The Debate

A century-old gun law gone, 50 years of abortion rights overturned - it's a US Supreme Court stacked with Republicans. Also this week, as the Severodonetsk is set to fall to Russian forces, Ukraine has just gained official candidate status to the EU. Is the bloc braced for the backlash? And as Macron sees his wings clipped by the legislative elections, he is bargaining with all sides, and outwardly accentuating the positive. And, finally, this travel season looks set to be the Summer of strikes.

It all started in 2013 with Russia steering Ukraine’s then president away from a trade partnership with Brussels. Eight years, one revolution and two invasions on, the EU is now set to grant Kyiv and Moldova EU candidate status. But what does this mean? And what will be the backlash? Would the bloc have the resolve to weather Russia cutting all gas exports? Putin may be assuring his people that Ukraine joining the EU is no big deal, but past pronouncements say otherwise.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman is visiting Turkey, less than four years after dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered his consulate in Istanbul, never to reemerge. Does President Recep Tayyip Erdogan burying the hatchet with the Gulf oil giant have anything to do with Turkey's skyrocketing inflation and soaring energy costs? As for the crown prince, this trip is part of a broader return to grace, precipitated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the scramble for alternatives to Russian oil.

Israel is now on track for its fifth election in three years after PM Naftali Bennett called for parliament to be dissolved. In line with his coalition deal, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will be caretaking premier pending new elections, which will be held no more than five months from the day the bill is written into law. So what next? Could this be Benjamin Netanyahu's big chance at a comeback? And what does the Israeli public make of this never-ending electoral merry-go-round?

Where did he go wrong? Eight weeks after his re-election, French President Emmanuel Macron is now in uncharted territory. On Sunday, voters left him no obvious path to a working majority in parliament. We ask about the strong inroads of an opposition split between a left-wing coalition and a far right that succeeded beyond its wildest expectations. More broadly, should this result be cheered as a result of the will of the people, or are France's institutions headed for crisis?

In France, the parliamentary elections are almost seen as a simple procedure that confirms the president's hold on power with a majority in parliament. Indeed, the polls take place just a few weeks after the presidential election. But will this year be different? Emmanuel Macron secured his second term as president fairly comfortably, with over 58 percent of the vote in the second round. But this may have been less of an endorsement and more of a resigned move to block the far right.

Talk about competing narratives. Russia's foreign minister is in Turkey's capital, where his hosts talked up the prospect of a UN-brokered plan to free up the Black Sea and the food supplies blocked by the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin wants the waters de-mined and the West to lift "sanctions" on food supplies that are critical to the developing world.

From Friday's boos at St. Paul's Cathedral for his entrance to the Queen's jubilee thanksgiving service, to a Monday morning leadership challenge at Westminster, the Conservative revolt against the prime minister has suddenly gone into overdrive. With two big by-elections coming up, why set the wheels in motion now?

Do monarchies still matter? Britons have four days to celebrate 70 years of the country's longest reign. It's a very different United Kingdom from the one where Queen Elizabeth II first saw the light of day in 1926. What is the Platinum Jubilee all about in post-Brexit Britain?

First it was a stadium fiasco, then a blame game. Now will political football lead to sackings? French senators are questioning Emmanuel Macron's interior minister after the tear-gassing of Liverpool fans shut out of last Saturday's Champions League final, as well as the claim that up to 40,000 English supporters showed up with forged tickets or no tickets.