Today, September 3, China will stage a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. This is a strong signal, coming the day after the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), sometimes referred to as the NATO of the non-aligned countries. The group photo speaks for itself and represents 42% of the world’s population.

Objectives: 1) to counterbalance the West without copying its codes, despite the inspiration that ENA provided for the training of Chinese elites, and above all 2) to establish Xi Jinping’s leadership in China vis-à-vis his people and then external powers, “a security force that can be relied upon” according to Chinese commentators.

Everyone is playing their part pragmatically:

➡️The slogan of “unlimited friendship” between Russia and China? Under review, thank you Aaron Glasserman for your insights from 🇺🇸

➡️🐉🐘 Facing the United States, “the dragon (China) and the elephant (India) must get along,” Xi Jinping explained yesterday, without ever mentioning Donald Trump.

➡️Monday’s rejection by the E3 (France, UK, Germany) of the process to reinstate UN sanctions against Tehran and its nuclear program is significant.

India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia… All are seeking to assert their autonomy.
A variable geometry multilateralism and “deals” that will be made on a case-by-case basis with Brussels or Washington.

Finally, the military parade is also a huge call for tenders with very tangible benefits for neighboring countries… and our French entrepreneurs abroad. Florian Bohême – Advisor to French citizens abroad in Cambodia

Diplomacy is also about numbers. With or without us.

Proximity breeds popularity.

With municipal elections just a few months away and against a backdrop of distrust and even acute mistrust of politics, a revealing survey by Public Sénat with ODOXA and Mascaret (formerly Dentsu Consulting) confirms that mayors rank first in terms of popularity among elected officials. With 60% of respondents having a good or very good opinion of them, mayors are far ahead of all other representatives in the political sphere.

However, this result should not obscure a worrying reality: the ever-increasing difficulties experienced by mayors in carrying out their duties, particularly tensions within municipal councils and the growing violence to which they are subjected. A worrying number of mayors are resigning (2,189 resignations between 2020 and 2025) or not standing for re-election because of this.

Will increasing mayors’ allowances and changing their status be enough to stem the tide of departures and attract new candidates? This is not a statutory issue, but a democratic one.

On June 21, 2025, Donald Trump took a major step with Operation Midnight Hammer.

After several days of threats and ultimatums, the US president demanded Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” citing the defense of vital US interests. This phrase, borrowed from Eisenhower and laden with historical significance, echoes Japan’s surrender in 1945, which ended World War II. By invoking this memory, Trump seeks to place his actions in a tradition of assertive power, where peace is only negotiated after a show of force.

But this martial stance divides American opinion. While 73% of citizens consider Iran a serious threat, according to a recent hashtag#Fox poll, only pro-Trump Republicans overwhelmingly support military intervention, believing that “Israel’s war is America’s war,” a conviction that is particularly strong in Florida, a conservative stronghold led by Governor DeSantis, a fervent supporter of Israel.

Intervention 📺on June 22 on franceinfo

This morning, Laure Pallez, Senior Partner of Mascaret Partners, spoke on BFM Business to analyze the economic stakes of the US presidential election.

US presidential election, key insights :

• The economy, a central issue: The electoral debate in the United States remains largely dominated by economic questions.
• The battle for the middle classes: Each candidate is focusing his or her efforts on appealing to this crucial electorate.
• Geopolitical tensions: Relations with China are a particularly sensitive issue in this election.
• Europe’s role: in the face of the great powers, Europe seems to be taking a back seat in these discussions.

This election promises to be a historic moment, with a potentially contested outcome and global repercussions.

Watch the full intervention

Laure Pallez offered an in-depth and pertinent analysis of these issues on #GoodMorningBusiness. Whether you’re passionate about geopolitics, economics or curious to understand current international dynamics, we invite you to discover her intervention and our complementary analyses on our site.

Watch the full speech here and explore our articles to keep up to date with the major challenges shaping our world.

Laure Pallez, Senior Partner of Mascaret, spoke at the Rencontres de la gauche “la République en Commun”, at the invitation of Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Region. The theme was “Europe, USA: how to fight populism”. Laure spoke in studio on this theme with Tova Kaplan President of the Harvard University Democrats and spokesperson for Kamala Harris. Some general remarks with 35 days to go before the US presidential election:

1/ The most frequent topic of conversation on RS in the USA is the economy: job creation, taxation, business regulation.

2/ Over the past 2 years, the world has become increasingly violent, with geopolitics invading the domestic sphere and the brutality of public debate sometimes reaching the point of lethality. In this environment, this raises the question of whether the US people are ready to elect a woman who hasn’t done her military service.

3/ Beyond the 2 candidates, what impact in Europe? China 🇨🇳 remains the US’s main rival 🇺🇸chaque countries have understood that no one will surpass the other. We are entering the era of cooperation (competition and cooperation). Europe 🇪🇺 is a commercial adjustment variable in this bilateral relationship, but it is raising ethical standards.

‼️ We are witnessing a high-tension election season in Georgia and Arizona, where Donald Trump has a slight lead due to a strong Republican base and KH’s lesser popularity than Biden (who was the man of the unions). The youth vote will be decisive, but it’s much more divided than you might imagine – it tends to be gendered, with 70% of young women supporting Kamala Harris to 53% of young men, the widest gap in American history according to Tova.