The Internationalism

Internationalism No. 88, June 2026 Page 10 From the series The arms industry put to the test in the Gulf The Pentagon has dubbed the US war against Iran Epic Fury . An assessment after about 40 days into the attacks, coordinated with Israel, indicates that the Iranian political and military leadership has been decimated, nuclear programs further compromised, the Navy hit, air defence capabilities reduced, and significant damage caused to Tehran's missile and drone factories. Yet, according to The Economist , it would have been better to call the operation Blind Fury because the war did not lead to the fall of the regime, and because it allowed the closure of the Strait of Hormuz (where the daily passage of ships collapsed from 135 to 4), thus greatly harming the European and Asian allies of the US. We will not deal here with the roles of those who sought and supp...

Internationalism No. 87, May 2026 Page 10 From the series War industry and European defence In early March, Emmanuel Macron delivered a highly awaited speech on the country's nuclear doctrine at the Île Longue naval base in front of the submarine Le Téméraire . Our deterrence is solid and effective , said the president, but the international landscape, the emergence of regional powers, and the possibility of coordination among adversaries leads us to the conclusion that strengthening our arsenal is essential . France will therefore increase the number of its nuclear warheads. The fact that our deterrence is inviolable , continued Macron, does not mean it is inert . We have to consider it embedded in the heart of the European continent [...], through the gradual implementation of what I would call forward deterrence . Nuclear and conventional In other words, th...

Internationalism No. 86, April 2026 Page 10 From the series The telecommunications battle Imagine that a full-screen video turns your phone into a window. You can see a vast world through this window. Douyin is a projection of this colourful world . Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok, and these words were spoken by Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of both applications. Matthew Brennan notes this in his book Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok &ampersand; China's ByteDance . The front page of the ByteDance website reads: Our Mission: Inspire Creativity, Enrich Life . A colourful and fun world, built on short videos, is also capable of generating major business. It is estimated that global users have exceeded two billion in total, mostly very young people. ByteDance is not yet listed, and its revenue is estimated by ana...