False Republican"

Donald Trump supports Max Miller, who is running against a Republican in the House of Representatives, Anthony Gonzalez. The latter, who represents Ohio, was one of ten Republicans in the lower house, out of 211, to vote in favor of impeachment of Donald Trump during his impeachment trial for "incitement to insurgency" after the events of the Capitol on January 6. "Anthony Gonzales is a false Republican and a disgrace for your state," said Donald Trump, on the contrary praising the talents of Max Miller. “Max will be tough on immigration (…) he will protect Ohio jobs just like I did. "