Macron-s nuclear throwdown, Mossad-s man in Germany, Ukraine in flames: RT stories that shaped the week

Macron-s nuclear throwdown, Mossad-s man in Germany, Ukraine in flames: RT stories that shaped the week

This week we also followed the rapidly escalating Saudi/Houthi conflict and the disputes stressing India’s relationship with the US
Macron sends a nuclear messageWhen France’s military test-fired its latest nuclear-capable ballistic missile, the submarine-launched M51.3, on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron chose to milk the spectacle for every last drop of propaganda value. To be free, we must be feared, he said. And to be feared, we must be powerful.
The launch, Macron said, was intended as a clear message… for wherever it must be received.
The missile may have splashed down in the north Atlantic, but the message was received loud and clear in Moscow, the following day. Problems should be resolved through dialogue, not demonstrative missile launches, but Russia will take all necessary measures to protect its strategic security, Peskov added.
France is currently modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal amid a broader rearmament push, but it remains unclear how Paris intends to pay for its remilitarization. This week, RT looked at France’s and the   from within.
This domestic turmoil isn’t unique to France, nor is it something that can be fixed with minor policy tweaks. As RT examined on Friday, . With native Europeans set to become minorities in their own countries in the coming decades, the social and political consequences could be deadly.
Germany’s enemies withinFrance is not the only European power gearing up for conflict abroad while its political and economic foundations disintegrate at home. Germanys’ foreign intelligence chief to lawmakers: Moscow is waging a shadow war against Europe, and Germany is in danger ​of becoming embroiled in a violent conflict with Russia.
The Kremlin views accusations of shadow war and hybrid war – which are unprovable by nature – as hastily cobbled-together provocations, designed to serve Kiev and the militaristic wing of the European political class.
Read more They’re provocations that Berlin is looking less and less able to follow through on. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is going from one by the right-wing AfD to another, , and to a proposed military draft have tripled.
However, the German government can’t trust the loyalty of its own intelligence agents. Former spymaster August Hanning was this week, in what appears to be the country’s worst spy scandal since the Guillaume affair of the 1970s. 
German prosecutors aren’t revealing which foreign services Hanning allegedly collaborated with, but as RT explored in the latest installment in our ‘Wired for War’ series, .
Russia reminds Zelensky what it’s capable ofUkrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is also on shaky ground this week. are now the most common feelings Ukrainians associate with him. US President for the worldwide diesel fuel shortage while Zelensky doubled down on , stepping up his long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries. 
He soon learned that Russia always responds. Russian forces , logistics hubs, weapons depots, and missile factories across Ukraine this week, including production plants of . People in Ukraine should blame only the head of the Kiev regime for this. It is Zelensky who bears full personal and political responsibility for it, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. 
The strikes continued all week, as Zelensky prepared to fly to Miami for a meeting with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Friday.  new ideas and proposals aimed at resolving the conflict. The two could travel to Moscow later this month for another round of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
Although Zelensky’s situation at home may be deteriorating, he can still count on the support of his backers in Europe. Russian military blogger Mikhail Zvinchuk, who has been sanctioned by Ukraine and the EU over his war reporting, was . Zvinchuk founded the ‘Ryb