This edition of our weekly talkshow focuses on Kamala Harris upending the US presidential campaign, the situation in Ukraine and the start of the Paris Olympics.
The presidential race in the United States that just one month ago appeared destined to be a grinding matchup between two ageing and unpopular men has suddenly been transformed. By dropping out of the race – albeit reluctantly – Joe Biden did what Donald Trump would likely never do: putting country over his own aspirations. Will now Kamala Harris provide the Democratic Party a boost of energy that lasts until November?
Stefan Grobe and his guests get to the bottom of this: Kait Bolongaro, Managing Editor at MLex Europe, Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, and Matthew Robinson, Director of the Euro-Gulf Information Centre in Rome.
For the first time since Lyndon Johnson took himself out of the running 56 years ago, a sitting first-term U.S. president decided to call it quits. Although it was somehow expected, Biden’s announcement sent shockwaves through America.
And it dramatically changed the dynamics of the race. It is now looking like a fight between Donald Trump against Kamala Harris, the ex-president versus the vice president, the convicted felon versus the prosecutor. Now it’s Trump who is facing the age issue. And Harris? Can she spark enough excitement among women and minorities to turn this campaign around?
The second topic: Ukraine’s third summer in the trenches. As the exhausted country is stuck in a war of attrition, Western military support does not seem to be forthcoming in a way that would change the situation on the battlefield.
Between now and fall, Ukraine is expected to battle Russian advances along a 1,000-kilometer front line, hoping recently supplied Western weapons will help hold back Russian forces.
But Kyiv’s increasingly bigger concern is of political nature. Ukraine has to navigate a delicate diplomatic landscape balancing Western unity with a push for peace talks on its own terms. Viktor Orban’s trips to Moscow and Beijing are seen in Ukraine as an attempt to undermine Western unity and to weaken – or even end – military support. The rest of the EU is still united in its opposition to such a stance – but for how much longer?
Finally, participants discuss the opening of the Paris Olympic Games. After years of preparations, it’s now time for the athletes to show who is faster, higher, stronger. All this under the official slogan: “Games Wide Open”.
But for some Paris locals, it’s rather “All closed”. Shop owners and café operators are angry at the authorities for heavily restricting people’s movement and literally fencing them in. Like during Covid, people now have to show a QR code to pass. Not good for business! So, no joy in the city of Light?
