IIt was nearly four in the morning when Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian television. From his office, he announced “special military operations” in Ukraine. Very quickly, explosions were heard in several towns in the east of the country: the Russian offensive was launched. Emmanuel Macron promised Thursday that France and its allies will decide on sanctions “without weakness” against Russia, both “on the military and economic level as well as in the field of energy”, during a speech recorded at the Elysee. Real-time monitoring, field reports, major interviews, historical insights, analyses, etc. The drafting of the Point mobilizes.
What is Vladimir Putin thinking?
The master of the Kremlin was bluffing. He played the game of diplomacy, while preparing his offensive. In his mind: to take his revenge on the West. For Putin, Russia was humiliated by the dislocation of the USSR and the accessions of its former “sister republics” to NATO. In 2015, his book Inside the mind of Vladimir Putin (Editions Actes Sud) deciphered the references of the head of the Kremlin, in the light of his speeches and his writings. François-Guillaume Lorrain questioned Michel Eltchaninoff at length on the vision of the world according to the Russian head of state, a vision much more radical than simple geopolitical or military considerations.
Europe must mobilize
So here is back in Europe the time of the war. The Russian offensive sends the European Union back to a historic challenge: to unite. “Since 1945, the states that have used the most force in the past [la France, l’Allemagne, le Royaume-Uni, l’Espagne…] have turned the page on violence and have become, sheltered by the American security umbrella, followers of Kantian illusions about perpetual peace”, writes Luc de Barochez in his editorial. “Ukraine is already bleeding. Europe, it seems petrified, powerless. Not a single one of his soldiers will die for Kiev. Anyway, where is the European army? We are witnessing the tragedy of the balcony. But we are very concerned. Europe is morally trampled. Putin’s war in Ukraine poses for her this existential question: would it be insignificant? There is an incredible paradox here: Europe, whatever one thinks of it, is prosperous and rivals, in terms of GDP, America and China. Could Russia, demographically and economically anemic, be an empire in the making? The weak attack and the strong do not defend themselves…” laments Étienne Gernelle.
Presidential: the Russian campaign
Russia’s entry into the war upsets the presidential campaign. Emmanuel Macron had not yet put on his candidate’s clothes, but he will stay with those of head of state. How will the other candidates position themselves? How to criticize the action of the President of the Republic without playing the divider? Vast dilemma while, for some, the next few weeks will be decisive: Valérie Pécresse has stalled in the polls, preceded by Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour and caught up by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The presidential election continues…
The survey of the week: social fraud
Object of all fantasies or underestimated reality? Social fraud is at the heart of this beginning of the electoral campaign. The craziest figures circulate, taken up by many candidates. But what is it really? Point conducted the investigation.
Our series
50 billion social fraud? The genesis of a myth
Registration of foreign-born people on the grill
In search of “phantom policyholders”
Haro on foreigners
In Toulouse, how to live after Merah
Ten years after the attack that claimed the lives of three children and a teacher, the Jewish community oscillates between bitterness and grief. Marion Cocquet returned to the spot.
Special investments
Unit-linked funds, euro funds or so-called profiled funds… There are currently large differences in the yields of life insurance policies available on the market. Laurence Allard gives you all the keys to investing well.
Special issue Algeria
“The French unconscious is Algerian, the Algerian unconscious is French. The writer Kamel Daoud sums up well the Algerian concern that grips France on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Evian Accords, which marked the end of eight years of war and the prelude to the independence of Algeria. Sixty years later, this special issue revisits two centuries of colonization and decolonization. Many witnesses confided, from Yacef Saadi, the boss of the Kasbah during the battle of Algiers, to the descendants of the putschist generals. Evian, agreements and disagreements…
A bit of lightness: the tastes of Paris
It could only have been yet another new Parisian table opened by a former Top chef… A bistro for bobos looking for new dishes to share, with the vague and unpleasant impression of being cheated when paying the bill. Julien Rebucci tested Fripon by Pauline Séné, on the heights of Ménilmontant, which restores all its letters of nobility to Brussels sprouts.
But also :
The letter from Brussels dedicated to pro-Putin in Europe
The chronicle of Sophie Chassat who wonders about the end of work
The look of Sophie Coignard
Buckingham’s letter
