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Clémentine Pawlotsky: Thank you for listening to RFI. It is 10:00 p.m. in Paris, 11:00 p.m. in Jerusalem and Ankara.
Good evening everyone, welcome to your diary in easy French, presented tonight with Sylvie Berruet, good evening Sylvie!
Sylvie Berruet: Good evening Clémentine, good evening everyone.
CP: Israel and Turkey are getting back together. The two countries announced the resumption of diplomatic relations. The Turkish authorities want to continue defending the Palestinians.
SB: Germany is sending six fighter jets to the Indo-Pacific for the first time. The country participates in military exercises with other nations.
CP: In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro and Lula are campaigning for the presidential elections in October and the military could well act as arbiter, serve as arbiter, Justine Fontaine will tell us.
SB: And then the calls for a boycott, i.e. not to use Facebook anymore, increased in the social networks.
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SB: Israel and Turkey therefore resumed diplomatic relations.
CP: Yes, the embassies will reopen and the ambassadors will be back in both countries soon. This rapprochement was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. It comes after four years of estrangement, anger, rupture. Ankara says it still wants to “continue to defend” the Palestinians. The details by Celine Pierre-Magnani.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s announcement ends more than a decade of tumultuous relations between Israel and Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause, is known for his vehement criticism of the Israeli government. While Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize the State of Israel in 1949, bilateral relations have been marked by several crises in recent years. In 2010, the Israeli army attacked a humanitarian ship bound for Gaza, killing ten Turkish nationals. An episode that had permanently changed the dialogue between the two countries. Turkey is a symbol of its support for the Palestinian cause and is home to senior figures from Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. News of the Turkish-Israeli rapprochement comes as Turkey resumes dialogue with its larger Middle Eastern neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Statements by Turkey’s foreign minister in recent days even suggest that relations with Bashar al-Assad’s Syria could be the subject of warming. Celine Pierre-Magnan in Istanbul for RFI.
PC: On the other hand, relations between France and Mali continue to deteriorate. Bamako accuses Paris of spying on and supporting jihadist groups. These allegations are made by the head of Malian diplomacy, Abdoulaye Diop. In a letter he asks the UN Security Council to organize an emergency meeting. For its part, France has described these allegations as an “insult” to the memory of the 59 French soldiers who died on the battlefield in Mali. These are the words of General Bruno Baratz, commander of the French Barkhane force. As a reminder, France finally withdrew from Mali earlier this week after more than nine years of fighting jihadism.
SB: Germany wants to strengthen its presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
CP: Yes, the Bundeswehr sent six Eurofighter combat aircraft there, that’s what they’re called. The country is participating in multinational exercises in the region for the first time. “Multinational”, i.e. “with several nations”, with several countries. This operation comes at a time when China is embarking on the most important military maneuvers in its history. Around Taiwan. In Berlin, Pascal Thibault.
“It is by no means a signal directed at China”: The Chief of Staff of the German Air Force wanted to distance the involvement of Eurofighters of the Bundeswehr in the Indo-Zone – peacefully – from the current tensions between China and Taiwan for the first time. Nevertheless, like the dispatch of a frigate to the region last year, the participation of German warplanes in multinational exercises in Australia before brief stopovers in Japan and South Korea in the autumn underlines Berlin’s desire to be present in a region with Chinese ambitions, which it perceives as a threat. “This is the largest and most ambitious mission that the Air Force has ever carried out,” said the Bundeswehr, which also wants to prove that it can intervene in various theaters of war despite the current war in Ukraine. The six planes mobilize 250 soldiers. The fighter aircraft will be accompanied by four A400M military transport aircraft and three A330s for in-flight refuelling. Cooperation with the Bundeswehr in the region seems interesting. In Berlin, applications have been made by India, Indonesia and Malaysia for joint military exercises. Pascal Thibault, Berlin, RFI.
SB: In Brazil, the personal duel between Jair Bolsonaro and Lula begins.
CP: The outgoing president and former leader are campaigning for the October presidential election. Jair Bolsonaro held a meeting at the spot where he was stabbed in 2018. Former left President Lula went to the industrial area where he was a laborer before becoming a union leader. And in this campaign the military could act, could well act as arbiter. Explanations by Justine Fontaine.
On the one hand, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, nostalgic for the military dictatorship in Brazil, has appointed many officers to his government. He also multiplies campaign promises to the army. On the other hand, Lula tries to reassure the general staff and calls on the military to be guarantors of democracy. Because Jair Bolsonaro, who is ahead in the polls, is threatening not to recognize the election result. And like the last US presidential election, his supporters could take part in violent demonstrations if they lose. Maud Chirio is a historian, lecturer at the Gustave Eiffel University in Paris and a specialist on Brazil: “We know that Bolsonaro has extremely motivated supporters who are civilian supporters, who are armed militants, but who are militants. They have the support of a large majority of the military police, and the military police in Brazil have tanks. And the question is what would the armed forces do in case of violence. However, not all military officials are behind the outgoing president. 2,000 of them recently signed a letter in defense of democracy, a text collectively supported by more than a million Brazilians.
SB: Ukraine’s grain shipments to Africa resume.
CP: The first shipment of UN food aid to the continent reached the Bosphorus today. The ship carries a cargo of 23,000 tons of wheat. It left the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi yesterday. He is expected in Djibouti next week.
SB: The head of the WHO denounces the situation in the Ethiopian province of Tigray.
CP: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks of “the worst catastrophe in the world”. He accuses the leaders of the developed countries of neglecting, putting aside, forgetting about this crisis. The head of the WHO denounces an “unimaginable cruelty” that is being inflicted on the six million people in this region. As a reminder, Tigray is the scene of a war between the regional authorities and the Ethiopian federal government.
SB: Calls to boycott Facebook are increasing.
CP: Yes, the social network has been heavily criticized for having passed certain information to the American police. This private information led to the arrest of a young woman who was having an abortion in the United States. Since then, the buzzword “DeleteFacebook” has become one of the most significant trends on Twitter. Dominique Desaunay.
US media have revealed the social media giant provided police with private messages that helped prosecute a mother accused of helping her 17-year-old daughter with an abortion in the long-banned state of Nebraska to have an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The mother faces five counts and her daughter three counts, including concealing and leaving a body. The buzzword #DeleteFacebook, reactivated by American feminist activist Olivia Julianna, has been widely taken up on Twitter and is one of the most talked about topics on the internet. In its press release, Facebook tries to defuse these boycott calls by pointing out that it has no choice but to obey the police when presented with a search warrant signed by a judge. The company also states that it was unaware that this request related to an abortion case. But lost! The anger of Internet users does not fall. They mainly criticize the social network for not encrypting its messaging service end-to-end and by default, as is the case with WhatsApp. This story does not help Facebook’s business, which is faced with the mass exodus of its young subscribers. In 2015, 71% of American teenagers used social media, up from 32% in 2022.
SB: The big day for NASA is finally approaching.
CP: His new rocket is ready for launch to the moon. She has to leave Florida in 12 days.
This is the end of this diary in easy French. Thank you for following him and thanks to Sylvie Berruet.
SB: Gladly. Sounds like the moon to me too.
CP: Me too.