The Economist Continental Europe Edition April 30, 2022

Politics Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as president of France, again trouncing his nationalist-populist challenger Marine Le Pen. He won 58.5% of the vote to her 41.5%. However, Ms Le Pen increased her vote share by eight percentage points since their previous contest, in 2017, and turnout was the lowest since 1969. Mr Macron, a pro-European centrist, said he would try to address the anger of those who feel left behind by globalisation. He will now try to hold on to his party’s majority at parliamentary elections due in June. Fighting continued in eastern and southern Ukraine. The Russian invaders are trying to seize more territory, but have still not vanquished the last defenders of Mariupol, who are hunkered down in the vast Azovstal steelworks. Russia is using air power and missiles to…

THE MIGHT of the modern Russian army was supposed to show the world that President Vladimir Putin had restored his country to greatness after the humiliation of the Soviet collapse. Instead, poor progress and heavy losses in Ukraine have exposed deep flaws within Russia. For those threatened by Mr Putin’s aggression, a diminished army is a relief. Unfortunately, it also leaves a nuclear-armed power with a point to prove. So far, the invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia’s armed forces. About 15,000 troops have been killed in two months of fighting, according to Britain’s government. At least 1,600 armoured vehicles have been destroyed, along with dozens of aircraft and the flagship of the Black Sea fleet. The assault on the capital, Kyiv, was a chaotic failure. Leon Trotsky wrote…

SWEEPING STATEMENTS about the future of humanity do not usually feature in discussions about leveraged buy-outs. But Elon Musk has never felt bound by convention. Asked about his plans to buy Twitter, a social network, and take it private—which were approved by the firm's board on April 25th—he went straight for the big idea. “My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilisation. I don’t care about the economics at all.” Compared with its rivals—Facebook, Instagram and TikTok—Twitter is a minnow. But the deal matters. One reason is that Twitter’s size belies its importance. As a haunt of politicians, pundits and wonks, it does much to set the political weather—a digital “public square”, as Mr…

IN THE EARLY days of the pandemic Xi Jinping, China’s leader, suggested that the country was under attack. He spoke of a “people’s war” against an “invisible enemy”. Visiting Wuhan, the city where it started, he all but promised victory. Fang Fang, a local diarist, retorted: “Remember, there is no win, only an end.” Most countries have accepted that covid cannot be eradicated. Helped by vaccines and treatments, they have decided to live with the virus. China, however, is still determined to defeat or at least contain it. The discovery of dozens of cases in Beijing has led to mass-testing (see China section). Individual neighbourhoods are being locked down. This is less harsh than the medicine applied to poorer cities, dozens of which have been entirely sealed off. Still, Beijing could…

ULTIMATELY, IT WASN’T close. Emmanuel Macron stormed to a second and final term as France’s president, trouncing his nationalist-populist rival Marine Le Pen by 58.5% to 41.5% on April 24th (see Europe section). France and Europe have dodged a calamity. Had Ms Le Pen won, she would have undermined NATO, appeased Vladimir Putin, challenged the legal foundations of the European Union and stoked racial tension at home. Mr Macron tried to sound humble in victory. “Our country is beset by doubts and divisions,” he said. “Today’s vote requires us to consider all of the hardships of people’s lives and to respond effectively to them and to the anger expressed.” Ms Le Pen articulated that anger, which is one reason why she did better than in 2017, though she offered few coherent…

EVEN AS RUSSIA has invaded Ukraine, terrorised civilians and flattened Mariupol, the European Union has spent €44bn ($46bn) buying its oil and gas. That could be about to change. On April 27th Russia announced that it had stopped supplying gas to Bulgaria and Poland, which had refused its demand to pay in roubles. Because the EU can easily buy oil, but not gas, from elsewhere, Russia is attempting to exploit its point of vulnerability. Europe is considering how to respond. Already it was entertaining the possibility of sanctions on Russian oil. But it fears that it has the weaker hand. Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, has said that an embargo would plunge Europe into recession without doing much to hurt Vladimir Putin and his war effort. Russia’s gas is used both to…