Burnham: We are doing everything we can to help open the Strait of Hormuz

Tension is rising in the French political scene six months before the presidential elections, amid intensifying confrontations within Parliament and new expected demonstrations, in addition to unprecedented debates over media outlets, which prompted President Emmanuel Macron to denounce, on Wednesday, “lawlessness” in political discourse, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

In an interview conducted with him on Monday evening, on the “Ugo de Crypt” channel on YouTube, a media platform favored by the Elysee Palace to target young people, Macron called on high school students to “return to school” quietly, on Monday, after more than a month of protests that expanded to include other social demands. He also expressed, for the first time, “sympathy” with the young demonstrators who were injured at the hands of police officers.

During the morning cabinet meeting, Macron called for “unity,” following the “racially motivated terrorist attack” that took place on Friday, in the territory of the Paris region, and claimed the life of Pingu Bosio Wanguy, a 26-year-old Frenchman of African descent.

The president announced that a rarely held "national memorial service" for the victims would be held soon, headed by Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu.

Since this attack, which also resulted in a number of people being seriously injured, the already intense political and media debate has intensified, as the left, centrist figures accused the far right, and some media outlets, of creating a climate that encourages the commission of such attacks.

The two representatives from the Green Party, Benjamin Luca and Leah Balaj, called for “withdrawing the accreditation of the C News channel from the National Assembly,” to protect “democracy from those who seek to destroy it by spreading racist hate speech in the media.” Meanwhile, the National Rally party announced on Tuesday that it would sue Le Monde newspaper for defamation, accusing it of publishing “misleading” information to discredit the party, after it reported finding party leaflets in the suspect’s car.

Speaking through the "Hugo de Crypt" channel, Macron accused the "National Rally" party of encouraging racist rhetoric, while he criticized the "Proud France" party for tolerating anti-Semitic rhetoric. He expressed his regret, more generally, at the increased audacity in making offensive statements and the escalation of acts of violence, calling for firm action to confront this situation.

The Cabinet meeting was devoted entirely to the attack and student and popular movements that France has been witnessing for a month. The press conference that followed the weekly government meeting reflected the extent of the sharp division in the country, as it witnessed very tense debates between the government spokeswoman and left-leaning journalists.

“A charged atmosphere”

The interview conducted by France Info radio on Wednesday morning, with Sarah Knafo, a member of the European Parliament, sparked widespread criticism, especially from the far right, prompting the radio to publicly defend its interlocutors and deny offering any “apology” to the guest.

At a time when the candidate of the National Rally Party, Marine Le Pen, is considered the most likely to win the presidential elections scheduled for the spring, and while opinion polls currently indicate that Jean-Luc Melenchon, the candidate of the radical leftist “Intrepid France” party, may be able to reach the second round against her, the movements of the two parties largely dominate the electoral campaign, as they represent both sides of the political scene.

Macron said on Monday: “It is not reasonable for our country to be in this state of turmoil six months before the presidential elections,” during a quick visit to Marseille to praise the re-imposition of the “republican system,” after the security failure to deal with the looting and violence that accompanied the protest movements on October 17.

The next day, during a very noisy session to hold the government accountable in the National Assembly, Locorno denounced a “very disgusting atmosphere” that did not “augur well” for the presidential elections.

The interventions of representatives and senators during the government's accountability on Wednesday were not characterized by the same intensity, unlike the debates taking place on social media sites.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised American billionaire Elon Musk, describing him as a “genius,” and revealed that he is in contact with him, at a time when Russia is working to develop an alternative to the “Starlink” satellite Internet service, owned by Musk, according to the Independent newspaper.

Putin's statements came after Ukraine, which relies on a version of the "Starlink" service as an essential element in operating drones and communications on the battlefield, complained about imposing restrictions on the speed of the service, which hindered its ability to intercept Russian offensive drones, and led to the cancellation of some operations.

Among the companies he manages, Musk owns the American “SpaceX” group, which launches rockets for the US Space Agency (NASA) and develops the “Starlink” communications network.

During a presentation by one of the ministers, in which he referred to Russia’s launch of 30 satellites, Putin interrupted him, saying: “One moment, please, I would like to clarify that this is just our first step. “Elon Musk is a genius, he really is a genius.”

Putin's statements come against the backdrop of a growing dispute between Ukraine and the United States over access to the "Starshield" military-use communications network operated by SpaceX, owned by Musk.

Ukraine began complaining about problems in using Starshield earlier this month, after a dispute between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his American counterpart Donald Trump over a US-Russian agreement on diesel.

Meanwhile, Moscow witnessed a series of drone attacks during the night, according to what was announced by the mayor of the Russian capital, which prompted the authorities to impose temporary restrictions on air traffic at the airports of Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky, which serve the capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that Russian forces shot down most of the drones that were heading towards the capital during the night.

In another context, the local ceasefire in southern Ukraine, which was reached with American mediation, held for the second day in a row, on Wednesday, at a time when about two thousand people were still stranded in the city of Oleshki.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lobinets said: “30 hours have passed since the start of the ceasefire in Oleshki without a single incident being recorded.”